Chap. XVIII. 
A EOBBEE PAETY. 
349 
I told my men that I esteemed one of their lives of more value 
than all the oxen we had, and that the only cause which could 
induce me to fight, would be to save the lives and liberties of 
the majority. In the propriety of this they all agreed, and said 
that, if the Chiboque molested us who behaved so peaceably, 
the guilt would be on their heads. This is a favourite mode of 
expression throughout the whole country. All are anxious to 
give explanation of any acts they have performed, and conclude 
the narration with, “I have no guilt or blame” (‘‘molatu”). 
“ They have the guilt.” I never could be positive whether the 
idea in their minds is guilt in the sight of the Deity, or of man¬ 
kind only. 
Next morning the robber party came with about thirty yards 
of strong striped English calico, an axe, and two hoes for our 
acceptance, and returned the copper rings, as the chief was a 
great man, and did not need the ornaments of my men, but we 
noticed that they were taken back again. I divided the cloth 
among my men, and pleased them a little by thus compensating 
for the loss of the ox. I advised the chief, whose name we did 
not learn, as he did not deign to appear except under the alias 
Matiamvo, to get cattle for his own use, and expressed sorrow 
that I had none wherewith to enable him to make a commence¬ 
ment. Eains prevented our proceeding till Thursday morning, 
and then messengers appeared to tell us that their chief had 
learned, that all the cloth sent by him had not been presented; 
that the copper rings had been secreted by the persons ordered 
to restore them to us, and that he had stripped the thievish 
emissaries of their property as a punishment. Our guides 
thought these were only spies of a larger party, concealed in the 
forest through which we were now about to pass. We prepared 
for defence by marching in a compact body, and allowing no one 
to straggle far behind the others. We marched through many 
miles of gloomy forest in gloomier silence, but nothing disturbed 
us. We came to a village, and found all the men absent, the 
guides thought, in the forest, with their countrymen. I was too 
ill to care much whether we were attacked or not. Though a 
pouring rain came on, as we were all anxious to get away out of 
a bad neighbourhood, we proceeded. The thick atmosphere pre¬ 
vented my seeing the creeping plants in time to avoid them ; so 
