d of several pieces of crape, silks, and taffeta, with a
large pitcher and basin of silver; while the latter was a trifling
gift of twenty muskets and one hundred pieces of blue _dungeree_. The
present was gracefully accepted, and the donors welcomed to the
sacrifice, which was delayed on account of the scarcity of victims,
though orders had been given to storm a neighboring tribe to make up
three hundred slaves for the festival. In the mean while, a spacious
house, furnished in European style, and altogether better than the
ordinary dwellings of Africa, was assigned to the strangers. Liberty
was also given them to enter wherever they pleased, and take what they
wished, inasmuch as all his subjects, male and female, were slaves
whom he placed at the white men's disposal.

The sixth of May was announced as the beginning of the sacrificial
rites, which were to last five days. Early in the morning, two hundred
females of the amazonian guard, naked to the waist, but richly
ornamented with beads and rings at every joint of their oiled and
glistening limbs, appeared in the area before the king's palace, armed
with blunt cutlasses. Very soon the sovereign made his appearance,
when the band of warriors began their manoeuvres, keeping pace, with
rude but not unmartial skill, to the native drum and flute.

A short distance from the palace, within sight of the square, a fort
or inclosure, about nine feet high, had been built of _adobe_, and
surrounded by a pile of tall, prickly briers. Within this barrier,
secured to stakes, stood fifty captives who were to be immolated at
the opening of the festival. When the drill of the amazons and the
royal review were over, there was, for a considerable time, perfect
silence in the ranks and throughout the vast multitude of spectators.
Presently, at a signal from the king, one hundred of the women
departed at a run, brandishing their weapons and yelling their
war-cry, till, heedless of the thorny barricade, they leaped the
walls, lacerating their flesh in crossing the prickly impediment. The
delay was short. Fifty of these female demons, with torn limbs and
bleeding faces, quickly returned, and offered their howling victims to
the king. It was now the duty of this personage to begin the sacrifice
with his royal hand. Calling the female whose impetuous daring had led
her foremost across the thorns, he took a glittering sword from her
grasp, and in an instant the head of the first victim fell