y passed. It was her custom to take up her abode in a
large cave in the side of the mountain we were approaching. Here she
would have remained till the present day, had she not, by the envy of
some evil spirits, been driven from earth, and condemned to exist only
in the night up in the sky. The stars, the blacks believe, are the
tears of regret which the moon sheds when weary of her banished
condition. When she gains a certain position in the sky, however, she
is able to look down upon her former well-beloved abode, on which she is
wont to shed a brilliant light; unless her enemies, by means of clouds
which they send across the heavens, deprive her of the only pleasure she
enjoys in her solitary existence.

Those of her mortal relatives who still regard her with affection, make
a point of paying an annual visit to the place she loved so well when on
earth; and it appeared that a large party had been made up by Pullingo's
tribe with this object in view. The ceremony, if so it could be called,
was, we understood, to take place the following night.

Anxious as we were to push forward, we would not have allowed ourselves
to be stopped by such an object; but as the cavern existed some way up
the mountain, we thought that we should probably not be able to get much
beyond the spot. Our curiosity, indeed, had been excited by what
Pullingo had told us, and we were glad of an opportunity of witnessing
anything like a religious ceremony performed by the blacks; for, from
what we had heard of them, we supposed that they were utterly destitute
of anything approaching to religion.

At length Mudge told Pullingo that it was time to turn in. We retired
to our hut, leaving him and his son to creep under a lean-to they had
put up. Though we believed that we could thoroughly trust his honesty,
and that our lives also would be safe while he was near us, we agreed
that it would be prudent not to let him suppose that we should both be
asleep at once. Accordingly, after Mudge lay down I walked about with a
gun in my hand, to show that we were on the watch; and when I did go to
sleep, I made a pillow of my knapsack, and held a pistol in my hand.

We were awakened in the morning by the loud cry of our friend the
"laughing jackass." As Pullingo and Quaquagmagu had eaten up the
remainder of the birds we had shot, we immediately started to obtain a
fresh supply. This was not difficult to do, and we soon killed enough
to feed all hand