The monarchy here, as in all Fernandian towns, is hereditary, not from father to son, but from uncle to nephew. His palace was certainly a most extraordinary place for human residence. Yet, on my getting inside, his first exhibition to me was, as the interpreter explained it, his throne and crown, the former consisting of a filthy stool, that looked old enough and dirty enough to have been handed down in his family for several scores of generations; and the latter, an equally filthy old hat of bamboo leaf, with a monkey’s tail pendent from it. Inside the house, the light came in through dozens of crevices in the walls as well as the roof. The wall consists only of boards placed side by side, reaching from the ground to the roof, all of which are moveable, so that the inmate has only to shift one or two at any side, and he lets himself in or out as he pleases. Across the house inside are placed a number of poles, on which are suspended hats, skins, rusty guns, cloth, and calabashes; but no windows, stools, beds, or tables, save the old throne, and a tax-gatherer would find a great scarcity of available chattels in the place. The coronation of a king is a ceremonial that I have not yet had the pleasure of witnessing, but it has been reported to me as one possessing interesting features. It is so bound up with their notions of a spirit or devil, that I deem it necessary to explain the peculiarity of their belief on this latter point. Maaon is the title given to the devil, and the botakimaaon (his high priest) is supposed to have influence with him through communication with the cobracapella, the koukarouko. Their faith in God, to whom the name of “Rupe” is given, is a loftier aspiration than that of the devil, but they believe that the Deity’s favour can be only obtained by intercession through the koukaroukos at the bottom, the candidate for regal honours standing alongside, and all his subjects _in futuro_ being about. This conference is, I believe, carried on by means of ventriloquism, a faculty with which many of the Fernandians are reported to be endowed. The botakimaaon then delivers to the king the message from the koukarouko for his guidance in his high station, shakes over him a quantity of yellow powder, entitled “isheobo,” which is obtained by collecting a creamy coat that is found on the water at the mouths of some small rivers, evaporating the water, and forming a chalky mass of the residue. From the lightness as well as friability of this article, I believe it to be of a vegetable nature. He has then placed upon his head the hat worn by his uncle, and the crowning is accomplished. After becoming a king, his majesty is forbidden to eat cocoa, deer, or porcupine, which are the ordinary condiments of the people; and the ceremonial is concluded by the latter having some of the yellow powder rubbed over their foreheads by the botakimaaon, with instructions to use the same material in like manner every morning for seven days.