FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   607   608   609   610   611   612   613   614   615   616   617   618   619   620   621   622   623   624   625   626   627   628   629   630   631  
632   633   634   635   636   637   638   639   640   641   642   643   644   645   646   647   648   649   650   651   652   653   654   655   656   >>   >|  
idedly the friends of the Landers. Many times they blessed them with uplifted hands and compassionate countenances, exclaiming, "Allah sullikee," _God is king_. Nor did they confine themselves to simple expressions of pity or concern; but as they subsequently learnt, they joined the assembly and spoke in their favour with warmth and energy, taxing those who had assaulted them, with cowardice, cruelty, and wrong: and proposing to have them beheaded on the spot, as a just punishment for their crime. This was bold language, but it produced a salutary effect on the minds of the hearers. In the afternoon, the Landers were ordered to return to the small island whence they had come, and the setting of the sun being the signal for the council to dissolve, they were again sent for to the market. The people had been engaged in deliberation and discussion during the whole of the day; and with throbbing hearts they received their resolution, in nearly the following words:-- "That the king of the country being absent, they had taken upon themselves to consider the occurrence, which had taken place in the morning, and to give judgment accordingly. Those of their things which had been saved from the water, should be restored to them; and the person, who first commenced the attack on the white men, should lose his head, as a just retribution for his offence, having acted without the chief's permission: that with regard to themselves, they must be considered as prisoners, and consent to be conducted on the following morning to Obie, king of the Eboe country, before whom they were to undergo an examination, and whose will and pleasure concerning their persons would then be explained." They received this intelligence with feelings of rapture, and with bursting hearts they offered up thanks to their divine Creator, for his signal preservation of them throughout this disastrous day. The Kirree people are a savage-looking race; they are amazingly strong and athletic, and are also well proportioned. Their only clothing is the skin either of a leopard or tiger fastened round their waist. Their hair is plaited, and plastered with red clay in abundance; and their face is full of incisions in every part of it; these are cut into the flesh, so as to produce deep furrows, each incision being about a quarter of an inch long and dyed with indigo. It was scarcely possible to make out a feature of their face, and never were individuals more di
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   607   608   609   610   611   612   613   614   615   616   617   618   619   620   621   622   623   624   625   626   627   628   629   630   631  
632   633   634   635   636   637   638   639   640   641   642   643   644   645   646   647   648   649   650   651   652   653   654   655   656   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
morning
 

received

 

country

 

hearts

 

people

 

Landers

 
signal
 

preservation

 

disastrous

 

bursting


Creator
 

divine

 

rapture

 
offered
 
feelings
 
conducted
 

consent

 
prisoners
 

considered

 

regard


permission

 

persons

 

explained

 

pleasure

 

undergo

 
examination
 

intelligence

 
clothing
 

furrows

 

incision


quarter

 

produce

 

feature

 

individuals

 
indigo
 

scarcely

 
proportioned
 

athletic

 

savage

 

amazingly


strong

 

leopard

 

abundance

 
incisions
 

plastered

 
plaited
 
fastened
 

Kirree

 
judgment
 
cruelty