1812. 
SURPRISE AT THE PORTRAIT OF MOLLEMMI. 
463 
representations were just, I should suffer myself to be guided by 
them. He then voluntarily confessed that the words which he had 
yesterday made use of, were uttered in haste and without reflection, 
and that he now felt sorry at having expressed himself in so unbe- 
coming a manner. 
MolUmmiy who had long resisted my solicitations to sit for his 
portrait, was this morning prevailed on by the offer of a quantity of 
tobacco, to grant my request. 
This being the first portrait which I had drawn at Litakun, it 
was fortunate that I succeeded in obtaining a strong likeness, as the 
circumstance made a very favorable impression on the natives and 
pleased them excessively. As soon as it was known, for he imme- 
diately went and told every body what I had done, every one 
crowded to see it. Mattivi came smiling, and calling out, Akkui bon! 
(Let me see !) : and after his first surprise was over, he exclaimed, 
SmgJce ! Singke ! (Very pretty ! Very well !) But the astonishment 
of the crowd, on seeing Mollemmi in a book, is not very easily to be 
described ; nor perhaps imagined, without having been witnessed. 
They fixed their eyes on it with a degree of attention which 
seemed to give to their countenances an expression not very unlike 
that of fear. It was evident that so strange and unexpected a 
sight, absorbed all their thoughts ; till, on taking their eyes off the 
drawing and turning to their companions, they burst into laughter 
and expressed their surprise and delight in a variety of modes, 
all equally comic. Their quickness in comprehending a hasty un- 
coloured drawing, for I was obliged to complete it in a quarter of 
an hour, and in discovering at the first glance the meaning of every 
line, gave me a favourable opinion of their discernment. 
Having remarked, when I paid the visit to Serrakutu, that the 
view of Litakun seen from a spot close to his mootsi, comprised 
enough of the general character of the scenery to give a good idea of 
the nature and appearance of the town, I again took a walk thither, 
for the purpose of making a drawing of it ; and which forms the 
subject of the sixth plate. 
As I now began to consider Juli as more faithfully attached to 
