ny
miles round.

"During the absence of the family at the feast, my comrade chanced to
lend his knife to a slave for him to cut some rushes with, in order to
repair a house; and when this was done he received it back again. Soon
after he and I killed a pig, from which we cut a portion into small
pieces, and put them into our iron pot, along with some potatoes which
we had also peeled with our knives. When the potatoes were cooked, the
old woman who was sick desired us to give her some, which we did in the
presence of the doctor, and she ate them. Next morning she died, when
the chief and the rest of his family immediately returned home.

"The corpse was first removed to an unoccupied piece of ground in the
centre of the village, and there placed with a mat under it, in a
sitting position against a post, being covered with another mat up to
the chin. The head and face were anointed with shark oil, and a piece of
green flax was also tied round the head, in which were stuck several
white feathers, the sort of feathers which are here preferred to any
other.

"They then constructed, around the corpse, an enclosure of twigs,
something like a bird's cage, for the purpose of keeping the dogs, pigs,
and children from it; and these operations being over, muskets continued
to be occasionally fired during the remainder of the day to the memory
of the old woman. Meanwhile, the chiefs and their families from miles
around were making their appearance in our village, bringing with them
their slaves loaded with provisions. On the third day after the death,
they all, to the number of some hundreds, knelt down around the corpse,
and, having thrown off their mats, proceeded to cry and cut themselves,
in the same manner as we had seen done on occasions of the different
chiefs of the villages through which we passed being welcomed home.

"After some time spent in this ceremony, they all sat down together to a
great feast, made of their own provisions, which they had brought with
them.

"The next morning, the men alone formed a circle round the dead body,
armed with spears, muskets, tomahawks, and merys, and the doctor
appeared, walking backwards and forwards in the ring. By this time, my
companion and I had learned a good deal of their language; and, as we
stood listening to what was said, we heard the doctor relate the
particulars of the old woman's illness and death; after which, the
chiefs began to inquire very closely into what she