ther. However, some
of his friends encouraged him to make fresh endeavours, and persuaded
him he would obtain a premium of encouragement for having first set the
example of cultivating cotton at Senegal; they assured him also that
funds had been sent to M. Schmaltz for that purpose. Vain hope! every
claim was rejected, we had not even the satisfaction of knowing whether
the premium which my father sought was due to him or not; we got no
reply. My father wishing to make a last attempt to ward off the misery
which menaced us, went to supplicate the governor to allow us either
money to purchase food, or rations. This last petition was not more
successful than the former. We were abandoned to our unhappy fate,
whilst more than twenty persons, who had never done any service to the
government, received gratis rations every day from the magazines of the
colony. "Very well!" said my father to me, when he found he was refused
that assistance which M. Schmaltz had ordered to the other unfortunate
persons in the colony, "let the governor be happy if he can, I will not
envy his felicity. Behold, my child, behold this roof of thatch which
covers us; see these hurdles of reeds which moulder into dust, this bed
of rashes, my body already impaired by years, and my children weeping
around me for bread! You see a perfect picture of poverty! Nevertheless,
there are yet beings upon the earth more unfortunate than we
are!"--"Alas!" said I to him, "our misery is great; but I can support
it, and even greater, without complaining, if I saw you exposed to less
harassing cares. All your children are young, and of a good
constitution; we can endure misfortune, and even habituate ourselves to
it; but we have cause to fear that the want of wholesome and sufficient
food will make you fall, and then we shall be deprived of the only stay
we have upon earth."--"O! my dear child," cried my father, "you have
penetrated into the secrets of my soul, you know all my fears, and I
will no longer endeavour to conceal the sorrow which has weighed for a
long time upon my heart. However, my death may perhaps be a blessing to
my family; my bitter enemies will then doubtless cease to persecute
you."--"My father," replied I, "break not my heart; how can you,
forgetting your children, their tender affection, the assistance which
you ought to give them, and which they have a right to expect from you,
wish us to believe your death will be a benefit to us?" He was moved