A tradition runs, that while they were committing these abominations a
ship, one of the first ships that had ever touched at the island,
arrived at the present port of Hubbabub, then a spacious and shipless
bay. The master of the vessel, on being brought before the King (for
the story I am recording happened long before the construction of the
miraculous Statue), presented, with his right hand, to his Majesty, a
small pyramidal substance of a golden hue, which seemed to spring out of
green and purple leaves. His Majesty did not exactly understand the
intention of this ceremony; but of course, like a true legitimate,
construed it into a symbol of homage. No sooner had the King brought
the unknown substance near to his eyes, with the intention of
scrutinising its nature, than the fragrance was so delightful that by
mistake he applied it to his mouth. The King, only took one mouthful,
and then, with a cry of rapture, instantly handed the delicacy to his
favourite, who, to the great mortification of the Secretary of State,
finished it.
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