"About five o'clock dinner was ready; it was served in six-and-thirty dishes, or rather baskets, containing alternately rice and pork, and three bowls of earthenware, filled with the liquor in which the pork had been boiled; these were ranged upon the floor, and mats laid round them for us to sit upon. We were then conducted by turns to a hole in the floor, near which stood a man with water in a vessel made of the leaves of the fan-palm, who assisted us in washing our hands. When this was done, we placed ourselves round the victuals, and waited for the king. As he did not come, we enquired for him, and were told that the custom of the country did not permit the person who gave the entertainment to sit down with his guests; but that, if we suspected the victuals to be poisoned, he would come and taste it. We immediately declared that we had no such suspicion, and desired that none of the rituals of hospitality might be violated on our account. The Prime Minister and Mr. Lange were of our party, and we made a most luxurious meal; we thought the pork and rice excellent, and the broth not to be despised; but the spoons, which were made of leaves, were so small that few of us had patience to use them. After dinner, our wine passed briskly about, and we again enquired for our royal host, thinking that though the custom of his country would not allow him to eat with us, he might at least share in the jollity of our bottle; but he again excused himself, saying, that the master of a feast should never be drunk, which there was no certain way to avoid but by not tasting the liquor. We did not however drink our wine where we had eaten our victuals; but as soon as we had dined made room for the seamen and servants, who immediately took our places: they could not despatch all that we had left, but the women who came to clear away the bowls and baskets, obliged them to carry away with them what they had not eaten." At length the old man who was the king's Prime Minister, and who was won over by the present of a spyglass and a broadsword, intervened with a show of force, and the Dutch-German factor and his Portuguese colleague had to give way. Cook purchased 9 buffaloes, 6 sheep, 3 pigs, 360 fowls, a few limes, some coconuts, dozens of eggs, a little garlic, and several gallons of palm syrup--a most welcome addition to the food supply of the ship, which by this time had been reduced in the matter of fresh provisions to a single sheep, and probably the saving of life for many invalids on board. The sheep which he bought on the island were like those of Southern India, with hair instead of wool, very long, pendent ears, and arched noses.