Page:The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African.pdf/357

[ 311 ] day from another. This mode of living laid the foundation of my decamping at last. The natives are well made and warlike; and they particularly boast of never been conquered by the Spaniards. They are great drinkers of strong liquors when they can get them. We used to distill rum from pine-apples which were very plentiful here; and then we could not get them away from our place. Yet they seemed to be singular, in point of honest, above any other nation I was ever amongst. The country being hot, we lived under an open shed, where we had all kinds of goods, without a door or lock to any one article; yet we slept in safety, and never lost any thing, or were disturbed. This surprised us a good deal; and the Doctor, myself, and others, used to say if we were to lie in that manner in Europe we should have our throats cut the first night. The Indian governor goes once in a certain time all about the province or district, and has a number of men with him as attendants and assistants. He settles all the differences among the people, like the judges here, and is treated with every great respect. He took care to give us timely notice before he came to our habitation, by sending his stick as a token, for rum, sugar, and gunpowder, which we did 4