it in, till it disappears: after this, the aboma cannot shift its situation, on account of the great knob or knot which the swallowed prey occasions in that part of the body where it rests till it is digested; for till then it would hinder the snake from sliding along the ground. During that time the aboma wants no other subsistence.

6

On the 27th of August I relieved captain Orzinga with his men, and took the command of Devil's Harwar, having been on board the Charon exactly 56 days, in the most wretched condition that can be described. The next evening he entertained me and my two subalterns with a supper of fresh meat, both roast and boiled, to our great comfort and surprize; but which, to my unspeakable mortification, proved to be the individual poor cow with her calf, on which we had built all our hopes for a little relief.

'On the morning of the 28th the Society troops rowed to Patamaca, when, examining the 20 soldiers they had left me, they proved to be the refuse of the whole, part were sick with agues, wounds, ruptures, and rotten limbs, and most of them next day were obliged to enter the hospital.'

In this forlorn situation, captain Stedman received information that the rebels had destroyed three estates in his neighbourhood, and cut all the throats of the white inhabitants that fell in their way. Conscious,' says our author, of my defenceless situation, I immediately started up; and the express who brought the letter having spread the news the moment of his landing, there was no necessity of beating to arms, since not only the few soldiers who were well, but the whole hospital burst out; and several of them, in spite of my opposition, crawling on their hands and feet to their arms, dropped dead upon the spot.---May I never behold such another scene of misery and distress! Lame, blind, sick, and wounded, in the hope of preserving a wretched existence, rushed upon certain death!

Being, after much anxious watching, persuaded that the rebels must have past the Cordon, without having thought proper to pay us a visit on their retreat, I determined to let the remaining few watch no longer, but permit them to die a

natural death. At last, in the evening, when all was too late, there came down by water from the post La Rochelle to our assistance, one officer and 10 men.--I having had but seven left to do the duty at the time of their arrival.

On Sept. 4th we buried one of my marines, and on the following day another died; and I had not one now remaining who was not ill, or who was not rendered unserviceable, by his feet being swelled with the insects called chigoes: these poor men were mostly Germans, who had been accustomed to a healthy climate in their own country. I began now to be reconciled to putting my last man under ground, and almost wishing to leap into the grave after him myself; when a barge arrived from Paramaribo with a proper reinforcement, ammunition, provisions, medicines, a surgeon, and an order from my chief to trace out the track of the rebels immediately, on the former path of communication called the Cordon, between Cottica and Perica.

"Every thing being ready for my small party, which consisted of myself, an officer of the Society, Mr. Hertsbergh, one surgeon's mate, one guide, two serjeants, two corporals, 40 privates, and only eight negro slaves to cut open the passage, and carry the baggage, we faced to the right at six o'clock in the morning, and sallied forth into the woods, keeping our course directly for the Perica river; and having marched till about 11 o'clock on the Cordon, I discovered, as I had expected, the track of the rebels by the marks of their footsteps in the mud, by the broken bottles, plantain-shells, &c. and found that by appearance it bore towards Pinneburgh.

I had now indeed found the nest, but the birds were flown. We continued our march till eight o'clock, when we arrived at the Society post Scribo in Perica, in a most shocking condition, having waded through water and mire above our hips, climbed over heaps of fallen trees, and crept underneath on our bellies. This, however, was not the worst, for our flesh was terribly mangled and torn by the thorns, and stung by the Patat lice, ants, and wassy-wassy, or wild bees.

The worst of our sufferings, however, was the fatigue of marching in a burning sun, and the last two hours in total darkness, holding each other by the hand; and having left 10 men behind, some with agues, some stung blind, and some with their feet full of chigoes. After being in the most hospitable manner received at Scribo by the commanding officer, I went to my hammock very ill of a fever.

'On the following morning I felt myself better for my night's rest; but neither myself nor my men were able to march back, wherefore the other captain sent a small party of his soldiers to pick up the poor marines I had lost the day before, and of whom they brought with them seven, carried in hammocks tied to poles, cach by two negrocs, the other three having scrambled back to Devil's Harwar.

