The Mother Of The Deceased Is Not Allowed To Display Any Signs Of Sorrow Or Sadness At The Untimely Death

Of her daughter, for were she to do so, the same dreadful punishment would be inflicted upon her, 'For,'

Say the Brass people, 'if the parent should mourn or weep over the fate of a child guilty of so heinous a crime, we should pronounce her instantly to be as criminal as her daughter, and to have tolerated her offence. But if, on the contrary, she betrays no maternal tenderness, nor bewail her bereavement in tears and groans, we should then conclude her to be entirely ignorant of the whole transaction; she would then give a tacit acknowledgment to the justice of the sentence, and rejoice to be rid of an object that would only entail disgrace on her as long as she lived.

"Our people are become heartily tired of their situation, and impatient to be gone; they were regaled with an extra quantity of rum last evening, by their female friend, the duenna; when their grievances appearing to them in a more grievous light than ever, they had the courage to go in a body to King Boy, to demand an explanation of his intentions towards them. They told him, indignantly, either to convey them to the English brig, or sell them for slaves to the Spaniards, 'For,' say they, 'we would rather lose our liberty, than be kept here to die of hunger.' Boy returned them an equivocating answer, but treated them much less roughly than I had reason to anticipate. Afterwards, I went myself to the same individual, and with a similar motive, but for some time I had no opportunity of conversing with him. It is a kind of holiday here, and most of the Brass people, with their chiefs, are merry with intoxication. As well as I can understand, during the earlier part of the day they were engaged in a solemn, religious observance, and since then King Forday has publicly abdicated in favour of Boy, who is his eldest son. I discovered those individuals in a court annexed to the habitation of the former, surrounded by a great number of individuals with bottles, glasses, and decanters at their feet; they were all in a state of drunkenness, more or less; and all had their faces and bodies chalked over in rude and various characters. Forday, alone, sat in a chair, Boy was at his side, and the others, amongst whom was our friend Gun and a drummer, were sitting around on blocks of wood, and on the trunk of a fallen tree. The chairman delivered a long oration, but he was too tipsy, and perhaps too full of days to speak with grace, animation, or power; therefore his eloquence was not very persuasive, and his nodding hearers, overcome with drowsiness, listened to him with scarcely any attention. They smiled, however, and laughed occasionally, but I could not find why they did so; I don't think they themselves could tell.

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