"The next morning (Sunday, July 12)," continued Captain Wallis, "I went on shore for the first time, and my princess, or rather queen, for such by her authority she appeared to be, soon after came to me, followed by many of her attendants. As she perceived that my disorder had left me very weak, she ordered her people to take me in their arms and carry me not only over the river, but all the way to her house, and observing that some of the people who were with me, particularly the first lieutenant and purser, had also been sick, she caused them also to be carried in the same manner, and a guard, which I had ordered out upon the occasion, followed. In our way, a vast multitude crowded about us, but upon her waiving her hand, without speaking a word, they withdrew, and left us a free passage. When we approached near her house, a great number of both sexes came out to meet her; these she presented to me, after having intimated by signs that they were her relations, and, having taken hold of my hand, she made them Kiss it."

In Wallis’s narrative this scene is illustrated by a large engraved drawing which makes a charming picture of everything native contrasting with the ludicrous effect of the English uniforms and attitudes. Most of the details seem fairly correct and carefully done; the long native house with its thatched roof is still common in the islands; the so-called queen, looking very young and delicate, with a long dress of native tapa, is followed by her women, stripped to the waist, and these by men in attitudes ot welcome.

"We then entered the house, which covered a piece of ground three hundred and twenty-seven feet long and forty-two feet broad. It

Indigenous Histories