eir pottle-shaped stomach, made
to hold unlimited quantities of meat and drink; but I was determined on
this most important occasion not to deserve my host's contempt--to be
compared, perhaps, to the small bird that delicately picks up six drops
of water in its bill and is satisfied. I would measure my strength
against his, and if necessary drink myself into a state of
insensibility.

At last I was scarcely able to stand on my legs. But even the seasoned
old savage was affected by this time. In vino veritas, said the
ancients; and the principle holds good where there is no vinum, but only
mild casserie. Runi now informed me that he had once known a white man,
that he was a bad man, which had caused him to say that all white men
were bad; even as David, still more sweepingly, had proclaimed that all
men were liars. Now he found that it was not so, that I was a good man.
His friendliness increased with intoxication. He presented me with a
curious little tinder-box, made from the conical tail of an armadillo,
hollowed out, and provided with a wooden stopper--this to be used in
place of the box I had deprived myself of. He also furnished me with a
grass hammock, and had it hung up there and then, so that I could lie
down when inclined. There was nothing he would not do for me. And at
last, when many more cups had been emptied, and a third or fourth jar
brought out, he began to unburthen his heart of its dark and dangerous
secrets. He shed tears--for the "man without at ear" dwells not in the
woods of Guayana: tears for those who had been treacherously slain long
years ago; for his father, who had been killed by Tripica, the father
of Managa, who was still above ground. But let him and all his people
beware of Runi. He had spilt their blood before, he had fed the fox and
vulture with their flesh, and would never rest while Managa lived with
his people at Uritay--the five hills of Uritay, which were two days'
journey from Parahuari. While thus talking of his old enemy he lashed
himself into a kind of frenzy, smiting his chest and gnashing his teeth;
and finally seizing a spear, he buried its point deep into the clay
floor, only to wrench it out and strike it into the earth again and
again, to show how he would serve Managa, and any one of Managa's people
he might meet with--man, woman, or child. Then he staggered out from the
door to flourish his spear; and looking to the north-west, he shouted
aloud to Managa to come and sla