In the early part of the interview the present was brought in, or at least such parts of it as were capable of being thus displayed. The whole consisted of two bullocks, three hogs, three goats, and a quantity of vegetables and fruit; besides fifteen webs of the cloth of the island, thirty fans, and twelve pipes. The Prince said he had sent a present to me, which I found to consist of half the above mentioned things. He shortly afterwards rose to take leave. The rigging was manned on his going away, and similar honours were paid him as were shewn when he came on board.
The Prince of Loo-choo, whose name is Shang Pung Fwee, and title Pochin Tay Foo, belongs to the highest of the nine orders of chiefs on the islands, the distinction of which rank is a hatchee-matchee of a pink ground, with perpendicular rows of black, yellow, blue, white, and green spots. He was clothed in a robe of light blue silk, lined with silk a shade lighter, over which he wore a girdle richly embossed with flowers of gold and different coloured silks: in other respects his dress was like that of the chiefs. He is about fifty years old, his beard is full and white, and his figure well proportioned. In manners he is genteel and sedate, but occasionally a little awkward, which his retired habits sufficiently account for. Towards the close of his visit, when his reserve had in some degree worn off, we observed him smile for an instant, now and then, with a shrewd expression in his eyes, as if he was observing what was passing more narrowly than we at first suspected. It was thought, too, that in making inquiries about different things on board, he shewed more discrimination than most of those who had preceded him; but on the whole, there was nothing very interesting in him besides his rank. While he was looking over the books and other things in the cabin, a picture of his majesty King George the Third was shewn to him. As the interpreter was not present, we could not immediately explain who it was intended to represent, till it occurred to us to join our hands and bow to it in the Loo-choo manner: the Prince instantly saw what was meant, and turning towards the picture, made a low and respectful obeisance.
His suite consisted of several chiefs whom we had not seen before, and six or seven personal attendants, two of whom stood behind to fan him and light his pipe. It is curious that these men, who from their dress and manner were certainly servants, derived a sort of rank from being about the Prince's person; for when the chiefs sat down to table after he had left it, they all stood by as if expecting to be invited to sit down also; but Mr. Clifford, to whom Captain Maxwell had given the party in charge, having observed how particular they were with respect to the distinctions of rank, did not think of asking them to be seated, till Jeema requested him to do so; still suspecting some mistake, he applied to Mádera, who said it was perfectly correct, and they were accordingly asked to sit down with the rest.
We had never been able to obtain from the natives any clear account of former visitors, and as the Prince was thought a likely person to be in possession of the desired information, questions were asked him upon this subject. He said that a vessel had been here about twenty years ago, and that she went away immediately without holding any communication with the court. This must have been the schooner in which Captain Broughton visited Napakiang in July, 1797, after he had been wrecked in his majesty's ship Providence, on the island of Typinsan[13]. He said that he knew of no other stranger who had visited Loo-choo. On being interrogated as to the knowledge of other countries, he declared that they knew nothing of the English or French, or any nation indeed but the Chinese, Corean, and Japanese. Something was said about Manilla, and from its not being very remote, it is possible that some communication may have existed between that place and Loo-choo. Their accounts, however, were vague and unsatisfactory, and it is not impossible that we ourselves may have first suggested the name, and afterwards ascribed the use of it to them[14].
Nothing, however, that occurred to-day, attracted more notice than Mádera's assumption of his long concealed rank. He came for the first time dressed in the robes and hatchee-matchee of a chief, and not only took precedence of all our old friends, but during the discussion in the cabin with the Prince, maintained a decided superiority over them all. While all the rest were embarrassed in the Prince's presence, and crouching on their knees every time they spoke, Mádera, though always respectful, was quite at his ease; and we could not help fancying that he addressed the Prince as if accustomed to his society. It was no less remarkable, that the Prince referred much oftener to him than to any of the rest, and listened to what he said with greater attention. Whether Mádera owed such distinction to his actual rank, which may have placed him about the court, or to the ascendancy of his talents, or to the accidental circumstance of his having had better opportunities of knowing us than any other of the natives, we could never discover. He admitted, when interrogated, that he had often seen the Prince before, while the other chiefs confessed their ignorance even of his person, before to-day.
