PORTUGUESE CURIOSITY 235 



racier, I was an object of curiosity to these hospitable 

 Portuguese. They evidently looked upon me as an agent 

 of the English Government engaged in some new move 

 ment for the suppression of slavery. They could not divine 

 what a " missionario" had to do with latitudes and longi- 

 tudes, which I was intent on observing. When we became 

 a little familiar, the questions put were rather amusing : — 

 " Is it common for missionaries to be doctors I" " Are you 

 a doctor of medicine and a ' doutor mathematico' too ? 

 You must be more than a missionary to know how to calcu- 

 late the longitude. Come ; tell us at once what rank you 

 hold in the English army." They may have given credif \ 

 to my reason for wearing the mustache, as that explains J 

 why men have beards and women have none; but that 

 which puzzled many besides my Cassange friends was the 

 anomaly of my being a " sacerdote," with a wife and four 

 children ! I usually got rid of the last question by putting 

 another : — " Is it not better to have children with a wife than 

 to have children without a wife?" But all were most kin J 

 and hospitable ; and, as one of their festivals was near, they 

 invited me to partake of the feast. 



The anniversary of the Resurrection of our Savior was 

 observed on the 16th of April as a day of rejoicing, though 

 the Portuguese have no priests at Cassange. The colored 

 population dressed up a figure intended to represent Judas 

 Iscariot, and paraded him on a riding-ox about the village : 

 sneers and maledictions were freely bestowed on the poor 

 wretch thus represented. The slaves and free colored popu- 

 lation, dressed in their gayest clothing, made visits to all 

 the principal merchants, and, wishing them " a good feast," 

 expected a present in return. This, though frequently 

 granted in the shape of pieces of calico to make new 

 dresses, was occasionally refused; but the rebuff did not 

 much affect the petitioner. 



At ten a.m. we went to the residence of the commandant, 

 and, on a signal being given, two of the four brass guns 

 belonging to the Government commenced firing, and con- 



