man,
but mild and genteel in his demeanour? He was a man we had admitted to
our table, and was a general favourite with us all; and the poor victim
to his bloody cruelty was a pretty girl of about sixteen years of age!

While listening to this frightful detail, we felt sick almost to
fainting. We left Atoi, and again strolled towards the spot where this
disgusting mess was cooking. Not a native was now near it: a hot, fetid
steam kept occasionally bursting from the smothered mass; and the same
dog we had seen with the head now crept from beneath the bushes, and
sneaked towards the village. To add to the gloominess of the whole, a
large hawk rose heavily from the very spot where the poor victim had been
cut in pieces. My friend and I sat gazing on this melancholy place; it
was a lowering, gusty day, and the moaning of the wind through the
bushes, as it swept round the hill on which we were, seemed in unison
with our feelings.

After some time spent in contemplating the miserable scene before us,
during which we gave full vent to the most passionate exclamations of
disgust, we determined to spoil this intended feast. This resolution
formed, we rose to execute it. I ran off to our beach, leaving Duke on
guard, and, collecting all the white men I could, I informed them of what
had happened, and asked them if they would assist in destroying the oven
and burying the remains of the girl. They consented, and each having
provided himself with a shovel or a pickaxe, we repaired in a body to
the spot. Atoi and his friends had by some means been informed of our
intention, and they came out to prevent it. He used various threats to
deter us, and seemed highly indignant; but as none of his followers
appeared willing to come to blows, and seemed ashamed that such a
transaction should have been discovered by us, we were permitted by them
to do as we chose. We accordingly dug a tolerably deep grave; then we
resolutely attacked the oven. On removing the earth and leaves, the
shocking spectacle was presented to our view--the four quarters of a
human body half roasted. During our work clouds of steam enveloped us,
and the disgust created by our task was almost overpowering. We collected
all the parts we could recognise; the heart was placed separately, we
supposed, as a savoury morsel for the chief himself. We placed the whole
in the grave, which we filled up as well as we could, and then broke and
scattered the oven.

By this time the