unting about the cabin, I came upon the captain's medicine chest.
I knew the properties and effects of some of the drugs, and besides
them was a little book in the drawers to help me.

"`Come,' said I to myself, `savages are apt to treat medical men with
rather more respect than often do civilised people. I will pretend to
be a doctor, and they will probably not attempt to hurt me.'

"As a precaution, I put on all the coats I could find, and buttoned them
over to serve as armour, and stuck a brace of pistols in my pockets, to
shoot a couple of them if they came to close quarters. However, when
the canoes first came up, the savages, seeing me on board walking the
deck with as much dignity as the officer of the watch, began blowing
their sumpits at me till I was stuck all over like a porcupine. Luckily
none hit my face, and seeing me take the matter so unconcernedly, they
ceased blowing, to discover what I was made of. I thereon pulled out
the arrows, and going to the side of the vessel, with a polite bow
presented them to my assailants, at the same time, by significant
gestures, inviting them on board. My conduct seemed to tickle their
fancy amazingly; and when they climbed up the sides, instead of showing
any fear, or attempting to resist them, I appeared delighted to see
them, and in a minute we were perfectly good friends. I now led some of
them into the cabin, and gave them everything which first came to hand,
knowing very well that they would take it if I did not; besides, as I
could scarcely consider the things my own, I could afford to be
generous. With my aid, they soon loaded the canoes so full that they
could carry no more; and then jumping into the principal one, which
seemed to belong to a chief, I sat myself down beside him, and began
talking away as if I was an old friend, and delighted to see him. By
the by, he could not understand a word I said: but I made up for the
want of meaning in the sounds by a profusion of signs. I found that
they belonged to a tribe inhabiting a spot at the head of a long river,
and that they were just about to return thither. I now tried to make
them comprehend that if any of them were ill, I could cure them by means
of a box which I carried under my arm. They, of course, thought that it
was filled with charms, but had not the less respect for me on that
account. I was delighted with the beauty of the scenery we passed going
up the river, and the well-selected site o