Page:Life and Adventures of William Buckley.djvu/184

Rh

reference to the Superstitions of the Aboriginal Inhabitants of uncivilized countries, there is one noticed by, in his History, especially deserving record in a Narrative of this kind. Alluding to those of the Mosquittoe shore, he says—

"The Mosquittoes are distinguished into two sorts, the Reds, and Blacks, or Samboes. The first are the original inhabitants of the country; the second are the descendants of about fifty negroes, whom a Portuguese Captain had brought from Guinea, and was carrying to Brazil, but who rendered themselves masters of the vessel, throwing all overboard, but one man. The assistance of this man, however, was insufficient to navigate the vessel, which, left at the mercy of the winds, was driven upon Cape Gracias a Dios, where the crew fell into the hands of the Mosquittoes, among whom the Negroes lived for some time in a state of servitude, and afterwards became the partners of their dangers and toils.

"The Portuguese was so much like a Spaniard, against whom the animosity of the Mosquittoes is implacable, that his life was, with difficulty, spared; and after he had been a slave for two years, it was determined to sacrifice