It Is In The Earlier Part Of The Morning Too, Or In The Cool Of The Evening, That Nature Can

Be leisurely contemplated and admired in the simple loveliness of a verdant plain, a sequestered grotto, or a rippling brook,

Or in the wilder and more mysterious features of her beauty in the height of a craggy precipice, the silence and gloom of vast shady woods, or when those woods are gracefully bending to the passing gale.

An hour's ride brought them near to the site of a town, which was formerly peopled only by robbers. It was, however destroyed some years ago, and its inhabitants either slain or dispersed, by order of the spirited ruler of Kiama, since which time the road has been less dreaded by travellers. Their path lay through a rich country covered with luxuriant grasses and fine trees, but very little underwood could be seen. It abounded with deer and antelopes, and other wild animals of a more ferocious nature; such as the lion, the leopard, the elephant, the wild ass, &c., but the solitary lowing of the buffalo was the only sound that was distinguished in the forest, although they had not the pleasure of meeting even with that animal.

At eleven o'clock, they entered a very small, cleanly-looking village, where they halted for the day. Unfortunately the governor with most of his people were at work in the fields at some distance, so that they could not get any thing to eat till rather late in the evening. It appeared that these poor villagers were forced to supply the soldiers of their sovereign with provisions, gratis, whenever business led them so far that way from the capital; and that in order to avoid the rapacity of these men, they built for themselves another hamlet in the woods, far out of the way of the path, whither they carry their goats, &c. and the corn of which they may not be in immediate want.

On their arrival they were introduced into a small grass hut, which the smoke had changed into the most glossy black, which could possibly be seen; the interior of the roof was also ingeniously decorated with large festoons of cobwebs and dust, which must have been allowed to accumulate for a number of years. Its fetish was a dried grasshopper, which was preserved in a little calabash, but upon the supposition that this was insufficient to protect it from all the danger to which huts in that country are constantly exposed, auxiliary charms of blood and feathers are likewise stuck inside of the wall. At sun-set, not having any thing to eat, Richard Lander went out with his gun into the woods, and was fortunate enough to shoot a few doves, and Pascoe, who went in a different direction, shot a guinea hen, which made them an excellent supper. Hunger had driven back their Keeshee carriers, who were to have accompanied them to Kiama, and therefore they were obliged to send a messenger to Yarro for men to supply their place.

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