! they laugh
directly." So it was supposed, that they cried from habit, rather
than from feeling, and that they can shed tears and be merry in the
same breath, whenever they please. About seven o'clock this evening,
they heard a public crier, proclaiming with a loud voice, that should
any one be discovered straggling about the streets after that hour,
he would be seized and put to death. Many houses in the town had
lately been set on fire by incendiaries, and this most likely gave
rise to the above precautionary measure.

They were compelled to remain the whole of the following day, on
account of the inability of the governor to procure them carriers for
their luggage, The number of people who visited them to-day was so
great, and their company so irksome, that they were perplexed for
some time how to get rid of them without offence. One party in
particular was so unpleasant, and they so seriously incommoded them,
that they had recourse to the unusual expedient of smoking them off,
by kindling a fire at the door of their hut, before which they were
sitting. It succeeded agreeably to their wishes.

A company of women and girls from the Fellata village of Acba,
impelled by a curiosity so natural to their sex, came likewise to see
them in the afternoon, but their society, instead of being
disagreeable, as the company of all their other visitors proved to
be, was hailed by them with pleasure. For these females were so
modest and so retiring, and evinced so much native delicacy in their
whole behaviour, that they excited in the breast of the travellers
the highest respect: their personal attractions were no less winning;
they had fine sparkling jetty eyes, with eyelashes as dark and glossy
as the ravens' plume; their features were agreeable, although their
complexions were tawny; their general form was elegant; their hands
small and delicate, and the peculiar cleanliness of their persons,
and neatness of dress added to these, rendered their society
altogether as desirable as that of their neighbours was disagreeable.

The Fellatas inhabiting Acba were all born and bred in that town,
their ancestors settled in the country at so remote a period, that
although some inquiries were made respecting it, all their questions
were unavailing, and in fact, not even a tradition has been preserved
on the subject. These "children of the soil," lead a harmless,
tranquil, and sober life, which they never suffer passing events to
disturb