Charging a cocoa-nut shell, he tossed it off, and then filling up again, presented the goblet to me.

Disliking the smell, I made faces at it; upon which he became highly excited; so much so that a miracle was wrought upon the spot.

Snatching the cup from my hands, he shouted out, "Ah, karhowree sabbee lee-lee ena arva tee maitai!" in other words, what a blockhead of a white man! this is the real stuff! We could not have been more startled had a frog leaped from his mouth.
For an instant, he looked confused enough himself; and then placing a finger mysteriously upon his mouth, he contrived to make us understand that at times he was subject to a suspension of the powers of speech.
Deeming the phenomenon a remarkable one, every way, the doctor desired him to open his mouth so that he might have a look down.

But he refused.
This occurrence made us rather suspicious of our host; nor could we afterward account for his conduct, except by supposing that his feigning dumbness might in some way or other assist him in the nefarious pursuits in which it afterwards turned out that he was engaged.

This conclusion, however, was not altogether satisfactory.
To oblige him, we at last took a sip of his "arva tee," and found it very crude, and strong as Lucifer.