may, if he were not a great and powerful spirit, either capable of injuring them, or doing them any good offices; if the whole were a mere fiction of deaan Olaavor's, yet there was no harm in thinking he was so, or in paying him honours; but upon the supposition that he was really such a potent spirit, and they should neglect him, then they were sure to suffer severely for their contempt.

This was all the idle answer those poor timorous creatures would give, on their being asked a reason for their tame compliance with deaan Olaavor; which, doubtless, would have been as good a plea for their paying divine honours to a potato, had any one told him he had a revelation in his dream, that it was a demigod. The reader, I presume, may entertain a more adequate idea of the natural disposition of the people, with respect to their morals and religion, from such instances and occurrences, than from any formal description which I can pretend to make; I shall therefore pursue my history, and give a particular detail here of the feast and ceremony of the circumcision o deaan Mevarrow's son.

The toake was made some weeks beforehand, by boiling the honey and combs together, as we in England make mead. They filled a great number of tubs; some as large as a butt, but some indeed smaller; a shed being built for that purpose, which was thatched over, to place them in. On the day appointed, messengers were despatched all round the country to invite the relations and friends. About three or four days before the ceremony of the circumcision was actually performed, you might see the beginning of a festival; people went about blowing horns, and beating drums both night and day; to whom some toake was given out of the lesser vessels as a small compensation for their trouble: deaan Mevarrow had procured two large oxen from deaan Murnanzack. They, who lived in the most remote parts, came a day or two before; and they were entertained with toake. In the evening, I found the town full of people, some wallowing on the

ground, and some staggering; scarcely one individual person sober, either men, women, or children. And here one might sensibly discern the effects of peace and security, the people abandoning themselves without fear or reserve to drinking, and all manner of diversions. My wife I found had been among them indeed; but had the prudence to withdraw in time, for she was fast asleep when I came home.

And now the day being come, I returned from feeding my cattle before noon, in order to bring up the two oxen and a bull, whose legs being at once tied fast, they were thrown all along upon the ground. The child was about a year old; for they have no stated time for the observance of this custom. He was decked with beads, and a skein of white cotton thread was wound about his head. A great crowd attended the festival. Some brought such presents as their abilities would admit, such as a cow, or a calf, beads, iron shovels, hatchets, and the like. Every one was served once only with a small quantity of toake in a calabash before the ceremony began. All things being now duly prepared, they waited for the signal from the umossee, who was all this time very busy, to all outward appearance, in measuring his shadow with his feet. When it came to the length of three and a half, he gave the word. Upon which, one of the nearest relations, who had the child in his arms, ran with him up to the bull, and putting the child's right hand on the bull's right horn, repeating the following form of words.

Tyhew deaan Unghorray, deaan Antemoor, deaan Anebeleshey, deaan Androfertraer, deaan Meguddumdummateme, an Ruey Owley, Heer-razehu, ittoey acquo toey Anomebay loyhe ittoey handrabeck enney raffa loyhe.

Which in English runs thus:

Let the Great God above, the Lords of the four quarters of the world, and the demons prosper this child, and make a great man of him. May he prove as strong as this bull, and overcome all his enemies.

If the bull roar whilst the boy's hand is on his horn,

they look on it as an ill omen, portending either sickness, or some other misfortunes in life; and all the business of the umossee is nothing more than this :-to tell them what is the most unlucky hour or minute (like our strolling fortune-tellers) to do it in; for, as to the religious part of the ceremony, he is no ways concerned in it; if there be any religion intended by it, which is somewhat to be questioned; for any experienced man of the neighbourhood, whom they imagine understands it best, performs the operation by feeling for the head of the yard, and cutting off the fore-skin as closely as possible, two men holding the child's legs and arms at the same time. As to the name, it is given long before, and frequently is changed afterwards; this child was named Ry-Mocker. After the fore-skin is cut off, an attendant having a stick in his hand like a gun rammer, the biggest end whereof is pointed, puts the fore-skin upon it, and going to the wood, throws it towards the east. The ceremony being over, the child is delivered to the mother, who is all this time sitting upon a mat with the women round her. And now their merriment began; the thatch was all pulled off the toake-house, and I was ordered to kill the bull and the oxen; but these not being sufficient, my master sent for three more which had been brought him by his friends, for there were abundance of mouths to be fed. Before they began to drink, he took particular care to secure all their weapons, and no man was permitted to have so much as a gun or a lance; and then they indulged themselves in boiling, broiling, and roasting of meat, drinking of toake, singing, hallooing, blowing of shells, and drumming, with all their might and main. I do not believe there were twenty sober persons among the whole company. These revels continued all night; some went away the next morning, but most stayed till evening, so that the feast lasted three days successively.

