136 



will be truly provoking to lose him by the influence 

 of this foolish prejudice. 



January 25. 

 I sent for Edward, had him alone with me for 

 above two hours, and pressed him most earnestly 

 to confide in me. I gave him a dollar to convince 

 him of my good- will towards him ; assured him 

 that whatever he might tell me should remain a 

 secret between us ; said, that I was certain of his 

 not having used any poison, or done any thing 

 really mischievous ; but as I suspected him of 

 having played some monkey-tricks or other, which, 

 however harmless in themselves, had evidently 

 operated dangerously upon Pickle's imagination, I 

 begged him to tell me precisely what had passed, 

 in order that I might counteract its baleful effects. 

 In reply, Edward swore to me most solemnly, " by 

 the great God Almighty, who lives above the 

 clouds," that he never had used any such prac- 

 tices : that he had never gone into the wood to 

 gather whangra; and that he had considered 

 Pickle, from the moment of his own marriage, as his 

 brother, and had always, till then, loved him as such. 

 His eyes filled with tears while he protested that 

 he should be as sorry for Pickle's death as if it w T ere 

 himself ; and he complained bitterly of having the 

 ill name of an Obeah man given to him, which 

 made him feared and shunned by his companions, 

 and entirely without cause. But he said that he 



