CHARACTERS. 



551 



what he was to expect. The 

 chief of the party went before 

 him, wielding the iwara pemme, 

 the club with which they slaugh- 

 ter their prisoners, and crying out 

 to him, Now, Pero (as they called 

 the Portuguese) thou art a most 

 vile slave ! now thou art in our 

 bands ! now thou shall pay for 

 our countrymen whom thou hast 

 slain ! They then tied his hands ; 

 but another dispute arose, what 

 should be done with him. The 

 captors were not all from the 

 same dwelling-place ; no other 

 prisoner had been taken, and they 

 who were to return home without 

 one, exclaimed against giving him 

 to the two brethren, and were for 

 killing him at once. Poor Hans 

 had lived long enough in Brazil to 

 understand all that was said, and 

 all that was to be done ; he fer- 

 vently said his prayers, and kept 

 his eye upon the slaughter-club. 

 The chief of the party settled the 

 dispute by saying. We will carry 

 him home alive, that our wives 

 may rejoice over him, and he 

 shall be made a haay-ptpilcc ; * 

 that is, he was to be killed at the 

 great drinking feast. Then they 

 tied four cords round his neck, 

 fastened them to the ends and 

 sides of a canoe, and pushed off. 



There was a little island near, 

 in which the sea-fowl, called goa- 

 razes, bred. The down of the 

 young bird is of the grey colour 

 of ashes ; their feathers for the 

 first year are brown, then they 

 become of a bright and glowing 

 red. These red feathers were the 

 favourite ornament of all the sa- 

 vage tribes. They inquired of 

 their prisoner whether the Tupini- 



quins had been that season to take 

 the brooding birds ; and though 

 he assured them that they had, 

 they made towards the island. 

 Before they reached it, they saw 

 canoes coming in pursuit of them. 

 The slave of Hans, who had seen 

 his master taken, fled and gave 

 the alarm, and the Tupiniquins, 

 and a few Portuguese with them, 

 were hastening to his assistance. 

 They called out to the Tupinam- 

 bas to stop and fight, if they were 

 men. Provoked at this defiance, 

 they turned, loosened their pri- 

 soner's hands, and giving him 

 powder and ball, which they had 

 got from the French, made him 

 load his own gun and fire at his 

 friends ; the ropes round his neck 

 prevented him from leaping over- 

 board. They soon, however, per- 

 ceived their own rashness, and 

 fearing that other forces would 

 speedily come against them, made 

 off. As they passed within falcon- 

 shot of Bertiorga, two shot were 

 discharged at them, which just 

 fell short; boats were put out 

 from thence, but the Tupinambas 

 pulled for their lives, and outstrip- 

 ped them. 



About seven miles beyond Ber- 

 tiorga they landed upon an island 

 where they meant to sleep. Hans's 

 face was so swoln with the blows 

 which he had received, that he 

 could not see, and he could not 

 stand because of the wound in his 

 thigh ; so he lay on the ground, 

 and they stood round, telling him 

 how they would eat him. Being 

 in this condition, says he, I began 

 to think, which I had never done 

 sufficiently before, what a miser- 

 able life this is, and how full of 



As wc say, a Michaelmas goose, era Christmas ox. 



