On the morning of the 25th, I went on shore, in company with several of the officers, to indulge our curiosity and ramble about the valley. We were soon surrounded by a group of natives, who followed us wherever we went. Our first object was to visit the chief of the valley, whose residence we found at the distance of two or three hundred yards from the shore. It was a plain, oblong hut, thirty by twenty feet. Its simple structure was such as is first suggested to the untutored mind--a few poles laid over crotches, upon which was framed a triangular roof, and the whole thatched with palm or cocoa-nut leaves. When we entered this regal hut we found the chief seated near one end of it, who barely condescended to notice us as we approached to make our salutations. We were not prepared for so rude a reception and felt somewhat mortified to find a chief of his distinguished rank so totally destitute of courtesy. We thought at least that he would have risen from his sitting posture, and expected more from him than our after experience taught us we had a right to look for from people in a state of nature. The only furniture in the hut was a few coarse mats. At one side of it five muskets, highly polished, were arranged one above the other, over which hung two kegs of powder sewed up in canvass, and near them a few long spears and a war conch, ornamented with human hair. We made ourselves as much at home as if we had received a more cordial welcome, and indulged our curiosity in examining whatever we saw, when suddenly the chief rose and his silence and gravity were at once explained. We had remarked that he had an uncommonly large black robe thrown over him, but without the least suspicion that it covered any one else than himself. He suddenly threw it aside as we came near him and there stood his wife, a girl about eighteen years of age, who had just finished making her toilet. He pointed to her with a look of satisfaction, and uttered "Motake," a word we afterwards learned, signified very good, or very well. Although she was naturally a pretty girl, she had made herself a hideous looking object. She had smeared her face all over with a coarse yellow paint, upon which was drawn streaks of black and green, than which nothing could have appeared more disgusting. She assumed a manner and look of affectation, such as may often have been observed in some self-approving beauty, who, conscious of her charms, feels that she is an object of admiration to all around her. When I expressed my disapprobation of her style of ornament, she stared at me with a look of surprise, which seemed to ask what I was saying. I soon gave both her and the chief to understand, by signs; after which they seemed not so well pleased with themselves or each other; and when I saw her again in the evening she was without any ornament, and looked all the better for it. While here, two grotesque figures came in and walked up to me with an austere look.