e either hanging on the wall or
resting against it. The scene was wild and singular, and quite
bordering on, if not really romantic. Outside the hut it was still
more striking: there, though it rained and thundered, the remainder
of the fatakie, consisting of men, women, and children, were sitting
on the ground in groups, or sleeping near several large fires, which
were burning almost close to the hut, whilst others were lying under
the shelter of large spreading trees in its immediate vicinity. The
only apparel which they wear, was drawn over their half-naked
persons, their weapons were at their sides, and their horses were
grazing near them. Most of the people retired to rest without food,
yet they slept soundly, and appeared quite happy and comfortable
after their day's exertion and fatigue. One of the men fainted on the
road from exhaustion, and remained very feverish and unwell.

At day break on the following day, the travellers pursued their
course, and as Lander expresses himself, there wore a sweetness in
the mountain air, and a freshness in the morning, which they
experienced with considerable pleasure, on ascending the hills, which
bordered the northern side of the pretty little Moussa. When wild
beasts tired with their nightly prowling, seek retirement and repose
in the lonely depths of these primeval forests, and when birds
perched in the branches of the trees over their heads, warbled forth
their morning song, it is the time, that makes up for the languid,
wearisome hours in the heat of the day, when nothing could amuse or
interest them. 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