ound was prepared, my father surrounded it with a hurdle
of reeds, and then transported our cottage thither. This manner of
removing from one place to another is very expeditious; in less than
three days we were fairly seated in our new abode. However, as we had
not time to carry away our poultry, we left them upon the hill till the
place we had appropriated for them was completed. It was fenced on all
sides, and covered with a large net, to prevent the birds of prey taking
away our little chickens, and we had no fear in leaving them during the
night. On the evening of the next day, my sister, accompanied with the
children, went to feed the various inhabitants of the poultry-yard; but
on approaching it she saw the frame of reeds half fallen, the net rent,
and feathers scattered here and there upon the road. Having reached the
site of our former cottage, heaps of worried ducks and chickens were the
only objects which presented themselves. She instantly sent one of the
children to acquaint us with the disaster, and my father and myself
hastened to the scene of carnage, but it was too late to take any
precautions,--all our poultry were destroyed! Two hens and a duck only
had escaped the massacre, by having squatted in the bottom of an old
barrel. We counted the dead which were left in the yard, and found that
the ferocious beasts had eat the half; about two hundred eggs of ducks
and hens, nearly hatched, were destroyed at the same time.

This was a great loss to us, especially as we counted as much upon our
poultry-yard as upon our plantation. We were obliged to resign ourselves
to our fate; for to what purpose would sorrow serve? The evil was done,
and it only remained for us to guard against the recurrence of a like
misfortune. The poultry-yard was instantly transported to our new
habitation, and we took care to surround it with thorns, to keep off the
wolves, the foxes, and the tigers. Our two hens and the duck were placed
in it till we could purchase others.

Our new cottage was, as I have already said, situated on the banks of
the river. A small wood of mangrove trees and acacias grew to the left,
presenting a scene sufficiently agreeable. But the marshy wood sent
forth such clouds of musquitoes, that, from the first day, we were so
persecuted, as scarcely to be able to inhabit our cottage during the
night. We were forced to betake ourselves to our canoe, and sail up and
down the river; but we were not more sheltered