They delighted to trace with their fingers the outlines of the strange shapes there delineated.
The first time my eyes lighted upon the Marquesan, I knew his country in a moment; and hailing him in his own language, he turned round, surprised that a person so speaking should be a stranger.

He proved to be a native of Tior, a glen of Nukuheva.

I had visited the place more than once; and so, on the island of Imeeo, we met like old friends.
In my frequent conversations with him over the bamboo picket, I found this islander a philosopher of nature--a wild heathen, moralizing upon the vices and follies of the Christian court of Tahiti--a savage, scorning the degeneracy of the people among whom fortune had thrown him.
I was amazed at the national feelings of the man.

No European, when abroad, could speak of his country with more pride than Marbonna.

He assured me, again and again, that so soon as he had obtained sufficient money to purchase twenty muskets, and as many bags of powder, he was going to return to a place with which Imeeo was not worthy to be compared.
It was Marbonna who, after one or two unsuccessful attempts, at last brought about our admission into the queen's grounds.