m the house belonged,
which the travellers resided, was discovered in her hiding place at
the present governor's, and the alternative of a poisoned chalice, or
to have her head broken by the club of a fetish priest, was offered
her. She chose the former mode of dying, as being the less terrible
of the two; and she, on this morning, came to their yard, to spend
her last hours in the society of her faithful slaves, by whom she was
addressed by the endearing name of mother. Poor creatures! as soon as
they learnt her misfortune, they dropped their spinning; the grinding
of corn was also relinquished; their sheep, goats, and poultry were
suffered to roam at large without restraint, and they abandoned
themselves to the most excessive and poignant grief; but now, on the
arrival of their mistress, their affliction seemed to know no bounds.
There is not to be found in the world perhaps, an object more truly
sorrowful, than a lonely defenceless woman in tears; and on such an
occasion as this, it may very easily be conceived that the distress
was more peculiarly cutting. A heart that could not be touched at a
scene of this nature, must be unfeeling indeed. Females were arriving
the whole day, to condole with the old lady, and to weep with her, so
that the travellers neither heard nor saw any thing but sobbing and
crying from morning to the setting of the sun. The principal males in
the town likewise came to pay their last respects to their mistress,
as well as her grave-digger, who prostrated himself on the ground
before her. Notwithstanding the representations and remonstrances of
the priest, and the prayers of the venerable victim to her gods, for
fortitude to undergo the dreadful ordeal, her resolution forsook her
more than once. She entered the yard twice to expire in the arms of
her women, and twice did she lay aside the fatal draught, in order to
take another walk, and gaze once more on the splendour of the sun and
the glory of the heavens, for she could not bear the idea of losing
sight of them forever. She was for some time restless and uneasy, and
would gladly have run away from death, if she durst; for that
imaginary being appeared to her in a more terrible light, than our
pictures represent him with his shadowy form and fatal dart. Die she
must, and she knew it; nevertheless she tenaciously clung to life
till the very last moment. In the mean time her grave was preparing,
and preparations were making for a wake at her fu