218 COUNCIL HELD. 



into the principal street on our side of the town, 

 to the market-place. 



Goodaloo, was spare, short, and active, seemingly 

 designed by nature for the ticklish occupation he 

 professed ; for the frail stick skeleton roof, when 

 .divested of the old straw, looked as if it would 

 have given way beneath the foot of a cat. After 

 a professional survey, and a most important con- 

 sultation with Tinta, his deputy, a Christian like 

 himself, and half-a-dozen rich Islam inhabitants, 

 it was determined to be most advisable, that only 

 a portion of the roof should be renewed at once, so 

 that I might have the shelter, either of the old or 

 of the newly finished roof, to sleep under, during 

 the three days required to put all to rights. The 

 Governor and his Deputy, however, were the only 

 useful members of this Council, for the former 

 directed his servants to supply me with the 

 necessary grass, whilst the latter assisted Goodaloo 

 in thatching. The Islam gentlemen, with the cool 

 dignity which, somehow or other, they do assume 

 most naturally, sat down upon the skins brought 

 for that purpose, and proceeded to call for coffee, 

 and to give directions to their Christian superiors, 

 in a manner that would have delighted Satan 

 himself, to have observed, if he takes any pleasure 

 at all, in seeing honest, simple humility, treated 

 with the most evident contempt. 



All this time, I was glad to keep out of the way^ 



