house in America:  he respected him very much, and made him always eat with him in the cabin.  He used often to tell him jocularly that he would kill me to eat.  Sometimes he would say to me—­the black people were not good to eat, and would ask me if we did not eat people in my country.  I said, No:  then he said he would kill Dick (as he always called him) first, and afterwards me.  Though this hearing relieved my mind a little as to myself, I was alarmed for Dick and whenever he was called I used to be very much afraid he was to be killed; and I would peep and watch to see if they were going to kill him:  nor was I free from this consternation till we made the land.  One night we lost a man overboard; and the cries and noise were so great and confused, in stopping the ship, that I, who did not know what was the matter, began, as usual, to be very much afraid, and to think they were going to make an offering with me, and perform some magic; which I still believed they dealt in.  As the waves were very high I thought the Ruler of the seas was angry, and I expected to be offered up to appease him.  This filled my mind with agony, and I could not any more that night close my eyes again to rest.  However, when daylight appeared I was a little eased in my mind; but still every time I was called I used to think it was to be killed.  Some time after this we saw some very large fish, which I afterwards found were called grampusses.  They looked to me extremely terrible, and made their appearance just at dusk; and were so near as to blow the water on the ship’s deck.  I believed them to be the rulers of the sea; and, as the white people did not make any offerings at any time, I thought they were angry with them:  and, at last, what confirmed my belief was, the wind just then died away, and a calm ensued, and in consequence of it the ship stopped going.  I supposed that the fish had performed this, and I hid myself in the fore part of the ship, through fear of being offered up to appease them, every minute peeping and quaking:  but my good friend Dick came shortly towards me, and I took an opportunity to ask him, as well as I could, what these fish were.  Not being able to talk much English, I could but just make him understand my question; and not at all, when I asked him if any offerings were to be made to them:  however, he told me these fish would swallow any body; which sufficiently alarmed me.  Here he was called away by the captain, who was leaning over the quarter-deck railing and looking at the fish; and most of the people were busied in getting a barrel of pitch to light, for them to play with.  The captain now called me to him, having learned some of my apprehensions from Dick; and having diverted himself and others for some time with my fears, which appeared ludicrous enough in my crying and trembling, he dismissed me.  The barrel of pitch was now lighted and put over the side into the water:  by this time it was just dark, and the fish went after it; and, to my great joy, I saw them no more.