226 TRAVELSIN' 
with the leaft accident in the arduous paflage 
of the mountains. 
The Greater Nimiquas now began to 
breathe, and to recover from their fright. Ths 
firft day of cur expedition, they preferved a 
gloomy lilence, and were penfive and melan- 
choly, as if leading to execution. On the fe>- 
cond, when they perceived the plain, their 
brows began to unbend a little, and I perceived 
they had acquired fufEcient confidence to 
whifper each other in the ear. But when, ar- 
rived at the river, they breathed their native 
air, and faw again a country they knew, 
cheerfulnefs and a fenfe of fecurity overfpread 
their countenances, and they recovered for the 
firft time their fpeech and their wonted looks. 
You would have faid, that, being on their own 
dunghill, they no longer feared thofe terrible 
Houzouanas, in whofe company they had fo 
trembled. 
The next morning the Houzouanas an- 
nounced to me, that they fhould depart and' 
join their comrades. I had nothing more to 
afk of them, as they had performed their pro- 
mife : yet I was not willing that thefe faith- 
ful 
I 
