566 



ANNUAL REGISTER. I8lO. 



back with might and main to the 

 place where they had swung their 

 hammocks the last night. Those 

 prisoners who had been mortally 

 wounded were then killed, and cut 

 in pieces. Four forked stakes 

 were driven into the ground, 

 sticks were laid across, and on 

 this they rather dried than broiled 

 the flesh. This wooden frame was 

 called the boucan ; food thus 

 smoked and dried was said to be 

 buccaneered, and hence the ori- 

 gin of the name applied to that 

 extraordinary race of freebooters 

 who were so long the scourge of 

 the Spaniards in South America. 

 Two christians were slaughtered 

 that night, Jorge Ferreira, son of 

 the captain of Bertioga, and one 

 Jeronymo, a kinsman to two of 

 the other prisoners. When the 

 cannibals were asleep, Hans went to 

 the survivors : there were among 

 them Diego and Domingos de 

 Braga, two of the brethren who 

 first settled at Bertioga, and he 

 had been intimate with them. 

 Their first question was, whether 

 they were to be eaten. He had 

 poor comfort to give ; all he could 

 say was, it was as God pleased, in 

 whom and in his Son they must 

 put their trust : it had pleased 

 God to preserve him among the 

 savages, as they perceived. They 

 inquired for their kinsman, Jero- 

 nymo ; — his body was then upon 

 the boucan, and part of Ferreira 

 had already been devoured. Upon 

 this they began to weep. Hans 

 told them they ought not to de- 

 spair, seeing that he had been mi- 

 raculously preserved for eight 

 months ; and he not very reason- 

 ably attempted to convince them, 

 that at the worst, it could not be 

 so bad tQ them as it would have 



been to him, for he was a stranger 

 coming from a part of the world 

 where there were no such cruel 

 and barbarous customs, but they 

 were born in Brazil, and used to 

 it. He might have fled that 

 night, but he remembered that 

 his flight would provoke the Tu- 

 pinambas to put their prisoners 

 instantly to death ; it was his duty 

 therefore to await some other 

 meansofdeliverance, because their 

 escape was not impossible. It is 

 greatly to his honour that he felt 

 and acted thus. The next day he 

 went into Kenyan Bebe's tent, 

 and asked him what he designed 

 to do with the christians : — to eat 

 them was the answer ; — they were 

 fools to come with our enemies 

 when they might have remained at 

 home ; and he forbade Hans to 

 have any intercourse with them. 

 Hans advised him to ransom them ; 

 this he refused. There was a 

 basket full of human flesh beside 

 him, from which betook a broiled 

 thigh, and put it to Hans's mouth, 

 asking him if he would eat ; but 

 Hans answered, that even beasts 

 did not devour their own kind. 

 The savage fixed his teeth in it, 

 exclaiming, I am a tiger, and I 

 like it. 



Konyan Bebe gave order in the 

 evening that all the prisoners 

 should be produced. The captors 

 formed a circle on a level piece of 

 ground between the woods and 

 the river, and placed them in the 

 midst: the raaracas were rattled, 

 and they sung. When this was 

 over, the Tupiniquins said. We 

 came from our land like brave 

 men, to attack ye our enemies, 

 and kill ye and devour ye : the 

 victory has been yours, and you 

 have us in your hands. We care 



