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Show 212 THE LILY AND TH£ TOTEM. is usually n. fat beast, differing very considerably from tlJC more s~wagc tribes to whom we liken him, tho wolf and the panther j while the opossum is probably the fattest of all animals at seasons when the forest mast is abundant. Of the quality of the meat we will s;y nothing. To !hose with whom the appetite has been made properly subservient to the taste, and who suffer from no necessities, his fhwor is scarcely such as legitimates his admission into the kitchen. But the ease is far otherwise with those inferior trib('s with whom the appetites arc coarse and eager. The negro is seldom so well satisfied :ls when he feeds on 'possum. " 'Possum," is the common remark among this people, "'possum heap better than pig!" To those who know how high is the estimate which the negro sets upon the pig fnmily-au estimate which is the occnsion of an epidemic under which a fat pig, straying into the woods in June and July, is sure to perish-the compliment is inappreciable. Thus, feeding well, with his health and self-esteem gradually recovering, Lnudonnierc began to resume his explorations, and to cast his eyes about him \vith Lis old desire for precious discoveries 1t was about this time that he was visited by a. couple of savages from the do:ninions of King 1\'[aracou. This potent.utc dwelt some forty leagues to the south of La Caroline. The Indians, among other matters, related to Laudonnicre that, in the service of another nati\'e monarch named Onnthaqua, there was a man whom they called "Dnrbn, or the bearded man," who was not of the people of the country. Another foreigner, whose name they knew not, was said to inhabit the house of King Mathiaca, o. forest chieftain, whose tribes occupied a contiguous region. From the descriptions thus given him, Laudonniore readily conceived that these strange men were Christians. lie accordingly opened HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 213 a communication with the tribes by which the intermediate country was occupied, and under tho stimulus of a. liberal recompense, promised them in European goods, the two strangers ,vere brought in safety to La Caroline. The conjecture of Laudonniere proved rightly founded. They were white men and Christians-Spnniards who had suffered shipwreck some fifteen years before, upon the flats called "The Martyrs," and over and against that region of tho country, which at this period was called Calos-from a great native pt·iuce of that name.• This savage repaired to the wreck, and carried off into captivity its crew and passengers. :Many of these were women, who became tho wives of their conquerors. The king of Calo:;~, whom a Spaniard described as the " goodliest and the t.ullcst Indian of the country, a mighty man, a warrior, and having many subjects under l1is obedience," not only !lnvcd tho Europeans from their wreck, but., by diligent and indefatigable perseverance, rescued most of the treasure that was in the vc~>sel; the wcaltll whicll had been gleaned with unsparing cruelties ft·om the bowels of tho earth in Peru and ~texico. The treasures thus obtained by King Cnlos, were represented to be of almost limitless value. "He had great store of goldo and silver, so farre forth that, in a ccrtaine village, ho had a pit full thereof, which was at the least as high as a man, and ns large as a tunnc." According to our Spaniards, it might be cru;y, "with an hundred shot," to obtain all this spoil; to say nothing of the scattered treasures w!Jich might be gleaned from the common people of the country. That the extent of their resources might not be under-valued, the captive Chris- • ·• Ce' C3los ou Corlus, sont Rnthropoph:I£C9, et rort eruel, ila demeur· cnt thn9 une ll1yc, 'lni porte egalement llnr nom, et eelui lie Pono;-e de Lcon."-CuARL"i:VOIJ[. |
