MISCELLANEOUS. 



677 



lity of the bearer, and a sudden 

 compliance with the purport of 

 his errand. In this way decrees 

 are enforced, the punishment due 

 to offence remilted, or the se- 

 verest sentence annexed to it car- 

 ried into instant execution. 



They iiave one law against 

 adultery, which has something cu- 

 rious in it. The fine imposed on 

 the offender is, that he pay the 

 injured husband an ox. This pe- 

 nalty, the head man of the parti- 

 cular tribe to which the adulterer 

 belongs, is strictly bound by long 

 custom to see punctually complied 

 with, or one of his own cattle may 

 be taken as a lawful indemnity. 

 Should the latter happen, the chief 

 then exacts, as an equivalent for 

 Avhat he loses by the offence, a 

 staled period of servitude from the 

 offender. 



In this country there is neither 

 priest, physician, or lawyer ; but 

 there is a professor of another 

 science, who commonly unites the 

 duties of the three ; this is the 

 sokee, or conjuror, a person of 

 high importance, and whose occult 

 skill is ever regarded with the 

 deepest and most implicit venera- 

 tion. 



They have no modes of public 

 worship, nor could any particular 

 forms of religious persuasion be 

 found to prevail amongst them. 

 There is little doubt, however, of 

 their paying adoration to evil spi- 

 rits, from a singular belief which 

 is entertained, that they have 

 ranch more inconvenience to ap- 

 prehend from the influence of the 

 bad than the good. 



In common with most, if not 

 with all rude tribes, polygamy is 

 freely allowed, and a plurality of 

 wives is t!ie privilege of every hus- 



band in the Mosquito nation ; but 

 perhaps it has seldom been in- 

 dulged in equal extent in any 

 country. Many men here claim 

 from two to six wives ; few can 

 be found satisfied with one : their 

 late king surpassed all his subjects 

 in this respect ; he claimed no less 

 than twenty-two ! His Mosquito 

 majesty might very well have ex- 

 claimed with honest Launcelot — 

 " Alas ! fifteen wives is nothing." 

 At the same time it may be ob- 

 served, that this circumstance is 

 attended with far less inconve- 

 nience than might possibly be 

 found annexed to it in most other 

 situations, the numerous claim- 

 ants for the affection or favour of 

 their lord never discovering the 

 least jealousy or hatred towards 

 each other. 



The females are taken for wives 

 at a very tender age, frequently 

 when they have scarcely attained 

 their tenth year. At the hour of 

 their birth, the contract for their 

 destination in this respect is not 

 uncommonly formed with the 

 husband and their parents. And 

 from what would seem so prema- 

 ture an engagement, that which 

 usually discovers itself in this sex 

 must be expected to happen, an n 

 earlyappearanceofadvancedyears. 

 It is likewise observed, a natural 

 consequence of the above, that the 

 duration of life between the sexes 

 is found greatly disproportionate. 



A singular custom is scrupu- 

 lously observed by the women of 

 this nation. At the time of par- 

 turition, an habitation is prepared 

 for them in the deepest recesses of 

 the woods, to which, with a fe- 

 male assistant, they retire, and 

 where they remain secluded from 

 every eye for a stated period. 



