26th of October.—Last night both the Alceste and Lyra were illuminated. At nine o'clock a feu de joie was fired, and a number of fire-works let off from the yard-arms. A great concourse of the natives, who had been apprised of our intentions, assembled on the shore, and were very highly delighted with this brilliant exhibition.
[Illustration: SCENE after the PRINCE of LOO CHOO'S FEAST.]
The sick, as well as the remaining stores belonging to the Alceste, were removed on board this morning, and every preparation made for sea. While employed in completing the series of observations at the observatory, Mádera joined us, having in his hand the sextant which I had given to the Prince yesterday. It seemed that he had been ordered to make himself acquainted with the use of it; and a more hopeless enterprise could not have been proposed to any man. But Mádera was not a man to be thrown into despair by difficulty; on the contrary, he persevered in observing with this sextant, and the more the difficulty was made apparent, the more keenly he laboured to overcome it. The progress which he made in a few hours in the mere practical operation of taking angles and altitudes was not surprising, because there is in fact not much difficulty in it; but he was nowise satisfied with this proficiency, and seemed anxious to apply his knowledge to some useful purpose.
With a sextant on a stand, I made him take the distance between the sun and moon, four or five times; on every occasion he was wonderfully near the truth. We endeavoured to confine him to one object, merely to ascertain the time of apparent noon; and I think we succeeded in explaining to him how this was to be done. He expressed repeatedly his regret at our approaching departure, in which sentiment he was joined by Jeeroo and the rest of the chiefs, who were quite out of spirits. Jeeroo, poor fellow, had prepared a handsome dinner for us under a tree near the observatory. He made us drink what he called "wackaríttee," or the parting cup, several times over. We had a number of visitors at the observatory, who saw the instruments packed up and sent off with looks of real regret. They all said they were sorry we were going away. One man gave Mr. Clifford, as a farewell gift, a curious drawing of the Alceste dressed in flags, and executed, he said, by his son. The children, too, were all much affected by our preparations, and the wonted hilarity of the lower orders was quite gone.
Having taken our final leave of the shore, we went to the Alceste, where we found the chiefs in conference with Captain Maxwell, who made each of the chiefs a present of a cut wine glass, which he knew they had long desired to possess. To Ookooma he gave a finely cut tumbler, in a red morocco case. This was much beyond his expectations, and perhaps his wishes, for he appeared to observe the wine glasses of the others with somewhat of a disappointed look. Captain Maxwell perceiving in a moment that Ookooma had set his heart upon a wine glass, opened the case, and placed one inside the tumbler, to Ookooma's great satisfaction; and soon afterwards the whole party went on shore, saying, before they left the ship, that in the morning the Bodzes would come on board in order to perform some sacrifice. As they never came, it is probable that the interpreter misunderstood them, particularly as Isaacha Sandoo said to Mr. Clifford, "Acha hoonee nittee Doochoo mang hoonee oocooyoong." "To-morrow the ships will go, and all the Loo-choo people will pray for them, or wish them well;" which was probably what was meant when the interpreter reported that the Bodzes were to come on board.
While we were at dinner, Mádera came into the Alceste's cabin for the purpose of asking some questions about the sextant. He had not been aware of our being at dinner, and looked shocked at having intruded; and when invited to sit down, politely, but firmly declined. From the cabin he went to the gun room, to see his friend Mr. Hoppner, the junior lieutenant of the Alceste, with whom he had formed a great friendship. Mr. Hoppner gave him a picture of the Alceste and some other presents; upon which Mádera, who was much affected, said, "To-morrow ship go sea; I go my father house, two day distance: when I see my father, I show him your present, and I tell him, me, Henry Hoppner all same (as) brother," and burst into tears!
Sunday, 27th of October.—At daybreak we unmoored, and the natives, on seeing us take up one of our anchors, thought we were going to get under weigh immediately, and give them the slip, which was not at all intended. This alarm, however, brought the chiefs off in a great hurry; not in a body in their usual formal way, but one by one, in separate canoes. Old Jeema called on board the Lyra on his way to the frigate; he was a good deal agitated, and the tears came into his eyes when I put a ring on his finger. He gave me in return his knife.
The other chiefs called alongside on their way to the frigate, but went on when I told them that I was just going to the Alceste myself. In the mean time Mádera came on board, with the sextant in his hand; he was in such distress that he scarcely knew what he was about. In this distracted state he sat down to breakfast with us, during which he continued lighting his pipe and smoking as fast as he could; drinking and eating whatever was placed before him. After he had a little recovered himself, he asked what books it would be necessary to read to enable him to make use of the sextant; I gave him a nautical almanack, and told him that he must understand that in the first instance: he opened it, and looking at the figures, held up his hands in despair, and was at last forced to confess that it was a hopeless business. He therefore put the sextant up and bade us farewell. Before he left the Lyra he gave Mr. Clifford his pipe, tobacco pouch, and a crystal ornament; saying, as he held out the last, "You go Ingeree, you give this to your childs."
Mr. Clifford gave him a few presents in return, and expressed his anxiety to be considered his friend. Mádera, with the tears streaming down his cheeks, placed his hand several times upon his heart, and cried, "Eedooshee, edooshee!" My friend, my friend!
To me he gave a fan and a picture of an old man looking up at the sun, drawn, he said, by himself: he probably meant in his picture some allusion to my usual occupation at the observatory. After he had put off in his boat, he called out, "Ingeree noo choo sibittee yootoosha," I shall ever remember the English people. When he went to the Alceste, one of the chiefs remarked that he had neither his hatchee-matchee on nor his robes, and told him that it was not respectful to wait upon Captain Maxwell for the last time, in his ordinary dress; particularly as all the others were in full array. Mádera, who, poor fellow, had been too much concerned about other matters to think of dress, was shocked at this apparent want of politeness, and went immediately to apologize to Captain Maxwell, who took him by the hand, and gave him a present, telling him, at the same time, that he was always too happy to see him, to notice what dress he had on.