I had seen many savages in my time, but I had never seen savages so frightfully ugly as these; their huge heads, flat faces, small eyes, enormous mouths, sallow complexions, made up a physiognomy that was simply hideous; their short, thin legs appeared scarcely able to support their clumsy bodies. They made us understand by their gestures that their friends the "Gothi" were taller either than themselves or us.
Besides being ugly, their appearance was most sordid. None of the ornaments so frequently worn by savage tribes adorned them, but their bodies were scantily protected by fragments of skins, and their weapons, for the most part, were clumsy bludgeons, stone lances, and a kind of harpoon tipped with bone. One alone wore a necklace made of shells and pieces of uncut amber. He appeared to be a sort of chieftain, and as a token of his good-will he held out a wild bull's horn full of some yellowish fluid; I was on the point of taking the horn into my hand, when Himilco, ever ready to guzzle, raised it to his lips; but no sooner had he tasted the contents than he dashed it to the ground, and began spitting and spluttering with every expression of disgust.
To face [page 262].
"Ugh! the vile stuff!" he said, as soon as he could speak; "it's nothing in the world but beastly fish-oil! Ugh!"
We all roared with laughter; but the chief, highly offended at the way in which we received his proferred attention, assumed a threatening attitude, and in spite of my attempts to pacify him, withdrew with his followers to the woods.
Poor Himilco looked very penitent when he saw the mischief he had done.
"What a besotted idiot I am!" he exclaimed; "I declare I deserve nothing less than to be swung up to the nearest oak. But who was to know that what looked so tempting was nothing but stinking oil?"
"Well, well," I said; "never mind, you will have better luck another time. I don't fear but that we shall soon have another opportunity of improving our acquaintance with these barbarians."