ought to say, though permitted to go where I would, and allowed to
observe even their most secret rites, enjoying opportunities such as will
never fall to another European, I was never, but once, entirely alone. My
worshippers, as they might almost be called, so humble was their
demeanour, still kept watchful eyes upon me, as if I were a being so
precious that they were jealous of my every movement. It was now made
plain to me, by signs, that I must wait for some little space before
being conveyed to my appointed residence.



VI. A BACKSLIDER. A WARNING.


We had not remained long by ourselves in the square, when the most
extraordinary procession which I had ever beheld began to climb into the
open space from the town beneath. I do not know if I have made it
sufficiently clear that the square, on the crest of the isolated hill
above the sea, was occupied only by public buildings, such as the temple,
the house of the chief, and a large edifice used as a kind of town hall,
so to speak. The natives in general lived in much smaller houses, many
of them little better than huts, and divided by extremely narrow and
filthy streets, on the slopes, and along the shores of the bay.

It was from these houses and from all the country round that the
procession, with persons who fell into its ranks as they came, was now
making its way. Almost all the parties concerned were young, boys and
girls, or very young men and women, and though their dress was much
scantier and less decent than what our ideas of delicacy require, it must
be admitted that the general aspect of the procession was far from