The Men Of This Country Are Large And Well-Made, Strong And Courageous,
And Of Civilized Manners For Heathens; As They Keep Most Faithfully To
Their Wives, Of Whom They Are Not A Little Jealous.
I could not learn
their religion; for though they have some idols, they seem to know that
there is a God in heaven, as, when we asked them about their wooden
puppets, they used to lift up their hands to heaven.
All their children
are circumcised, but I could not learn the reason why. They are very
just and true in their dealings, and theft is punished with instant
death. When any one dies, a small thatched roof is erected over his
bier, under which are set earthen pots kept always full of water, and
some earthen plates with different kinds of food, a few bones being
stuck up around the body. To the south of this bay, some thirty or forty
leagues into the interior country, there are very fierce people, who are
cannibals, and sometimes infest the natives of Sierra Leona.
[Illustration: map]
The inhabitants of Sierra Leona feed on rice, of which they only
cultivate what is indispensibly needful for their subsistence, in small
patches near their dwellings, which they clear by burning the woods.
They likewise sow another very small grain, called pene, of which they
make bread, not much unlike winter savory. They rear a few poultry about
their houses, using no other animal food, except when they sometimes get
a fawn of the wild deer, a few of which are found in the mountains, or
some wild fowl.
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