258 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



hogs, though not so fat as himself. If weight of body 

 could give weight in rank or power, he was certainly 

 the most eminent man in that respect we had seen. I 

 found him to be a sedate, sensible man. He viewed the 

 ship and the several new objects with uncommon attention, 

 and asked many pertinent questions, one of which was, 

 What could induce us to visit these islands ? After he 

 had satisfied his curiosity In looking at the cattle, and 

 other novelties which he met with upon deck, I desired 

 him to walk down into the cabin. To this his attendants 

 objected, saying, that if he were to accept of that invitation, 

 it must happen that people would walk over his head ; but 

 the chief himself, less scrupulous in this respect than his 

 attendants, waived all ceremony and walked down.* 



" Poulaho sat down with us to dinner, but he ate little and 

 drank less. When he rose from the table, he desired me to 

 accompany him ashore. I attended the chief in my own 

 boat, having first made presents to him of such articles as I 

 could observe he valued much, ind were even beyond his 

 expectation to receive. I was not disappointed in my view 

 of thus securing his friendship, ior the moment the boat 

 reached the beach he ordered two more hogs to be brought 

 and delivered to my people. He was then carried out of 

 the boat by some of his own people, upon a board resembling 

 a hand-barrow, and went and seated himself in a small 

 house near the shore, which seemed to have been erected 

 there for his accommodation. He placed me at his side, and 

 his attendants seated themselves in a semicircle before us 

 on the outside of the house. Behind the chief, or rather 

 on one side, sat an old woman with a sort of fan in her 

 hand, whose office it was to prevent his being pestered with 

 the ilies. 



" I staid till several of his attendants left him, first paying 

 him obeisance by bowing the hand down to the sole of his 

 foot, and touching or tapping the same with the upper and 

 under side of the fingers of both hands. Others, who were 

 not in the circle, came, as it seemed, on purpose, and paid 

 him this mark of respect, and then retired without speaking 

 a word. I was quite charmed with the decorum that was 

 observed. I had nowhere seen the like, not even amongst 

 more civilized nations. 



* This reminds one of the Chinaman who sought information about 

 the beautiful carriages, with their splendid hammer-cloths, taken out 

 by Lord Macartney as a present to the Emperor, and who, when he 

 learnt that the elevated box was to be the seat of the man who drove 

 the horses, asked his informant with a sneer, if bethought that the 

 Emperor would suffer any man to sit higher than himself ? Barrow's 

 Travels in China. 



