CHARACTERS. 



559 



him like fiends, now called him 

 son, and begged his favour. They 

 said, that all the harm which they 

 had done, or intended to do to hiin, 

 was in mistake, because they sup- 

 posed him to be a Portuguese, 

 and they hated that people ; but 

 they had eaten many of them, 

 and their God was never angry 

 with them for so doing. The 

 beard which Hans had been so 

 unwilling to part with, now also 

 appeared as good evidence in his 

 favour; it was red, like a French- 

 man's, and they observed that the 

 beards of the Poitut,uese were 

 black. This was a happy sick- 

 ness for him. Yeppino and his 

 wife recovered ; there was no 

 longer any talk of the feast, but 

 he was still strictly guarded. 



After some time, the French 

 interpreter came again to Uwat- 

 tibi ; he had been collecting pep- 

 per and feathers, and was now on 

 his way to the port where the 

 ships were to meet him. Hans 

 told him his plain story, and be- 

 sought him to tell the savages 

 what he truly was, and to take 

 him with him to the ships ; and 

 he adjured him, if he had in him 

 any spark of christian humanity, or 

 any hope of salvation, not to be 

 guilty of his death. The man re- 

 plied, that he had really taken 

 him for one of the Portuguese, 

 and those people were so cruel 

 that they hung every Frenchman 

 whom they took in the country. 

 He now, however, said to the Tu- 

 pinambas that he had been mis- 

 taken, that their prisoner was a 

 German, and a friend of the 

 French, and proposed to take him 

 in his company. Their gratitude 

 did not extend so far. No, they 

 replied, he was their slave not- 



withstanding, for they had caught 

 him amonji the Portuguese. Let 

 his father or his brethren come 

 for him in a ship, with hatchets, 

 knives, scissars, combs, and look- 

 ing-glasses, to ransom him like 

 their child or brother, and he 

 then should go. The Frenchman 

 told them this should be done, 

 and promised Hans to be his 

 friend when the ships arrived. 

 When the interpreter was gone, 

 Alkindar asked if that man was 

 his countryman ; and being an- 

 swered that he was, Why then, 

 said he, did he not give you a 

 knife, or something of that kind, 

 which you might have presented 

 to me ? The wholesome effects 

 of the contagion seemed to be 

 wearing away. His mistress said, 

 that the Anhanga, or evil spirit, 

 came to her in the night, and 

 asked where the slaughter-club 

 was ? where had they hidden it ? 

 There were some who murmured 

 about him, and said, that whether 

 Portuguese or French, the meat 

 was the same. 



The inhabitants of Tickqua- 

 rippe, which was at some little 

 distance, were about to kill a Mar- 

 gaia slave ; a party from Uwat- 

 tibi went to the feast, and took 

 Hans with them. He went to 

 the prisoner the evening before 

 the slaughter, and observed to 

 him, that his time was nearly 

 come. The man smiled, and said. 

 Yes, every thing was ready ex- 

 cept the mussarana (the cotton 

 rope which was to be fastened 

 round his waist) ; but the mussa- 

 ranas here, he said, were nothing 

 like what they were in his coun- 

 try. And he spoke of what was 

 to be done to-morrow as if it 

 were a festival of which he was to 



