43 
THE PELEW ISLAN D S. 
“ It being now grown rather dark, the King, his brother, 
« feveral others, and myfelf, retired into a honfe, where 
u there w r as a fupper brought in of yams boiled whole, on 
46 a hand or ftool with a rim or edge round it of three or 
u four inches high ; in a difli or wooden bowl was a kind 
« of pudding made alfo of yams boiled and beat together, 
“ juft as we mafh potatoes, of which they put three or four 
“ in a bowl or difh. They had likewife fome fhell-fifh, 
u but of what kind I could not make out. They conducted 
u me after fupper to another houfe at fome diftance from the 
u firft, where I found at leaft forty or fifty men and women; 
u I was led thither by a female, who, when I had entered 
u the houfe, made ftgns to me to fit, or lie down on a 
u mat that was fpread, as I underftood, on the floor for me to 
44 deep on. After the reft of the company had all fatisfied 
u their curiofity by viewing me very accurately, they all 
u went to lleep, and I laid myfelf down on the mat, drawing 
ii another mat over me, which I fuppofed was placed there 
u for that purpofe, refting my head on a block of wood, 
44 which ferves the people here as a pillow. Unable to Hum-* 
u ber, I lay perfectly ftill; and fome condderable time after, 
u when all feemed quiet, about eight men arofe, and began 
u to make two great fires at each end of the houfe (which 
44 was not divided by partitions, but formed one large habi- 
tation) This operation of theirs, I confefs, alarmed me 
6i very much indeed; I thought of nothing lefs than that the 
a natives 
1783. 
AUGUST 
