little curious to my unaccustomed sight, and therefore I dilate
upon them. But to underrate or forget thy faithful services is
something I could never be guilty of, even in the giddiest moment
of my life.

The father of my attached follower was a native of gigantic
frame, and had once possessed prodigious physical powers; but the
lofty form was now yielding to the inroads of time, though the
hand of disease seemed never to have been laid upon the aged
warrior. Marheyo--for such was his name--appeared to have
retired from all active participation in the affairs of the
valley, seldom or never accompanying the natives in their various
expeditions; and employing the greater part of his time in
throwing up a little shed just outside the house, upon which he
was engaged to my certain knowledge for four months, without
appearing to make any sensible advance. I suppose the old
gentleman was in his dotage, for he manifested in various ways
the characteristics which mark this particular stage of life.

I remember in particular his having a choice pair of
ear-ornaments, fabricated from the teeth of some sea-monster.
These he would alternately wear and take off at least fifty times
in the course of the day, going and coming from his little hut on
each occasion with all the tranquillity imaginable. Sometimes
slipping them through the slits in his ears, he would seize his
spear--which in length and slightness resembled a
fishing-pole--and go stalking beneath the shadows of the
neighbouring groves, as if about to give a hostile meeting to
some cannibal knight. But he would soon return again, and hiding
his weapon under the projecting eaves of the house, and rolling