CAPTAIN TUCKEY’S NARRATIVE. 101 
ralists and Mr. Galwey, and with an escort of four marines ; 
the hammock I found to have some resemblance to the 
native palanquin of India, but in a miserable dirty plight, 
so that I ordered it to follow; and after the walk of an hour, 
for the first mile over a plain, covered with reedy grass, ex- 
cept in some spots where Indian corn and a kind of French 
bean were planted, and which is under water in the rainy 
season, and then over a fatiguing hill, we reached the banza, 
at the entrance of which I got into the hammock, and was 
set down under a great tree, the ground having been swept 
clean. Here the first objects that called our attention were 
four human skulls, hung to the tree, which we were told were 
those of enemy’s chiefs taken in battle, whose heads it was 
the custom to preserve as trophies ; these victims, however, 
seemed to have received the coup de grace previous to the 
separation of the head, all the skulls presenting compound 
fractures. After waiting half an hour under the tree, 
we were led to the Chenoo’s habitation, where, in a court 
formed by a fence of reed mats, and which was crowded 
with the king’s gentlemen, I found a seat prepared of three 
or four old chests, bovered with a red velvet pall, an 
old English carpet with another velvet pall being spread on 
the ground. Having seated myself, in about five minutes 
the Chenoo made his appearance from behind a mat screen, 
his costume conveying the idea of punch in a puppet- 
