Chai>. XVIII.— B. P.] A NAIVE CONFESSION. 293 
wondered at that he gave way to the besetting sin* 
of his race, and thus painfully neutralized his really 
great abilities—abilities which, under firm and de¬ 
cided direction, might have materially aided in placing 
Mosquito in a proper position. 
There is no doubt that a decent observance of reli¬ 
gious duties on his part would have induced a very 
large number, if not all, of his aboriginal countrymen, 
to follow the example of the Kamas, and become, 
like them, Christianized, well-ordered, useful, and in¬ 
dustrious members of society. 
The King clearly understood the advantage that 
would accrue from such a unity of feeling among his 
subjects, who, instead of roaming naked through the 
forest, might then have lived together in villages; so 
that the fast dying out remnants of the tribes, noAV 
often at variance one with the other, would have be- 
* The following naive confession of a former Mosquito king is pro¬ 
bably unique in regal annals :— 
“ I hereby authorize Mr. Thomas Hedgcock, of London, to declare 
the grant of Blewfields to Captain Peter Le-le-Shaw, of Guernsey, to 
be declared null and void, in consequence of some very unpleasant 
circumstances attending the death of my late brother, which appearing 
very suspicious against the said Peter Le-le-Shaw ; and that when I 
gave said grant I was not ‘ compos mentis but had been, together with 
my chiefs, made inebriated; neither was I aware that my late lamented 
brother, George Frederick Augustus, had previously given to Captain 
William Smith a similar grant for said territory of Blewfields. 
“ Given under my hand at Cape Gracias a Dios, this tenth day of 
May, 1837. 
“ (Signed) R. C. Frederick, 
“ King of the Mosquito Nation. 
14 (Witnesses Robert IIaly. 
c ‘Peter Cox.” 
