CONCEPTION. 



359 



entering the court-yard of their quarterSj we ob- 

 served a party seated on the ground, round a great 

 tub full of wine; they hailed our entrance with loud 

 shouts, or rather yells, and boisterously demand- 

 ed our business ; to all appearance, very little 

 pleased with the interruption. The interpreter 

 became alarmed, and wished us to retire ; but this 

 I thought imprudent, as each man had his long 

 spear close at hand, resting against the eaves of 

 the house. Had we attempted to escape, we must 

 have been taken, and possibly sacrificed, by these 

 drunken savages. As our best chance seemed to 

 lie in treating them without any show of distrust, 

 we advanced to the circle with a good-humoured 

 confidence, which appeased them considerably. 

 One of the party rose and embraced us in the In- 

 dian fashion, which we had learned from the gen- 

 tlemen who had been prisoners with Benavides. 

 After this ceremony, they roared out to us to sit 

 down on the ground along with them, and with 

 the most boisterous hospitality, insisted on our 

 drinking with them ; a request which we cheer- 

 fully complied with. Their anger soon vanished, 

 and was succeeded by mirth and satisfaction^ 



