knowledge of my language than I of their own; partly because my language
was much simpler than theirs, comprising far less of complex ideas; and
partly because their organisation was, by hereditary culture, much more
ductile and more readily capable of acquiring knowledge than mine. At
this I secretly demurred; and having had in the course of a practical
life, to sharpen my wits, whether at home or in travel, I could not
allow that my cerebral organisation could possibly be duller than that
of people who had lived all their lives by lamplight. However, while I
was thus thinking, Zee quietly pointed her forefinger at my forehead,
and sent me to sleep.



Chapter VIII.


When I once more awoke I saw by my bed-side the child who had brought
the rope and grappling-hooks to the house in which I had been first
received, and which, as I afterwards learned, was the residence of
the chief magistrate of the tribe. The child, whose name was Taee
(pronounced Tar-ee), was the magistrate's eldest son. I found that
during my last sleep or trance I had made still greater advance in the
language of the country, and could converse with comparative ease and
fluency.

This child was singularly handsome, even for the beautiful race to which
he belonged, with a countenance very manly in aspect for his years, and
with a more vivacious and energetic expression than I had hitherto seen
in the serene and passionless faces of the men. He brought me the tablet
on which I had drawn the mode of my descent, and had also sketched the