The following morning Captain Wallis sent her a present by the gunner,
who found her in the midst of an entertainment given to at least a
thousand people. The messes were put into shells of cocoa-nuts, and the
shells into wooden trays, like those used by our butchers, and she
distributed them with her own hands to the guests, who were seated in
rows in the open air, round the great house. When this was done, she sat
down herself upon a place somewhat elevated above the rest, and two
women, placing themselves, one on each side of her, fed her, she opening
her mouth as they brought their hands up with the food. From this time,
provisions were sent to market in the greatest abundance. The queen
frequently visited the captain on board, and always with a present, but
she never condescended to barter, nor would she accept of any return.
One day, after visiting her at her house, the captain at parting made
her comprehend by signs, that he intended to quit the island in seven
days: she immediately understood his meaning, and by similar signs,
expressed her wish that he should stay twenty days; that he should go
with her a couple of days' journey into the country, stay there a few
days, return with plenty of hogs and poultry, and then go away; but on
persisting in his first intention, she burst into tears, and it was not
without great difficulty that she could be pacified. The next time that
she went on board, Captain Wallis ordered a good dinner for her
entertainment and those chiefs who were of her party; but the queen
would neither eat nor drink. As she was going over the ship's side, she
asked, by signs, whether he still persisted in leaving the island at the
time he had fixed, and on receiving an answer in the affirmative, she
expressed her regret by a flood of tears; and as soon as her passion
subsided, she told the captain that she would come on board again the
following day.
Accordingly, the next day she again visited the ship twice, bringing
each time large presents of hogs, fowls, and fruits. The captain, after
expressing his sense of her kindness and bounty, announced his intention
of sailing the following morning. This, as usual, threw her into tears,
and after recovering herself, she made anxious inquiry when he should
return; he said in fifty days, with which she seemed to be satisfied.
'She stayed on board,' says Captain Wallis, 'till night, and it was then
with the greatest difficulty that she could be prevailed upon to go on
shore. When she was told that the boat was ready, she threw herself down
upon the arm-chest, and wept a long time, with an excess of passion that
could not be pacified; at last, however, with the greatest reluctance,
she was prevailed upon to go into the boat, and was followed by her
attendants.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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