OVOLAU. 67 
He, in common with the other natives, believed that they were in- 
tended for the purpose of looking at the Great Spirit, and in conse- 
quence paid them the greatest respect and reverence. This opinion 
saved us much trouble, for they did not presume to approach the in- 
struments; and although some of ‘them were always to be found with- 
out 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 pro- 
bably 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 in- 
genious; 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 pro- 
mised 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 of many instances of the 
exercise of arbitrary authority over their vassals. 
One day, while at the observatory, I was greatly surprised at seeing 
