﻿94 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND 



ged me to explain the motto ; expressing a wish, that 

 the order might be conferred on him by the King of 

 England, in return for his good offices to the English. 

 I represented to him the impossibility of his being 

 gratified, and took occasion to sav, that there was 

 more true dignity in their "own native titles, than in 

 those of prince, duke, and lord, which had been idly 

 given them, but had no conformity to their manners 

 or the constitution of their government. 



This conversation being agreeable to neither of us, 

 I changed it, by desiring that the palanquins and 

 bearers might be ready next morning as early as 

 possible. He answered, that his palanquins were 

 at our service for nothing, but that we must pay 

 him ten dollars for each set of bearers; that 

 it was the stated price, and that Mr. Hastings had 

 paid it when 'he went to visit the king. This, as I 

 learned afterwards, was false; but, at all events, I 

 knew that he would keep the dollars himself, and give 

 nothing to the bearers, who deserved them better, 

 and whom he would compel to leave their cottages, 

 and toil for his profit. " Can you imagine," I re- 

 plied, V that we would employ four-and-twenty men 

 ■" to bear us so far on their shoulders without reward- 

 i( ing them amply ? But since they are freemen (so 

 he had assured me) " and not your slaves, we will pay 

 " them in proportion to their diligence and good beha- 

 " viour ; and it becomes neither your dignity nor ours 

 M to make a previous bargain." I showed him an ele- 

 gant copy of the Koran, which I destined for his father, 

 and described the nest of my present; but he coldly 

 asked, " if that was all?" Had he been king, a purse 

 of dry dollars would have given him more pleasure 

 than the finest or holiest manuscript. Finding him, in 

 conversing on a variety of subjects, utterly void of in- 

 telligence or principle, I took my leave, and saw him no 

 more; but promised to let him know for certain whe- 

 ther we should make our intended excursion. 



