As the king above-mentioned and his followers had come from a considerable distance, and were reported to possess great influence among their neighbours, it was thought a good opportunity both to impress them with a knowledge of our power, and to conciliate them by a show of our good-nature. There was the more reason for this, in consequence of pretty certain evidence having been obtained that the crew of an American trading-vessel, which had been wrecked on the coast not long before, had been most barbarously treated by the tribe into whose hands they fell. As such a misfortune might again happen, it was thought a good opportunity to make an impression upon the native tribes, which was sure to be communicated from one to the other, by means of the old king and his adherents. Accordingly, the old man (who was called Appelli by the Portuguese) was one day invited to go on board the Nemesis, with one or two of his attendants. The vessel had by this time been got nearly ready for sea, and on this occasion, in order to produce greater effect upon all the lookers-on, was dressed out with her flags, and, being newly-painted, presented a very gay appearance. A Portuguese merchant accompanied the veteran chief to the ship as interpreter, and, rather unexpectedly, several women also came off with him, dressed in showy colours, and impelled, perhaps, as much by the flattering thought that they would quite astonish the white man, as by the mere feeling of curiosity. The moment the king put his foot upon the deck, the single fife and drum which was on board set up "God save the king!" and the old man appeared well pleased both with the tune and the attention. After this, a particularly ugly, repulsive-looking fellow, who turned out to be the king's fool, though as old as the king himself, set up a most discordant note of admiration upon three reeds which he held in his hand, something after the manner of pan-pipes. At intervals he treated you to a sort of explanatory text of his own, in the shape of a few uncouth words, yelled out in a manner particularly edifying to all _except_ those in whose honour it is supposed they were especially poured forth. His appearance was rendered more uncouth by a large bag tied under his chin, for what purpose was not very evident, but probably to contain either his charms or his tobacco. The queen herself had also accompanied her lord upon this occasion, and exhibited no fear, and certainly no beauty. Picture to yourself a young sable queen, a capital caricature of one of the Egyptian statues in black marble, plump and shiny as her prototype, only less expressive. Then invest her in your imagination with sundry huge scars about her cheek and nose; not those delicate lines and graceful curves which decorate the upper lip of royalty among New Zealand tribes, but regular lumps, squeezed up and dried, as it were into large warts, particularly about the nose, as if a race of gigantic musquitoes had held a feast there!