young savage of about seventeen, who he
pointed out sitting in a nearly civilized attitude on a legitimate sofa.
Perceiving me shudder at the proposal, for I had heard that the New
Zealanders, and other barbarous tribes, sometimes eat their friends, as
well as their enemies, he inquired of me the cause, and fearful of the
consequence of exciting the anger of these savages while in their power,
I expressed my total willingness to the introduction, and declared that
my only objection was, lest she should scratch; upon his assuring me she
was perfectly tame. I consented to be led (though like a lamb to the
slaughter) to the couch, praying most fervently, though silently, she
would not make a meal of me. What was my horror when the short fat
gentleman addressed her with a horrid wink of the eye--'Poppett, as
I know you to be partial to these smart young fellows (Heavens! she was
then addicted to cannibalism), I have brought you one.' I heard no more,
but making up my mind I was to be served up for supper, flew with the
utmost' rapidity my stays would permit me, when my ears were electrified
at the sounds of Stultz and Nugee. I knew not how it was, but the hearing
of these words, surrounded as I was by doubt and danger, calmed at once
my agitated spirits, like some well-remembered air which we have heard
in our infancy, stealing over the waste of years and distance, I felt
completely overcome by my feelings. Home, and my native land, with a
thousand sweet associations of relatives, and all the charms of
friendship and love, seemed to accompany the sounds, and I gazed with
unqualified mildness on the innocent source of my happiness, who stood
gazing in simple wonder at my ill-suppressed surprise. I was nearly
fainting, and should have fallen, had it not been for a kind-hearted
squaw in a satin slip, and blond trimmings, bathing my temples with
a grateful distillation of otto of roses. The natural reserve of my
disposition having been overcome by the force of nature, I proposed to
our entertainer, if he would part with his daughter to take her back
with us, and make her a member of the civilized world. He shook his
head, and declared his inability to relinquish her; so great do we
find the force of parental affection even in savage life; but upon the
approach of his son, an eligible and ductile youth, with a promising
pair of whiskers, and irreproachable pantaloons, he consented to part
with him, declaring that next to his daugh