dversaries fall upon and attack each other with equal
fury; the sharp weapons they wear inflict dreadful wounds, but these
intrepid combatants appear not to feel the cruel effects. Blood flows;
the champions only appear the more animated. The one that is getting
weak raises his courage at the idea of victory; if he draw back, it is
only to recruit his strength, to rush with more ardour than ever upon
the enemy he wishes to subdue. At length when their fate is decided,
when one of the heroes, covered with blood and wounds, falls a victim,
or runs away, he is declared vanquished, and the battle is ended.

The Indians assist with a sort of ferocious joy at this
amusement. Their attention is so captivated by it that they do not
utter a word, but follow with particular care the most minute details
of the conflict. Almost all of them train up a cock, and treat him
for several years with comical tenderness, when one reflects that
this animal, taken as much care of as a child, is destined by its
master to perish the first day it fights. I also found that it was
necessary to provide some amusement compatible with the tastes,
manners, and habits of my former bandits, who had led for so long
a space of time such a wandering vagabond life. For this purpose I
allowed hunting on all parts of my estate, conditionally, however,
that I should take beforehand, as tithe, a quarter of any stag or wild
boar they should kill. I do not think that ever a sportsman--one of
those men reclaimed from the paths of vice to those of virtue--failed
in this engagement, or endeavoured to steal any game. I have often
received seven or eight haunches of venison in a day, and those who
brought them were delighted to be able to offer them to me.

The church I had laid the foundation of was progressing rapidly;
the population of the township was daily increasing: and everything
succeeded according to my wishes. I had still occasional difficulties
with the hardened robbers who surrounded me; but I pursued them
without intermission, for it was to my interest to remove them from the
neighbourhood of my residence. Frequently they annoyed me by the alarms
that they gave us. These resolute, determined men arrived in gangs to
besiege our house. My guards surrounded me, and we occasionally fought
skirmishes, which always terminated in our favour. Providence has
unfathomable secrets. I was never struck by a ball from a bandit. I
bear the scars of seventeen wounds; b