These people are great admirers of toake, and some of the vulgar sort, as arrant sots, and as lazy as any in

England, for they will sell their guinea corn, carravances, nay, their very spades and shovels, and live upon what the woods afford them. Their very lambers too, if worth any thing, must go for toake; and they make an ordinary one serve turn, so it will but just cover their nakedness. It is made of the tree called the whooring, which they cut down with their lances. The outer bark is taken away, and the inner, which is white, is peeled off whole, and beat with a stick till it is made soft and pliant; and then they wear it as a lamber, but it can never be washed. Their lambers, however, for the generality, are made of cotton dyed in the yarn. The richer sort, indeed, and people of distinction, buy silk and calicoes at seaport towns, and often give a cow and a calf for no more than will make them one lamber. The men wear no other clothes, but they adorn themselves with mananelers, which are rings round their wrists; and these, both men and women of distinction, are very fond of. They are sometimes made of gold (but where they get them I cannot say) oftener of silver, but more frequently of copper; which, at last, I found was produced and made in the country, as well as iron. They dress their heads in a very agreeable manner, curling up their hair to make it lie close, for they have hair, and not wool on their heads, as the Guinea negroes; neither are their noses flat, though small, nor their lips so big as theirs, but their hair is always black, and for the generality, has a natural curl. Deaan Crindo's family are particularly distinguished, on account of their long hair, and their copper-coloured skins. Notwithstanding they have no idea of letters, yet they have here very wholesome laws, which are fixed in their minds and handed down from generation to generation. I well remember many of them, the recapitulation whereof, I flatter myself, will be no disagreeable amusement to the reader.

If one maliciously assault his neighbour, and break a leg or an arm, the offender is fined fifteen head or cattle, which are delivered to the party injured.

If one break another's head, and he that is wounded have not returned the blow, he has three beeves by way of damage.

If two men quarrel, and one happen to curse the other's father or mother, whether they be living or dead, and his antagonist have so much command of himself as to refrain from cursing the other's father or mother, he recovers two beeves as a compensation.

If a man be caught robbing his neighbour of an ox, or a cow, he is obliged to restore it tenfold; and this is executed too with the utmost rigour, notwithstanding my master frequently broke this good law; but, like other great men, in more polite parts, he was not to be curbed by the ordinary laws of his country; and yet he, as well as most others, found, to his cost, that there were those who could cope with him; and was at last convinced, that if a man will live amongst his fellowcreatures, he must be observant of the fundamental laws, which the community wherein he lives has framed for their mutual peace and tranquillity; without which, men are not sociable animals, but each one is a mere savage, and the world an uncultivated desert.

If any one be found guilty of stealing guinea corn, carravances, potatoes, or the like, out of any of the plantations, he forfeits a cow and a calf to the owner, or more, in some measure proportionate to the offence.

In case one man's cattle break into another's plantation, the owner, for every beast found there, must give

an iron shovel.

If any one steal another man's hive of honey, and be caught, the fine is three iron shovels. These iron shovels, hoes, &c., are a kind of small money with these people, for here is no trade but by barter, or the exchange of one commodity for another; and, therefore, they are as exact as they possibly can be, in proportioning the value of one thing to another.

If a man borrow an ox, or a cow, of his neighbour, and does not return it in a year's time, six calves are looked upon as an equivalent for the ox; and if he neglect payment at that time, those calves are supposed