As soon as the Prince was placed in his chair and carried away, Mádera came on board, and entered with great good humour into all the jokes which were made upon his new character. He declined telling why he had kept his rank so long out of sight, but it was sufficiently obvious that his main object was to establish an intimacy with all the different classes on board the ships, and in this he completely succeeded; for he had gradually advanced in his acquaintance, first with the sailors, then the midshipmen, next with the officers, and last of all with the captains. By this means he gained the confidence and good will of each class as he went along; and by rising in consequence every day, instead of putting forward all his claims at once, acquired not only substantial importance with us, but gained a much more intimate knowledge of our character and customs than he could have hoped to do in any other way.
24th of October.—Mr. Clifford went along with me to-day for the purpose of sketching the bridge, which, though not above three hundred yards from the landing place, the chiefs have always objected to our examining. We took Jeeroo with us without telling him our object, which he no sooner discovered than he became quite alarmed, and sent off for Mádera, who came to us immediately, and upon learning that nothing further was proposed than a mere examination of the bridge, he said that we might go on; having first made us promise solemnly not to go any further. While Mádera was binding us down in this way, I expressed some little impatience at his doubting our simple declaration of nothing more being intended than what we avowed; but his duty I suppose was imperative, and he would not leave us till the matter was arranged in his own way. As soon as he was satisfied on this point he said something to Jeeroo and left us; but turning back again, he came up to Mr. Clifford, and whispered, "captain no sulky?" meaning, we supposed, to express his apprehension that I had been angry at the stipulations so positively required by him. Mr. Clifford, having assured him that I was not sulky with him, detained him to ask him what it was he feared? what he had seen in us to excite such dread of our going near the town? He replied, "Loochoo woman see Ingeree man, Loochoo woman cry!" He then returned; and Jeeroo, who remained in a boat close to the bridge while I was employed measuring it and drawing it stone by stone, was greatly interested by Mr. Clifford's account of the great age of our venerable Sovereign, and the number of his family, which excited his astonishment and admiration. He conversed freely while the subject was the King of England, but the moment the slightest turn in the discourse was made towards the King of Loo-choo he drew up, and became impenetrable. "He did not know," he said, "how old he was, nor how many children he had;" in short he seemed scarcely to admit that he had ever heard any thing about him.
From Mádera, however, who had no concealments, we learnt afterwards that the King has only one wife, but has twelve concubines; he is an old man, and has seven children. It is curious that none of the chiefs will inform Captain Maxwell whether or not the Prince who visited the ships yesterday has any children; it is hardly possible that they can be ignorant of the fact; but either they are kept strangely in the dark as to what passes in the palace, or they carry their reserve on royal topics to a singular length.
From the bridge we went to the top of the hill above the well, where Jeeroo sung several songs. On the way up we stopped at one of the large horse-shoe tombs mentioned before, which resembles in all respects the tombs of China. On this similarity being pointed out to Jeeroo, he became anxious to explain that it was a Loo-choo tomb, and not exclusively Chinese; meaning probably that Loo-choo persons were contained in it. He informed us that these tombs did not contain a single person only, or a single generation, but were used as cemeteries from age to age. The bodies, according to his account, are put into coffins, and allowed to lie untouched for seven years, by which time the flesh is entirely decayed; the bones are then collected, and being put into cases are preserved by the families of the deceased with great care.
25th of October.—This being the anniversary of His Majesty's accession to the throne, the ships were dressed in colours, and a royal salute fired. Upon the natives this produced a great effect; they had never seen any other flags than the single ensigns hoisted on Sundays, and this display of several hundred flags was well calculated to surprise and delight them. They were informed some days before that there would be some ceremonies in honour of our King, and great numbers of people had assembled on the shore in consequence. This morning had also been fixed upon for returning the Prince's visit; accordingly we left the Alceste at one o'clock, forming a procession of four boats, with flags in each. Captain Maxwell took twelve of his officers and young gentlemen, and six accompanied me from the Lyra, all being dressed in full uniform. We entered the harbour, and landed at the same part of the causeway as before, where the chiefs were in attendance, as on the occasion of our visit on the 23d ult.