me" ("molatu"). "They have the guilt." I never could be
positive whether the idea in their minds is guilt in the sight of the
Deity, or of mankind only.

Next morning the robber party came with about thirty yards of strong
striped English calico, an axe, and two hoes for our acceptance, and
returned the copper rings, as the chief was a great man, and did not
need the ornaments of my men, but we noticed that they were taken back
again. I divided the cloth among my men, and pleased them a little by
thus compensating for the loss of the ox. I advised the chief, whose
name we did not learn, as he did not deign to appear except under the
alias Matiamvo, to get cattle for his own use, and expressed sorrow
that I had none wherewith to enable him to make a commencement. Rains
prevented our proceeding till Thursday morning, and then messengers
appeared to tell us that their chief had learned that all the cloth sent
by him had not been presented; that the copper rings had been secreted
by the persons ordered to restore them to us, and that he had stripped
the thievish emissaries of their property as a punishment. Our guides
thought these were only spies of a larger party, concealed in the forest
through which we were now about to pass. We prepared for defense by
marching in a compact body, and allowing no one to straggle far behind
the others. We marched through many miles of gloomy forest in gloomier
silence, but nothing disturbed us. We came to a village, and found
all the men absent, the guides thought, in the forest, with their
countrymen. I was too ill to care much whether we were attacked or not.
Though a pouring rain came on, as we were all anxious to get away out
of a bad neighborhood, we proceeded. The thick atmosphere prevented my
seeing the creeping plants in time to avoid them; so Pitsane, Mohorisi,
and I, who alone were mounted, were often caught; and as there is no
stopping the oxen when they have the prospect of giving the rider a
tumble, we came frequently to the ground. In addition to these mishaps,
Sinbad went off at a plunging gallop, the bridle broke, and I came down
backward on the crown of my head. He gave me a kick on the thigh at the
same time. I felt none the worse for this rough treatment, but would
not recommend it to others as a palliative in cases of fever! This
last attack of fever was so obstinate that it reduced me almost to a
skeleton. The blanket which I used as a saddle on the back of the ox,
be