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VOYAGES
A N D D I S C O V E R I E S OF
confined, it is true, but they had plenty to eat and drink, and soon began to recover flesh and vigor.
In a little while, however,
their enjoyment of this good cheer met with a sudden check, for the unfortunate Valdivia, and four of his companions, were singled out by the cacique, on account of their improved condition, to be offered up to his idols.
The natives of this coast, in fact, were
cannibals, devouring the flesh of their enemies and of such stran足 gers as fell into their hands.
The wretched Valdivia and his
fellow victims, therefore, were sacrificed in the bloody temple of the idol, and their limbs were afterwards served up at a grand feast held by the cacique and his subjects. The horror of the survivors may be more readily imagined than described.
Their hearts died within them when they heard
the yells and howlings of the savages over their victims, and the still more horrible revelry of their cannibal orgies.
They turned
with loathing from the food set so abundantly before them, at the idea that it was but intended to fatten them for a future banquet. Recovering from the first stupor of alarm, their despair lent them additional force.
They succeeded in breaking in the night
from the kind of cage in which they were confined, and fled to the depths of the forest.
Here they wandered about forlorn,
exposed to all the dangers and miseries of the wilderness ; famish足 ing with hunger, yet dreading to approach the haunts of men. At length their sufferings drove them forth from the woods into another part of the country, where they were again taken cap足 tive.
The cacique of this province, however, was an enemy to
the one from whom they had escaped, and of less cruel propensi足 ties.
He spared their lives and contented himself with making
them slaves, exacting from them the severest labor.
They had