shall sit on the
summit of Primrose Hill, and look down upon the desolation of the
mighty city, as I, from this little eminence, behold the once
flourishing town of St Jago?"

The goats were browsing on the side of the hill, and the little kids
frisking by their dams. "These," thought I, "perhaps are the only food
and nourishment of these poor friars." I walked to Port Praya, and
returned to my floating prison, the slave ship. The officer who was
conducting her home, as a prize, was not a pleasant man; I did not
like him: and nothing passed between us but common civility. He was an
old master's mate, who had probably served his time thrice over; but
having no merit of his own, and no friends to cause that defect to be
overlooked, he had never obtained promotion: he therefore naturally
looked on a young commander with envy. He had only given me a passage
home, from motives which he could not resist; first, because he was
forced to obey the orders of my late captain; and, secondly,
because my purse would supply the cabin with the necessary stock of
refreshments, in the shape of fruit, poultry, and vegetables, which
are to be procured at Port Praya; he was therefore under the necessity
of enduring my company.

The vessel, I found, was not to sail on the following day, as he
intended. I therefore took my gun, at daybreak, and wandered with a
guide up the valleys, in search of the pintados, or Guinea fowl, with
which the island abounds; but they were so shy that I never could get
a shot at them; and I returned over the hills, which my guide assured
me was the shortest way. Tired with my walk, I was not sorry to arrive
at a sheltered valley, where the palmetto and the plantain offer
a friendly shade from the burning sun. The guide, with wonderful
agility, mounted the cocoa-nut tree, and threw down half a dozen nuts.
They were green, and their milk I thought the most refreshing and
delicious draught I had ever taken.

The vesper bells at Port Praya were now summoning the poor black
friars to their devotion; and a stir and bustle appeared among the
little black boys and girls, of whose presence I was till then
ignorant. They ran from the coverts, and assembled near the front of
the only cottage visible to my eye. A tall elderly negro man came out,
and took his seat on a mound of turf a few feet from the cottage; he
was followed by a lad, about twenty years of age, who bore in his
hand a formidable cowskin. For the informat