It Was
Amusing To Hear Them Ask For Seeds Of The Glass Medicine Bottles I
Carried With Me.
A drum, ingeniously made by stretching a serpent's skin over a large
calabash, was monotonously beaten as our good-night lullaby when we
stretched ourselves out on the grass.
The Caingwa men all had their lower lip pierced, and hanging down
over the breast was a thin stick about ten inches long. Their faces
were also painted in strange patterns.
Learning from their chief that the royal tribe to which they
originally belonged lived away in the depths of the forest to the
east, some moons distant, I became curious. After repeated enquiries
I was told that a king ruled the people there, and that they daily
worshipped the sun. Hearing of these sun-worshippers, I determined,
if possible, to push on thither. The old chief himself offered to
direct us if, in return, I would give him a shirt, a knife, and a
number of white beads. The bargain was struck, and arrangements were
made to start off at sunrise next day, My commission was not only to
see the old gentleman's land, but to visit the surrounding Indians,
with a view to missionary work being commenced among them.
The morning dawned clear and propitious, but the chief had decided
not to go. On enquiring the reason for the change of mind, I
discovered that his people had been telling him that I only wanted to
get him into the forest in order to kill him, and that I would not
give him the promised shirt and beads.
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