had eaten for the
three days before she expired.

"At last, the doctor having retired from the ring, an old chief stepped
forward, with three or four white feathers stuck in his hair; and,
having walked several times up and down in the ring, addressed the
meeting, and said that, in his opinion, the old woman's death had been
occasioned by her having eaten potatoes that had been peeled with a
white man's knife, after it had been used for cutting rushes to repair a
house; on which account, he thought that the white man to whom the knife
belonged should be killed, which would be a great honour conferred upon
the memory of the dead woman.

"To this proposal many of the other chiefs expressed their assent, and
it seemed about to be adopted by the court. Meanwhile, my companion
stood trembling, and unable to speak from fear. I then went forward
myself into the ring, and told them that if the white man had done wrong
in lending his knife to the slave, he had done so ignorantly, from not
knowing the customs of the country.

"I ventured at the same time to address myself to Aimy, beseeching him
to spare my shipmate's life; but he continued to keep his seat on the
ground, mourning for the loss of his mother, without answering me, or
seeming to take any notice of what I said; and while I was yet speaking
to him, the chief with the white feathers went and struck my comrade on
the head with a mery, and killed him. Aimy, however, would not allow
him to be eaten, though for what reason I never could learn.

"The slaves, therefore, having dug a grave for him, he was interred
after my directions.

"As for the corpse of the old woman, it was now wrapt up in several
mats, and carried away by Aimy and the doctor, no person being allowed
to follow them. I learned, however, that they took her into a
neighbouring wood, and there buried her. After this, the strangers all
left our village, and returned to their respective homes. In about three
months, the body of the woman was again taken up, and carried to the
river side, where the bones were scraped and washed, and then inclosed
in a box, which had been prepared for that purpose.

"The box was afterwards fastened on the top of a post, in the place
where the body first lay in state; and a space of about thirty feet in
circumference being railed in around it, a wooden image was erected, to
signify that the ground was 'tabooed,' or sacred, and as a warning that
no one should enter the in