A more curious part of this singular feast remains to be described.  On opening the animal, it was found to be with young, when the uterus, containing two lambs, each about six inches long, was, as a particular mark of favour or respect, placed in my hands:  but, not appreciating the gift so highly as probably had been expected, I immediately laid it aside.  After the departure of the King, it was a second time brought to me, and I now contrived, by shaking my head, and other demonstrations, to make them comprehend that I did not intend to make use of it, and that it was entirely at their service.  This was, without doubt, very agreeable intelligence; for, having pricked the sac, to allow the liquor to drain away, and laid it for a short time before the fire, the whole was divided into portions, and eaten up apparently with avidity and delight.

The above meal was purely carnivorous, for neither yams nor palm-wine were introduced as accompaniments; in the afternoon, however, his Majesty made us another short visit, and sent a quantity of wine.  We offered the natives salt to their meat, but they refused it with every sign of disgust, and even wanted to throw away our little store of this, to us, so necessary a condiment.  They also shewed an equal dislike to tobacco; and, when one of our party made preparations for smoking a cigar, the priest held out his rod as if in prohibition, while others endeavoured to prevent him from lighting it.  Canning, indeed, who had witnessed more frequently the practice of smoking on board, shewed less aversion.

Though we were at a considerable distance from the settlement, we could hear the reports of the morning and evening gun; for the first two or three days, the natives appeared, or pretended to be, much alarmed at this, as they halloed for some time after.  They would frequently come up to us, levelling a stick like a musket, and accompany the action with bang! bang!  We had reason to consider them much afraid of every species of fire-arms, and I cannot but think it would be good policy to keep this apprehension alive, rather than to endeavour to remove it by attempts to explain the principles of their action, and to familiarise them with the effects.  In this respect, I deem the general practice of our voyagers and travellers to be decidedly faulty, since the superior advantages which fire-arms give, may be said to constitute our chief compensation for deficiency of numbers, and thus enable us to preserve that vast pre-eminence which we possess over the uncivilised inhabitants of newly-discovered countries.  If the policy of our Government requires an intercourse with savage nations, both prudence and humanity justify our retaining the means of commanding that intercourse, by the superiority of our modes of defence; for, in the event of hostile collision, the numbers of the savages, possessed as they are, individually, of physical strength and bodily activity, at least equal to our own, could scarcely fail to be overwhelming.  This also agrees with Vaillant’s opinion, for he remarks, that, “when you travel among savages, you ought never to employ your arms, or shew the use of them, except to render them a service, either by procuring them game, or destroying such ferocious animals as are obnoxious to them.”—­Vaillant, vol. ii. p. 127.