W&k DISCOVERIES OF THE ENGLISH. 
" the devil." His presence is announced by a 
loud roaring noise, issuing from the heart of the 
woods, or. from rocky cavities. This continues un- 
til a large store of the contents of the feast is laid 
down near the spot, the whole of which, on the 
departure of the donors, very rapidly disappears. 
Should this propitiatory gift be withheld, or should 
its amount appear unsatisfactory, the offended dei- 
ty seeks redress by seizing on a young boy,*whom 
he is reported to keep lodged in his stomach, until 
a more copious supply of " belly timber" appeases 
his resentment. Jobson saw several who had been 
thus rescued from the jaws of the fiend. They 
bore on their countenance every mark of the 
deepest consternation ; but maintained an im- 
moveable silence, nor could our author, even by 
presenting his musket, induce them to answer a 
single question. He himself conjectures, very 
shrewdly, that the whole is a mere illusion of their 
priests, and adds, " the hoarseness of some shew- 
" ed that they had lost their throats in that roar- 
*« in op." He had, soon after, a still more convin- 
cing proof of the soundness of this opinion. Pass- 
ing by, in company with a Marabout, they heard, 
from a little distance, tremendous cries uttered by 
the Horey. Jobson, not so dismayed, but having 
a loaded musket in his hand, instantly expressed 
his determination of discharging its contents at his 
infernal majesty. The Marabout employed every 
it 
