Unquestionably the infliction is
closely connected with our own ordeal of boiling water, but from other
indications it is only reasonable to admit that there is an added
ingredient, of which we probably have no knowledge, whereby the effect
is enhanced in every degree, and the outer surface of the victim
rendered more vulnerable. There is also another and milder form of
torture, known as the "task", consisting either of sharp-edged stones
being broken upon the body, or else the body broken upon sharp-edged
stones, but precisely which is the official etiquette of the case this
person's insatiable passion for accuracy and his short-sighted
limitations among the more technical outlines of the language, prevent
him from stating definitely.
Let it here be openly confessed that the intricately-arranged titles
used among these islanders, and the widely-varying dignities which
they convey, have never ceased to embarrass my greetings on all
occasions, and even yet, when a more crystal insight into their
strangely illogical manners enables me not only to understand them
clearly myself, but also to expound their significance to others, a
necessary reticence is blended with my most profuse cordiality, and my
salutations to one whom I am for the first time encountering are now
so irreproachably balanced, that I can imperceptibly develop them into
an engaging effusion, or, without actual offence, draw back into a
condition of unapproachable exclusiveness as the necessity may arise.
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