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Vol. I.
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one of the men who were in search of it, hetook it up in his arms, smiling with delight atbeing taken notice of. Its poor mother wantedto follow, but was held back by those abouther; on hearing its mothers voice it began tocry, but, when it arrived at the fatal place ofits execution, it was pleased and delighted withthe band of gnatoo that was put round its neck,and, looking up in the face of the man who wasabout to destroy it, displayed in its beautifulcountenance a smile of ineffable pleasure ; sucha sight inspired pity in the breast of every one :but veneration and fear of the gods was a sen-timent superior to every other, and its destroyercould not help exclaiming, as he put on thefatal bandage, 0 iaooe chi vale! (poor little in-nocent !) Two men then tightened the cord bypulling at each end, and the guiltless and un-suspecting victim was quickly relieved of itspainful struggles. The body was then placedupon a sort of hand-barrow, supported uponthe shoulders of four men, and carried in a pro-cession of priests, chiefs, and matabooles clothedin mats, with wreaths of green leaves roundtheir necks. In this manner it w r as conveyed tovarious houses consecrated to different gods,before each of which it was placed on theground, all the company sitting behind it, ex-cept One priest, who sat beside it, and prayed