454 THE CHIEF LOMBA. 



" When under the Mangles' stern one of the crew 

 offered him some tobacco which he declined. Had Captain 

 Carr offered an axe for him, he would have been given up 

 immediately as well as little D'Oyly, who was on the beach, 

 in the arms of one of the natives. The natives knew that 

 Ireland was anxious to be taken awav, and were averse to 

 his going off to the vessel, saying, ^' You shall not go 

 there to be killed ;" but as he hoped to make his escape 

 he persisted, and the result was a bitter disappointment to 

 him.'^ 



Such is the succinct narrative, of which old 

 Lomba offered me the first rude materials. 



As soon as I had read the papers contained in the 

 basket, I endeavoured, by the help of the Malay 

 dictionary, to gain some more information from the 

 old man, and after some time succeeded in making 

 out that he v^^as the chief Lomba, mentioned by the 

 seamen in their narrative ; which was confirmed by 

 finding that the shirt he wore was marked with the 

 name of the unfortunate midshipman, J. P. Ching, 

 who so early fell a victim to the murderous savages 

 on the reef. From our ignorance of the language 

 I was unable to gain any information of the Euro- 

 pean boy, said to be still on the island. Lomba 

 pointed out the village he came from, prettily 

 situated on the crest of a well-wooded hill, and gave 

 me to understand that I should there find the other 

 chief, Pabok, who was too old and infirm to come 

 down. Upon which I determined to remain for 

 the night, in order to visit the village, in hopes of 

 getting some more information, and also to make 



