The Ships return'd to _Johanna_, where the greatest Tenderness and Care
was shown for the Recovery and Cure of the two Captains and of their
Men; they lay six Weeks before they were able to walk the Decks, for
neither of them would quit his Ship. Their _Johanna_ Wives expressed a
Concern they did not think them capable of, nay, a Wife of one of the
wounded Men who died, stood some Time looking upon the Corpse as
motionless as a Statue, then embracing it, without shedding a Tear,
desired she might take it ashore to wash and bury it; and at the same
Time, by an Interpreter, and with a little Mixture of _European_
Language, she had, begg'd her late Husband's Friends would take their
Leave of him the next Day.
Accordingly a Number went ashore, and carried with them the Dividend,
which fell to his Share, which the Captain order'd to be given his
Widow; when she saw the Money, she smil'd, and ask'd if all, all that
was for her? Being answered in the affirmative, and what Good will all
that shining Dirt do me, if I could with it purchase the Life of my
Husband, and call him back from the Grave, I would accept it with
Pleasure, but as it is not sufficient to allure him back to this World,
I have no Use for it; do with it what you please. Then she desired they
would go with her and perform the last Ceremonies to her Husband's dead
Body, after their Country Fashion, least he should be displeased, that
she could not stay with them, to be a Witness, because she was in haste
to go and be married again. She startled the _Europeans_ who heard this
latter Part of her Speech so dissonant from the Beginning; however, they
followed her, and she led them into a Plantane Walk, where they found a
great many _Johanna_ Men and Women, sitting under the Shade of
Plantanes, round the Corpse, which lay (as they all sate) on the Ground,
covered with Flowers. She embraced them round, and then the _Europeans_,
one by one, and after these Ceremonies, she poured out a Number of
bitter Imprecations against the _Mohila_ Men, whose Treachery had
darken'd her Husband's Eyes, and made him insensible of her Caresses,
who was her first Love, to whom she had given her Heart, with her
Virginity. She then proceeded in his Praises, calling him the Joy of
Infants, the Love of Virgins, the Delight of the old, and the Wonder of
the young, adding, he was strong and beautiful as the Cedar, brave as
the Bull, tender as the Kid, and loving as the Ground Turtle; having
finished this Oration, not unlike those of the _Romans_, which the
nearest Relation of the deceas'd used to pronounce from the Rostrum, she
laid her down by the Side of her Husband, embracing him, and sitting up
again, gave herself a deep Wound under the left Breast with a Bayonet,
and fell dead on her Husband's Corpse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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