Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/139

] be under the necessity of paying him the honours due to his rank.

The officer entrusted with the purchase of provision had a very laborious task to fulfil: for, though he had fixed a regular value on every article, the natives, still in hopes of selling them dearer, never parted with their goods till they had disputed a long time about their price.

Pressed by hunger, we retired into the tent, where the provision purchased in the course of the day was deposited; and were followed by two natives, whom we took for chiefs. One of them shewed the greatest eagerness to select for me the choicest fruit: I had laid my hat on the ground, thinking it a place of security; but these two thieves were not inattentive to their trade; he that was behind me was adroit enough, to hide my hat under his clothes, and went away, without my perceiving it; and the other quickly followed him. I was the less apprehensive of such a trick, as I did not suppose that they would have ventured upon an article of such bulk, at the risk of being caught within the enclosure, into which we had permitted them to enter: besides, a hat could be of very little use to people who commonly go bare-headed. The address they displayed in robbing me, convinced us that it was not their first attempt; and led us to presume,