I could get about them was, that they were taboo.  Our number kept continually increasing, every one coming from the same quarter.  From time to time, one or another of the company turned himself to those who were coming to join us, and made a short speech, in which I could remark that the word arekee, that is, king, was generally mentioned.  One man said something that produced bursts of hearty laughter from all the crowd; others of the speakers met with public applause.  I was several times desired to leave the place, and, at last, when they found that I would not stir, after some seeming consultation, they applied to me to uncover my shoulders as theirs were.  With this request I complied, and then they seemed to be no longer uneasy at my presence.

I sat a full hour, without any thing more going forward, beside what I have mentioned.  At length the prince, the women, and the king, all came in, as they had done the day before.  The prince being placed under the shed, after his father’s arrival, two men, each carrying a piece of mat, came repeating something seriously, and put them about him.  The assembled people now began their operations; and first, three companies ran backward and forward across the area, as described in the account of the proceedings of the former day.  Soon after, the two men, who sat in the middle of the area, made a short speech or prayer, and then the whole body, amongst whom I had my place, started up, and ran and seated themselves before the shed under which the prince, and three or four men, were sitting.  I was now partly under the management of one of the company, who seemed very assiduous to serve me.  By his means, I was placed in such a situation, that if I had been allowed to make use of my eyes, nothing that passed could have escaped me.  But it was necessary to sit with down-cast looks, and demure as maids.

Soon after the procession came in, as on the day before; each two persons bearing on their shoulders a pole, round the middle of which, a cocoa-nut leaf was plaited.  These were deposited with ceremonies similar to those observed on the preceding day.  This first procession was followed by a second; the men composing which, brought baskets, such as are usually employed by this people to carry provisions in, and made of palm leaves.  These were followed, by a third procession, in which were brought different kinds of small fish, each fixed at the end of a forked stick.  The baskets were carried up to an old man, whom I took to be the chief priest, and who sat on the prince’s right hand, without the shed.  He held each in his hand, while he made a short speech or prayer, then laid it down, and called for another, repeating the same words as before; and thus he went through the whole number of baskets.  The fish were presented, one by one, on the forked sticks, as they came in, to two men, who sat on the left, and who, till now, held green branches in their hands.  The first fish they