310 RARIK'S CONDUCT EXPLAINED. 
Mr. Chamisso to Ormed. Fortunately for him- 
self, he preferred a quiet domestic life under his 
own beautiful sky, to tempting the severity of 
our Northern climate, which would probably 
soon have destroyed him; and fortunately for 
his countrymen, he remained to cultivate among 
them the beneficial arts of gardening and breed- 
ing of cattle. 
The melancholy of Rarik still continuing 
after all this explanation, I again inquired the 
cause. He then tremblingly led me by the 
arm to the cocoa-tree, against which I had 
fastened a copper-plate, bearing the name of 
my ship, and the date of my discovery of the 
island, and denouncing severe punishment in 
case of its removal. It had disappeared :—how 
easily might Rarik and Lagediak, and the crowd 
of people, all equally dejected, who followed us, 
have excused themselves by an assertion, that 
Lamari, on his predatory expedition, had car- 
ried off this plate; but they were too honour- 
able. Imploring my pardon, they candidly 
confessed that they had been deficient in their 
care of it,—that it had been stolen, and that 
they had been unable to discover the thief. 
