The Governor Of Keeshee Was A Borgoo Man, And Boasted Of Being The Friend Of Yarro, Chief Of Kiama, But

As the old man told them many wonderful stories of the number of towns under his sway, his amazing great

Influence, and the entire subjection in which his own people were kept by his own good government, all of which was listened to with patience; they were inclined to believe that the pretensions of the governor were as hollow as they were improbable. As to his government, he gave them a specimen of it, by bawling to a group of children that had followed their steps into the yard, ordering them to go about their business. But every one in this country displayed the same kind of ridiculous vanity, and in the majority of towns which they visited, it was the first great care of their chiefs, to impress on their minds an idea of their vast importance, which in many instances was contradicted by their ragged tobes and squalid appearance. Yet, if their own accounts were to be credited, their affluence and power were unbounded. All truth is sacrificed to this feeling of vanity and vain glory; and considering that in most cases they hold truth in great reverence, they render themselves truly ridiculous by their absurd practice of boasting; every circumstance around them tending to contradict it. In the case of the Landers, however, these toasters had to deal with strangers, and with white men, and perhaps it may be considered as natural, amongst simple barbarians, to court admiration and applause, even if no other means were employed than falsehood and exaggeration. After a deal of talking, tending to no particular subject, from which any useful information could be obtained, the governor of Keeshee begged the favour of a little rum and medicine to heal his foot, which was inclined to swell and give him pain; and another request which he made was, that they would repair a gun, which had been deprived of its stock by fire. He then sung them a doleful ditty, not in praise of female beauty, as is the practice with the songsters of England, but it was in praise of elephants and their teeth, in which he was assisted by his cane bearer, and afterwards took his leave. They received little presents of goora nuts, salt, honey, mi-cadamia, butter, &c., from several inhabitants of the place.

Some mallams and others, who wished to accompany the Landers to Kiama, whither they were going for the purposes of trade, persuaded the easy-minded governor on the preceding night, to defer getting their carriers until the following day, because, forsooth, they were not themselves wholly prepared to travel on that day. They were, therefore, obliged to wait the further pleasure of these influential merchants. Thus balked in their expectations, after their luggage had all been packed up for starting, Richard Lander attempted to amuse himself early in the morning, by scrambling to the top of the high and steep hill, which stood in the middle of the town.

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