€ h a p. or column at this time encamped on the fouth-fide. at the
x* mouth of Wana Creek. “ Force is; indeed the ruling
« principle in military a ffa irsfay s a cestmtt author ;
-and, upon the whole, could the ingenious advice given
to a commander in chief, as publifhed'in a late pamphlet,
have been read by Colonel Fourgeoud, I mtift have imagined
he had ftudied it, fentence after fentence, fince nothing
could better correfpond with his general charaAer,
Being arrived in M^or Rughcops- camp, and having
got a couple of negroes to ferve me, the next meafure
was to build a hut, Or, more properly* peaking, a feed
over my hammock, to keep me free from thfe rain and
the fun, which was done within the fpace of Cone hour.
As thefe huts are of very material and o f general u& in
tropical marches and campaigns, where no tents can he
pitched, and where (as I have feeh, fb many thousands
j>f thefe temporary erections) I will defcribe the manner
in which they are conftru£ted, being not only extremely
curious, but very ufefu! on different oecafions*—curious,
becaufe neither hammers nor nails,; nor indeed any kind
of carpenter’s tools are required ; aftrong cuilafs or billhook
being all that is wanted,—and ufeful, as they are
inftantly raifed, and form not only lading, but the mod:
delightful and convenient habitations, with even two Rories,
one above the other, if required *—For thefe eredhons
not more than two articles are wanting ; the firft the
manicole, by the French called latank, and here parajallay
or
or the pine-trde $, and the fecond the nebees, called by the
French lianm s,. by l^e Spaniards;%to,.andin Surinam
tap-tay*
The manicole-trec, which is? ofi the palm-tree fpecies,
iS: moMy found in marfhyi places, and is always; a proof
of arrich andduxurious foil. It is about the thicknefs of
a; man’s-thigh, very ilrait, apd grows to the .height of
from thirty to-fifty feet from the ground: the trunk,
whieh xs jQinted.at the diftanceof two or three feet, is
qf a lighfcbrown colourj. hand externally for the thick-
nefe of half an inch, but pithy, like the Englifli elder,,
and goodifor; nothing within, except near the top, where
the woo'd becomes green, and indoles a delicious kind of
white fruit, called cabbage,, and which, being peculiar to
all the palm-trees;. I fhall on another Occafion amply
defcribe. On the top of : ah' this- the manicole-tree fpreads
in beautiful green boughs,, with leaves; hanging firait
downwards-like filk ribbons, which form a kind of
umbrella. The manner of tiling it for building huts
or; cottages,' is^ by-cutting the trunk in pieces of as many
.fret long-as* you wilh to have the partition high; for
inftanoe, fev-en feet, which pieces are next fplit into fmall.
boards, the breadth of a man’s' hand, and divefted of
their pithy , fubftance, and then they are fit for immediate
life. Having cut and prepared as many of thefe laths
as-you wanted .to furround the dwelling, nothing remains
but1 to lafli them in a perpendicular pofltion and clofe
to each other to two crofs bars of the fame tree- fixed to
the