X.

CHAP. dual; indeed I must do him the justice to say, quite the reverse, unless he was opposed, as I must own he sometimes was by me; but on this occasion he was so flattered with this trophy of victory, that every spark of feeling and humanity was extinct. The body being laid on a table, I implored one of the surgeons, called Pino, to dress his wounds; on which, that he might seem to do something, he put just as many round patches as the slugs had made holes, declaring he could never recover, and singing Dragons pour boire during the operation.— Poor negro! what must have been his feelings! The fever increasing, he begged for some water, which I gave him myself clean out of my hat, when he said, "Thank ye, me Masera,” sighed, and, to my inexpressible satisfaction, instantly expired. His companion, called September, was more fortunate, for Fourgeoud, in hopes of making some discoveries, regaled and treated him with more distinction than he did any of his officers; while September, looking as wild as a fox newly caught, was put in the stocks during the night; and his companion was interred by the negro slaves, with those marks of commiseration which his unhappy fate demanded from every human being. According to their custom, they spread his grave with the green boughs of the palm-trees, and offered a part of their scanty allowance by way of libation. The following day Mr. Stoelman, the militia captain, being arrived, to stay one day only in the camp, I took the

opportunity

opportunity to remind Colonel Fourgeoud of what he had told me concerning his unbecoming insinuations, which I begged him now to repeat in that gentleman's hearing, as I was determined to have this matter cleared up, and to obtain that satisfaction to which I thought myself entitled. But the gallant Colonel was not easily brought to proof.— He now imputed all the blame to Major Rughcop, who was dead, and requested of me to say nothing more about it. I left him with contempt, and shook hands with my supposed adversary; and then, to his inexpressible surprise, told him all that had happened. The consequence was, that in less than two hours the captain quitted Fourgeoud and Jerusalem in disgust, and was followed by the remaining rangers.

On the 29th, Captain de Borgnes was made major in Rughcop's place; but no new subalterns were created, Fourgeoud declaring he had no more materials to fabricate them with: which in part might be true amongst the serjeants; but two brave youths, both gentlemen's sons, who had entered as volunteers, and gone through every danger and fatigue, remained unnoticed in the ranks, the one named Sheffer, the other Meyer;-such ever was, and ever will be, too frequently, the consequence of wanting friends and fortune.

"Et genus et virtus nisi cum re vilior alga est.”

CHAP.

X.

CHAP.

XI.

CHA P. XI.

The Troops march back to the Wana Creek-The Rebels pass near the Camp-Pursued without Success-Great Distress for Want of Water-Mineral Mountains-The Troops arrive at La Rochelle, in Patamaca.

ON

N the 30th of November, 1773, the whole of the troops broke up together, and leaving Jerusalem, we once more marched back to the Wana Creek, but did not keep exactly the track that had brought us thither: Colonel Fourgeoud, however, revoking his former orders, now allowed his remaining party to sling their hammocks under cover, of which indeed he, at this crisis, condescended to set them the example; thus were we at least more comfortably lodged, but, I am sorry to add, not more comfortably victualled, while the old gentleman himself wanted for nothing that was good.

We continued our march for three days successively, with good weather; but I was every night awaked out of my sound sleep by a sentinel, who was sent by the colonel's orders to disturb me, with a charge of having whistled or spoke.

On the 3d we arrived once more at the Wana Creek. Here, after a fatiguing march, I flattered myself with the

hope

hope of recruiting my exhausted strength and spirits by a quiet night's rest; but was once more awoken, though

so sound was my sleep, that the sentinel was obliged to shake me three or four times by the shoulder. I then started up, denying the charge; but Fourgeoud himself, sitting upright in his hammock, now swore, in a tremendous voice, that he was determined to hang and quarter whoever should dare to disobey his orders, the dark and gloomy woods resounding with his bellowing threats. A deadly silence succeeded this storm throughout the camp, till I happened to break it, by bursting out into an immoderate fit of laughter, in which I was instantly accompanied by so many others, that he began to roar like thunder, without being able to distinguish one person's voice from another. In this music he was seconded by a large toad, called here the pipa, to which monster he actually gave shelter in his hut, and which kept croaking every night, with such a voice as could only be exceeded by Fourgeoud himself, or by that of his countryman, a Swisserland bear. Morpheus I now invoked to befriend me again, but to no purpose, such was the impression which these several roarings had left on my mind ;—and in this gloomy temper I shall describe this hateful gloomy animal, the colonel's dear companion, viz. the pipa, the largest of all the toads in South America, if not in the world.

The pipa is an animal supposed by some to partake of

CHA P.

XI.

both

XI.

CHAP. both the nature of the frog and the toad. It is the most hideous of all creatures upon earth, covered over with a dark brown scrofulous skin, very uneven, and marked with irregular black spots; the hinder feet of the creature are webbed, and the toes longer than those before: thus it can both swim and leap like a frog, in which it differs from other toads. Its size is often larger than a common duck when plucked and pinioned; and its croaking, which takes place generally in the night, inconceivably loud. But what is most remarkable in this monster, is the manner of its propagation; the young ones being hatched till they become tadpoles in a kind of watery cells on the back of the mother, in which the embrio's existence first commences; for on the back she is impreg nated by the male, and thence issues this most extraordinary birth.

Toads are not venomous, as is generally imagined, and are even tameable: as, for instance, Mr. Awcott fed one for many years, and Colonel Fourgeoud kept his as a domestic favourite during the whole time of our campaign at Wana Creek; indeed I myself have since lodged a tame frog. That the last mentioned animals are eatable as far as their thighs, I also know by experience: but their taste is extremely insipid.

To return at once to my hammock and journal.—The croaking of this pipa; the hammering of another, which produces a loud and constant sound of tuck, tuck, tuck, from

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sun