was in an extasy of delight: such a happy
mixture of savage and civilised life I had
never seen before; and, when I observed the
white smoke curling out of the chimneys of
my countrymen, I anticipated the joyful surprise,
the hearty welcome, the smiling faces,
and old Christmas compliments that were
going to take place, and the great pleasure it
would give our secluded countrymen to meet
us, in these distant regions, at this happy season,
and talk of our relatives and friends in
England.
My romantic notions were soon crushed;
our landing gave no pleasure to these secluded
Englishmen : they gave us no welcome ; but,
as our boats approached the shore, they walked
away to their own dwellings, closed their
gates and doors after them, and gazed at us
through their windows; and during three
days that we passed in a hut quite near them,
they never exchanged one word with any of
the party. Thus foiled in our hopes of spending
a social day with our compatriots, after
our dinner was over we sent materials for
making a bowl of punch up the hill to the
chiefs, and spent the remainder of the day
surrounded by generous savages, who were
delighted with our company, and who did
every thing in their power to make us comfortable.
In the course of the afternoon, two
of the mission came up to preach ; but the
savages were so angry with them for not
showing more kindness to their own countrymen,
that none would listen to them.
I have visited many of the Roman Catholic
missionary establishments; their priests adopt
quite a different line of conduct : they are
cheerful and kind to the savage pagan, and
polite and attentive to their European brethren
; they have gained the esteem of those
they have been sent to convert; they have
introduced their own language amongst them,
which enables them to have intercourse with
strangers; and, however we may differ in some
tenets of religious belief, we must acknowledge
the success of their mission. They have
brought nearly the whole of the Indian population
in South America into the bosom of
their church ; and their converts form the
greater part of the people. Notwithstanding