i i
CHAP, interred> vftur had been -fliot in ferries former fkirmifti by
^ 5.L f the- Europeans.
Here Captain Fredericy and myfe#, walking 'Without
the Ikirts of the* camp in a faiidy favannah, difcovered
the frdh-Jbfltfteps of a- large tiger with her young, at
which time they are extremely ferocious: we thought
it prudent therefore to make a fuddeti retreat. 1 Urea-
fnretf the diameter of the dam’s claws* prmted :lt the
fand, which were' nearly of thedtmerrfionsof an ordinary
pewter-plate.
Having marched a few hours longef the fHcefeed-
ihg morning, We at laft. arrived at the ;Bhfeiet^ ^Oft La
Rochelle in Patamaca; fuch a difplay o f meagre* ftarved,
black, burnt, and ragged tatterdemallfens, and moftly
without Ihoes or hats, as I think were never before beheld
m any country. They could be: corhparedfO nb^
thing but a gang of gypfies, while their leader was not
tinlike Bampfield Moore Carew, and rnyfelf at beft like
the forlorn Crufoe in his worft condition* with my only
check ihirt and the ohe-half of my trowfersj the reft
being torn away. Here we found a let of poor wretches
ready to enter the woods which wn had jrift lefti and defi
tined to undergo in the fame manner the fevereft mifery
that ever was irifliaed on fublunary beings. I have already
mentioned the prickly heat, ring-worm, dry gripes,
putrid fevers, biles, confaca, and bloody flux, to which
human nature is expofed in this climate; Alfo the muf-
quitoes, Patat and Scrapat lice, chigoes, cock-roaches,
x ants,
O S U R IN AM.
ants, horfe-flies, wild-bees, 'and bats, befides the thorns,
briers, the ^ligators, ' and peree in the fivers ; to which
^ a^d of ^e/tigers, the hiflrng of ferpenfs,
and the .grdWt'fng Of FoUrgeoud/the dry fandy fa-
. vannas, mnfoïdaMe,>marihes, burning hot days, cold and
damp n|ghts, 1 heavy, rains, and fliort allowance, the
reader may be aftonifhed how ahy pèrfoti was able to
the W Si Notwitïlilanding this black catalogue,
I föfémnly declare I have omitted many other calamities
that We firffered, as I with to avoid'prolixity, though perhaps
I have heed' already too often guilty o f it. I might
have mentioned indeed lethargies, dropfies, fcc. &c, f é lidés'
the many
bufh - fpiders, /bufh - warms, and Centipedes, nay, even
flyihg lice,, with which the traveler is perpetually tormented,
-and by which he is conftantly in danger‘of
being ftung; but the defcription of which curfdd company
I maft defer to another opportunity.
The reader may form fome conception of the famiïhed
fta te fn which we came hither, when I inform him, that
the moment of our arrival, obferving a negro woman
flipping on plantain broth from a eaflibath, I gave heir
haIfTa-crown,.and fiiatehing the bafon from her hands,
I devoured the contents with a greater relifh than I have
ever tafted any delicacy before or fince during my whole
exigence. I now obferved to Colonel. Fourgeoud, how
pitiable it was, not to regale his remaining foldièrs with
vegetables and frefh beef or mutton, befides providing
r ^ 0L’ L ° o them