The cabin was spacious, well ventilated, clean, and internally arranged with uncommon intelligence.
In a distant corner of the apartment the slaves were occupied in certain labours, under the direction of the wife of the chief.
On a sign from Emavidi, she came with haste to welcome the stranger, and to offer him all the refreshment which she supposed he needed.
This woman was named White Star. She was tall and well made: her features were intelligent, without being absolutely handsome. The expression of her countenance was sweet; she appeared to be about twenty-two or twenty-three years of age at the most.
Her costume was composed of a piece of stuff streaked with various colours, which enveloped her rather tightly from the chest to the foot, fastened at the hips by a large girdle, called ayulate, of a crimson colour. This girdle is white in the case of young girls, and they only abandon it when they marry. Pinia-Pai was neither painted nor tattooed; her long black hair, arranged in the Brazilian style, fell nearly to the ground; little silver beads, threaded, forming a kind of chaplet, encircled her neck; metal plates attached to her breast half-concealed her bosom, and large semicircles of gold were suspended to her ears.
With this picturesque costume this young woman was not wanting in a certain piquant grace, and was calculated, as indeed was the fact, to appear charming to the captain.
With a celerity full of respect, White Star had in an instant garnished the table with dishes, the abundance of which made up for the frugality of the repast, for it consisted only of meat, fruits, boiled fish, and meat dried in the sun, and roasted on hot coals.
Diogo, on the invitation of the chief, proceeded to do honour to this improvised repast, of which he had begun to feel the want.
The chief, although taking no part in the repast, excited his guest to eat, and the captain, whose appetite appeared to increase as he proceeded, did not need any pressing to vigorously attack all the dishes.
Moreover, apart from the hunger Diogo felt, he knew that not to eat much, when one is invited to the table of a chief, is considered by the latter as wanting in politeness, and almost a mark of contempt.