'
'But, sir,' said I, 'may I presume to ask your majesty if strangers
be obliged to observe this law?'
'Without doubt,' replied the king, smiling at my question; 'they
are not exempted, if they are married in this island.'
I went home very melancholy at this answer, for the fear of my wife
dying first, and my being interred alive with her, occasioned me
very mortifying reflections. But there was no remedy: I must have
patience, and submit to the will of God. I trembled, however, at
every little indisposition of my wife; but alas! in a little time
my fears came upon me all at once, for she fell ill, and died in a
few days.
You may judge of my sorrow; to be interred alive seemed to me as
deplorable an end as to be devoured by cannibals. But I must
submit; the king and all his court would honour the funeral with
their presence, and the most considerable people of the city would
do the like. When all was ready for the ceremony, the corpse was
put into a coffin, with all her jewels and magnificent apparel. The
cavalcade began, and, as second actor in this doleful tragedy, I
went next to the corpse, with my eyes full of tears, bewailing my
deplorable fate. Before I came to the mountain, I addressed myself
to the king, in the first place, and then to all those who were
round me, and bowing before them to the earth to kiss the border of
their garments, I prayed them to have compassion upon me.
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