gout_ of a
stale partridge, and was in ecstasies at my extrication. He neglected
his _siestas_ and his accounts; he wandered from house to house with
the rapture of an impatient bridegroom; and, till every thing was
ready for the nuptial rites, no one at the factory had a moment's
rest.

As the bride's relations were eminent folks on the upper part of the
river, they insisted that the marriage ceremony should be performed
with all the honorable formalities due to the lady's rank. Esther, who
acted as my mentor in every "country-question," suggested that it
would be contrary to the Englishman's interest to ally himself with a
family whose only motive was sordid. She strongly urged that if he
persisted in taking the girl, he should do so without a "_colungee_"
or ceremonial feast. But Joseph was obstinate as a bull; and as he
doubted whether he would ever commit matrimony again, he insisted
that the nuptials should be celebrated with all the fashionable
splendor of high life in Africa.

When this was decided, it became necessary, by a fiction of etiquette,
to ignore the previous offer of the bride, and to begin anew, as if
the damsel were to be sought in the most delicate way by a desponding
lover. She must be demanded formally, by the bridegroom from her
reluctant mother; and accordingly, the most respectable matron in our
colony was chosen by Joseph from his colored acquaintances to be the
bearer of his valentine. In the present instance, the selected Cupid
was the principal wife of our native landlord, Ali-Ninpha; and, as
Africans as well as Turks love by the pound, the dame happened to be
one of the fattest, as well as most respectable, in our parish.
Several female _attaches_ were added to the suite of the ambassadress,
who forthwith departed to make a proper "_dantica_." The gifts
selected were of four kinds. First of all, two demijohns of
_trade_-rum were filled to gladden the community of Mongo-Yungee's
town. Next, a piece of blue cotton cloth, a musket, a keg of powder,
and a demijohn of _pure_ rum, were packed for papa. Thirdly, a
youthful virgin dressed in a white "tontongee,"[2] a piece of white
cotton cloth, a white basin, a white sheep, and a basket of white
rice, were put up for mamma, in token of her daughter's purity. And,
lastly, a German looking-glass, several bunches of beads, a coral
necklace, a dozen of turkey-red handkerchiefs, and a spotless white
country-cloth, were presented to the bride; toge