160 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
of the country at large, and particularly those 
people to whom the woman belonged, would be 
more satisfied by his being in their own hands, 
at least in those of one of their chiefs. The 
poor fellow himself, was at first much frightened, 
and would, I am convinced, have willingly given 
up his own life to restore that of the woman, 
were it then possible. Osman told him, although 
the accident was of an extremely unpleasant na- 
ture to all concerned, and particularly to him 
(Shaw), it was, nevertheless, one which so 
purely evinced the hand of the Almighty God, 
that he had nothing to fear, as he was sure Al- 
mamy would see the thing in its proper light, 
and judge accordingly. 
The following morning, the men, both free 
and slaves, of the village to which the unfortu- 
nate woman belonged, came to our camp, to the 
number of sixty or seventy, all armed, and in a 
very haughty manner demanded justice, which 
one of them, an old man, who appeared to be 
their speaker, said was nothing more than hand- 
ing over the prisoner to them, to be treated as 
they might think fit ; as in this case, the law 
said, when one slave," in which light they 
looked upon all my men, both black and white, 
" killed another, the survivor became the pro- 
perty of the person to whom the deceased be- 
