To-day for the first time they talked unreservedly of the king, whose name even they had hitherto studiously avoided: they spoke freely of his majesty's having sent all the stock and vegetables with which we were daily supplied. Captain Maxwell, who of course was very desirous of opening a communication with the court, intimated his wish to pay his respects as soon as might be convenient. They heard this with apparent satisfaction, and signified that his request should be made known to the king. We are at a loss to discover what can have caused this change of manner. We can only conjecture, that perhaps the king, on hearing so many reports about us, may have become desirous of seeing us himself. At all events it is clear that some alteration in the instructions to the chiefs must have been made, otherwise they would have shewn their usual reserve when the king's name was mentioned, and would on no account have allowed us to talk of visiting him. At one o'clock we went on shore to look at the place assigned by the chiefs for the reception of the Alceste's stores. It is an oblong inclosure, sixty yards by forty, surrounded by a wall twelve feet high, rather well built with squared coral: the entrance is by a large gate on the south side, from which there extends raised gravel walks, with clipped hedges, the intermediate spaces being laid out in beds, like a garden. The temple in which we were feasted on the day of our first visit, occupies one corner of the inclosure; it is completely shaded by a grove of trees, which also overhang the wall. In that part of the garden directly opposite to the gate, at the upper end of the walk there is a smaller temple, nearly hid by the branches of several large banyan trees; and before it, at the distance of ten or twelve paces, a square awkward looking building, with a raised terrace round it. The temple first spoken of is divided by means of shifting partitions into four apartments, and a verandah running all round, having a row of carved wooden pillars on its outer edge to support the roof, which extends considerably beyond it. The floor of the verandah is two feet from the ground, the roof is sloping and covered with handsome tiles, those forming the eaves being ornamented with flowers and various figures in relief; there are also several out-houses, and a kitchen communicating with them by covered passages. In one of the inner apartments, at the upper end, there is a small recess containing a green shrub, in a high narrow flower-pot, having a Chinese inscription on a tablet hanging above it on the wall. On another side of the same room, there hangs the picture of a man rescuing a bird from the paws of a cat; the bird seems to have been just taken from a cage, which is tumbling over, with two other birds fluttering about in the inside: it is merely a sketch, but is executed in a spirited manner. In one of the back apartments we find three gilt images, eighteen inches high, with a