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At the other village, too, we also again stopped. I was again forced to accept the old man's hospi-tality ; and this time he perfectly overwhelmed me by bringing me a plate of roast lamb and potatoes. As I strolled into the fields, in order to digest this banquet, I saw about half a mile off a curious arched structure, like the low roof of a waggon, planted flat amongst the furrows. When I came up to it, my surprise and pleasure were great. It was the iden-tical church which Mr. Matthews had described to me as half buried by the extraordinary rise of the soil. It stood in a sunk enclosure, which was fenced round by a wall, and only its roof rose above the level of the surrounding country. When I came back to the village the question finally presented itself, of whether the old man should be paid, or should not be paid? I had spoken to Captain Scott on this subject ; and his answer was this—That the old man himself did just what Scotty said he did : he refused to accept any-thing in payment for his hospitality ; ' but,' added Captain Scott, ' his wife generally stands in the back-ground, and when her husband is not, affects not to be, looking, you may slip into her hand any sum you please.' From this I concluded that the old man himself, if the money were given him delicately like a physician's fee, would not be too delicate to take it ; and as, when the time came for starting, his wife did not seem visible, I endeavoured, when I said good-bye to him, to press some coins into his 274 IN AN ENCHANTED ISLAND

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