70 O V O L A U. 



carriage. The instruments at the observatory excited his wonder 

 and curiosity. He, in common with the other natives, believed that 

 they were intended for the purpose of looking at the Great Spirit, and 

 in consequence paid them the greatest respect and reverence. This 

 opinion saved us much trouble, for they did not presume to approach 

 the instruments ; and although some of them were always to be found 

 without the boundary which had been traced to limit their approach, 

 they never intruded within it. They always behaved civilly, and 

 said they only came to sara-sara (look on). 



I afterwards took Seru on board the Vincennes, where, as his 

 father had recommended, I gave him plenty of good advice, to which 

 he seemed to pay great attention. I had been told that he would 

 probably exhibit hauteur and an arrogant bearing, but he manifested 

 nothing of the kind. He appeared rather, as I had been told by his 

 father I would find him, "young and frisky." He was received with 

 the same attentions that had been paid to his father. The firing of 

 the guns seemed to take his fancy much, and he was desirous that I 

 should gratify him by continuing to fire them longer ; but I was not 

 inclined to make the honours paid to him greater than those rendered 

 to his father, knowing how observant they are of all forms. The 

 whole party, himself included, showed more pleasure and were much 

 more liberal in their exclamations of vi naka, vi naka ! and whoo ! 

 using them more energetically than the king's party, as might be 

 naturally expected from a younger set of natives. Seru is quite 

 ingenious; he took the musket given him to pieces as quickly, and 

 used it with as much adroitness as if he had been a gunsmith. His 

 ambati (priest) was with him, and the party all appeared greatly 

 delighted with the ship. On the whole I was much pleased with 

 him during his visit ; shortly afterwards, he, however, visited the ship 

 during my absence, and displayed a very different bearing, so much 

 so as to require to be checked. I learned a circumstance which would 

 serve to prove that the reputation he bears is pretty well founded. 

 He on one occasion had sent word to one of the islands (Goro, I 

 believe,) for the chief to have a quantity of cocoa-nut oil ready for 

 him by a certain time. Towards the expiration of the specified 

 interval, Seru went to the island and found it was not ready. The 

 old chief of the island pleaded the impossibility of compliance, from 

 want of time, and promised to have it ready as soon as possible. 

 Seru told him he was a great liar, and without further words, struck 

 him on the head and killed him on the spot. This is only one 



