246 
RECEPTION AT LATTAKOO. 
[1813. 
by bushes and branches of trees laid one above ano- 
ther, in which were several hundreds of people assem- 
bled together, and a number of tall men with spears, 
drawn up in military order on the north side of the 
square. In a few minutes the square was filled with 
men, women, and children, who poured in from all 
quarters, to the number of a thousand or more. The 
noise from so many tongues, bawling with all their 
might, was rather confounding, after being so long 
accustomed to the stillness of the wilderness. We 
w^ere soon separated and lost sight of each other in the 
crowd. At first the women and children fled if we 
only looked at them, but they gradually became 
bolder. I observed some of the children, whose 
heads I had stroked, throwing themselves in my way, 
that I might do it again; when they looked to their 
more timid companions, as if they had said. Are not 
we courageous? The crowd so increased, that we 
could hardly find out each other, and wondered when 
we should be permitted to take some refreshment. 
We adopted a scheme, which after a while answered 
our purpose ; we drew up the waggons in the 
form of a square, and placed our tent in the centre. 
We were introduced to Munaneets the uncle, and to 
Salakootoo, the brother of the late king Mallayabang, 
who stood in the middle of the spearmen. A house in 
the square, used by them for some public purpose, was 
assigned to us for a kitchen. 
On getting into our tent, a crowd of the chief men 
followed us and filled the tent to the outside, and the 
