They Had Not The Means Of Purchasing The Canoes Of The Chief Of Patashie, As The King Of Wowow Had

Adroitly managed to exhaust them of nearly all their resources; but when they began to talk of prosecuting their journey

In the canoes belonging to the chief of Patashie, the canoe men stoutly resisted their right: fortunately, however, for them, their busy, restless friend Ducoo interfered on their behalf, and soon silenced their remarks, by threatening to cut off the head of him who should presume from that time to set foot in either of the canoes; and in order to give his menace the greater weight, he stationed two of his men to guard the forbidden boats till the sun went down, with drawn swords, and during the greater part of the night, another of his men paraded up and down the banks of the river near the spot as a watch, and this man kept up a noise by continually playing on a drum.

The four messengers, who had accompanied them from Wowow and Boossa, had hitherto been a great encumbrance upon the Landers, as their maintenance was by no means inconsiderable, at the same time, they were themselves in some measure dependent upon the native chiefs for their support. They were, therefore, heartily rejoiced to get rid of them, and having been paid their stipulated wages, they left the town in company to proceed to Wowow.

The question of the canoes was, however, by no means settled, for the Landers were on a sudden surprised by the arrival of a small party of men, who arrived in a canoe, from the chief of the island of Teah, with a message to them, purporting that the canoes which they had, to the infinite surprise of the chief, detained at Lever, did not belong as was supposed, to his friend, the chief of Patashie, but were his own property, and as he did not acknowledge the authority of Wowow, but had ever been subject to the king of Nouffie, he considered that they could have no right whatever to the canoes in question, and, therefore, he entreated them to return the canoes by the hands of his messengers. The chief of Teah asserted, that he had lent them, because he was willing to oblige the white men and his own neighbour, but he did not conceive it possible that they could make so ungrateful and unkind a return for his hospitality, and the respect and attention which it had been his pride and pleasure to show them. For their own parts, they could not forbear acknowledging the truth and justice of the observations of the Teah chieftain, and blaming themselves for the step they had taken. They said further, that whatever might be the consequence, they had not the slightest objection to restore the canoes to their rightful owner; and provided the men from Teah could obtain the consent of Ducoo, the priest, to take them away, they were at liberty to do so whenever they might think proper.

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