144 SOMU-SOMU. 
chiefs and people have, however, different feelings, and call them 
impudent and greedy fellows, saying they breed a famine wherever 
they go. 
Lieutenant Carr also took with him, as a messenger or ambassador 
from Tanoa, an Ambau chief of some note, called Corodowdow. He 
was a true savage, well formed, and of extraordinary size, being six 
feet three inches in height; his features were finely formed, and his 
countenance of the European cast; his colour a deep black; his hair 
was frizzled; he had a fine eye, and an intelligent expression, and 
seemed not wanting in quickness of apprehension. He devoured his 
food at first like a savage, and had a portentous appetite: a fowl was 
but a small portion of a meal for him. He is said to have improved 
in his style of feeding, and to have been able to use a knife and fork 
on his return. Few men showed to more advantage in the Feejee 
costume; the sala and seavo of the white tapa cloth, set off well his 
colossal and dark figure. 
Both Tubou and Corodowdow had their suites of slaves, who were a 
great nuisance to both officers and men; and had I been aware before 
engaging them, that we must take their attendants also, 1 am now 
inclined to think I should have dispensed with their services altogether. 
Corodowdow fell in love with a French print of a female that belonged 
to one of the officers, and was hanging up in the tender’s cabin, which 
he would sit admiring for hours together. 
Tom Granby was sent in the tender to act as a pilot, and Lieutenant 
Underwood went also with a boat’s crew. 
Lieutenant Carr reached Lakemba on the morning of the 17th. He 
was immediately visited by the Reverend Mr. Calvert, the resident 
missionary, who informed him that it was Lieutenant-Commandant 
Ringgold’s intention to return in a few days. The letter and despatches 
were therefore given to Mr. Calvert; and Tubou and Corodowdow, 
with their attendants, were sent on shore. They were both dressed 
out in their best attire, and when they made their appearance the 
natives all prostrated themselves, uttering, at the same time, a low 
moan. For the kindness shown him, Corodowdow presented Mr. 
Sinclair with his long bone or hair-pricker, as a mark of his friendship, 
telling him it was made from the thigh-bone of one of his enemies 
whom he had killed in battle. 
Leaving Lakemba, Lieutenant Carr proceeded with the tender to 
Vanua-vatu, where they began their surveys. The tender’s boats 
were launched, and the island was circumnavigated. It rises gradu- 
ally, on all sides, to the height of several hundred feet, and is covered 
with foliage; it is six miles in circumference, and is encircled by a 
