tribe, and I even pleased myself with the hope that some day, a reclaimed
and enlightened character, she might employ her skill in embroidering
slippers and braces for a humble vessel. I seemed to see her, a helpmate
meet for me, holding Mothers' Meetings, playing hymn-tunes on the lyre,
or the double pipes, the native instruments, and, above all, winning the
islanders from their cruel and abominable custom of exposing their infant
children on the mountains. How differently have all things been
arranged.

But I am wandering from my story. When we reached the group by the
fireside, who had at first been unaware of our entrance, the chief's wife
gave a slight start, alarmed doubtless by my appearance. She could never
have seen, nor even dreamed of, such a spectacle as I must have
presented, haggard, ragged, faint with hunger, and worn with fatigue as I
was. The chief motioned to me that I should kneel at his wife's feet,
and kiss her hand, but I merely bowed, not considering this a fit moment
to protest otherwise against such sacrilegious mummeries. But the
woman--her name I learned later was Ocyale--did not take my attitude in
bad part. The startled expression of her face changed to a look of pity,
and, with a movement of her hand, she directed Doto to bring a large
golden cup from the table at the upper end of the room. Into this cup
she ladled some dark liquid from a bowl which was placed on a small three-
legged stand, or dumb waiter, close to her side. Next she spilt a little
of the wine on the polished floor, with an appearance of gravity which I
did not understand. It appears that this spilling of wine is a drink
offering to their idols. She then offered me the cup, which I was about
to taste, when I perceived that the liquor was indubitably _alcoholic_!

A total abstainer, I had, I am thankful to say, strength enough to resist
the temptation thus adroitly thrust upon me. Setting down the cup, I