the traders is very great. Those from Bristol, Liverpool, and London, all
are in active competition with each other, and with any foreigner who may
come in their way; and their policy may truly be described as
Machiavelian, in its mystery, craft, and crookedness. The business
requires at least as long an apprenticeship as the diplomacy of nations,
and a new hand has but little chance among these sharp fellows.

15.--Some canoes from the shore have been off to us. We learn from them,
that there is to be a great annual festival today; on which occasion the
king, who has been secluded from the sight of his subjects for eight
years, will shine forth again, "like a re-appearing star." There is
something very provocative to the imagination in this circumstance. What
can have been the motive of such a seclusion? was it in the personal
character of the king, and did he shut himself up to meditate on high
matters, or to revel in physical indulgence? or, possibly, to live his own
simple life, untrammelled by the irksome exterior of greatness? or was it
merely a trick of kingcraft, in order to deify himself in the superstition
of his people, by the awfulness of an invisible presence among them? Be
the secret what it may, it would be interesting to observe the face of the
royal hermit, at the moment when the sunshine and the eyes of his subjects
first fall upon it again. The inhabitants from many miles around have come
to witness and participate in the ceremonies. There are to be grand
dances, and all manner of festivity; and one of the English captains
informed us that he had sold a thousand gallons of rum, within a
fortnight, to be quaffed at this celebration.

There is another circumstance that may give the festival a darker
interest. It is customary, on such occasions, to sacrifice one or two
slaves, who are generally culprits reserved for this anniversary. The
natives on board deny that there will be any such sacrifice, but admit