A ROBBER PARTY. 377 



I told my men that I esteemed one of their lives of more value 

 than all the oxen we had, and that the only cause which could 

 induce me to fight would be to save the lives and liberties of 

 the majority. In the propriety of this they all agreed, and said 

 that, if the Chiboque molested us who behaved so peaceably, 

 the guilt would be on their heads. This is a favorite mode of 

 expression throughout the whole country. All are anxious to 

 give explanation of any acts they have performed, and conclude 

 the narration with, "I have no guilt or blame" (" molatu"). 

 "They have the guilt." I never could be positive whether the 

 idea in their minds is guilt in the sight of the Deity, or of man- 

 kind only. 



Next morning the robber party came with about thirty yards 

 of strong striped English calico, an axe, and two hoes for our 

 acceptance, and returned the copper rings, as the chief was a 

 great man, and did not need the ornaments of my men, but we 

 noticed that they were taken back again. I divided the cloth 

 among my men, and pleased them a little by thus compensating 

 for the loss of the ox. I advised the chief, whose name we did 

 not learn, as he did not deign to appear except under the alias 

 Matiamvo, to get cattle for his own use, and expressed sorrow 

 that I had none wherewith to enable him to make a commence- 

 ment. Rains prevented our proceeding till Thursday morning, 

 and then messengers appeared to tell us that their chief had 

 learned that all the cloth sent by him had not been presented ; 

 that the copper rings had been secreted by the persons order- 

 ed to restore them to us, and that he had stripped the thiev- 

 ish emissaries of their property as a punishment. Our guides 

 thought these were only spies of a larger party, concealed in the 

 forest through which we were now about to pass. We prepared 

 for defense by marching in a compact body, and allowing no one 

 to straggle far behind the others. We marched through many 

 miles of gloomy forest in gloomier silence, but nothing disturbed 

 us. We came to a village, and found all the men absent, the 

 guides thought, in the forest, with their countrymen. I was too 

 ill to care much whether we were attacked or not. Though a 

 pouring rain came on, as we were all anxious to get away out of 

 a bad neighborhood, we proceeded. The thick atmosphere pre- 

 vented my seeing the creeping plants in time to avoid them ; so 