During our stay here I wrote a letter to colonel Fourgeoud, couched in such terms as few people in their full senses would do to their commanders, viz. that I had found the path; that if I had had support in time I might have cut off the enemy's retreat, instead of finding their foot-steps only; but that now all was too late, and the party all knocked up to no purpose. This letter, I have been since told, incensed him, as it is easy to suppose, in the highest degree. Being sufficiently refreshed to renew my march, we left Scribo on the 9th, at four o'clock in the morning, and at four o'clock P. M. arrived, after indescribable sufferings, at Devil's Harwar, covered over with mud and blood, and our legs and thighs cut and torn by the thorns and branches; most of the men being without shoes and stockings of necessity, while I, who had gone this march in the same condition from choice, had absolutely suffered the least of the whole party, by having inured myself gradually to walk barefooted on the barges.

At Devil's Harwar, I now found lieutenant-colonel Westerloo and a quarter-master arrived to take the command, his troops not being expected till the next day. I was by this circumstance, made exceedingly happy, hoping at last to meet with some relief; and having ceded him my written orders, the magazine, hospital, &c. &c. I stripped and plunged into

the river to wash myself and take a swim, by which (being before much over-heated) I found myself greatly refreshed, as well as by receiving a quantity of fine fruit, Jamaica rum, wine and sugar, from Joanna ;---but how did my blood chill, when the quarter-master told me, as a secret, that my serjeant, one Fowler, having first got drunk with my wine, offered violence to this poor woman; and that he was to be at Devil's Harwar next day, when I should see the marks of her just resentment on his face!

The reader will, I trust, excuse my violence, when I tell him, that I vowed immediate destruction to the villain: and having ordered a negro to cut 12 bamboo canes, I retired like a person deprived of his senses, determined to punish him according to his supposed crime.

On the 10th there arrived two subalterns, with a second barge full of men, ammunition, medicines, and provisions, which having marched into quarters and stowed, I sent for the hapless Fowler, whose face being in three places wounded, I locked him up in a room, and, without asking one question, broke six of the bamboos over his head, till he escaped all bloody out at the window, and my resentment gradually abated. He certainly had suffered much, but nothing equal to what were my sensations, at being still further informed, that colonel Fourgeoud had seized all my effects, which he had sealed and locked up in an empty store-room, in expectation of my decease, which, according to all appearances, might be looked for; while my house was given to another, by which means I could not procure so much as a clean shirt to relieve me from my disgraceful tatters: nevertheless, by the hope of going down myself, my spirits were supported. The other news, of more importance, was, that the hero in person, with most of the troops, had at last left Paramaribo; that he had quartered them partly at Devil's Harwar, in Rio Cottica, the estate Bellaiz, in Rio Perica, and at the estates Charenbeck, and Cravassibo, in Rio Commewina; whence, conjunctly with the troops of the Society and the rangers, he intended to move in quest of the rebels; that he had also ordered all the barges to be relieved at last, and their remaining troops to reinforce

the above-mentioned posts, which I must remark was a very wise and well-planned regulation.

6

• Having remonstrated with lieutenant-colonel Westerloo on the state of my health, which disabled me from joining the corps on their march, I requested that I might be removed to to Paramaribo for the chance of recovery; but this he peremptorily refused to allow me, by colonel Fourgeoud's express command. The refusal of so reasonable a request made me almost distracted, and agitated my spirits so much, that on the morning of the 12th, determined to exchange my wretched existence one way or other, I insisted on being immediately removed, or wished for death, which the surgeons declared must be the consequence soon, if I was not permitted to go down, and in the meanwhile I vowed that I should attribute my decease to their unprecedented barbarity. A consultation was now held on the subject; and at last, not without great difficulties, a boat was ordered to row me down to Paramaribo, but no white servant was permitted to attend me. Thus leaving the lieutenant-colonel employed in fortifying Devil's Harwar with pallisadoes, where now also was a numerous garrison, I at 12 o'clock at noon walked to the water-side, supported by a negro, on whose shoulder I rested, till I at length stepped into the boat, followed by my black boy Quaco, and finally left the diabolical spot where I had buried so many brave fellows.

On the 14th, having rowed day and night, at two o'clock in the morning we arrived at the town, extremely ill indeed; where, having no residence of my own, I was hospitably received at the house of a Mr. De La Marre, a merchant: this gentleman not only received me, but immediately sent a servant for poor Joanna, who was at her mother's, and another for a physician to attend me, as my weak and hopeless condition now required every assistance that the town of Paramaribo could afford; and on the 15th, I found myself in an elegant and well-furnished apartment, caressed by my lovely mulatto.

'A captain Brant having at this time the command in colonel Fourgeoud's absence, he sent, the morning after my arrival, my trunks and baggage, which had been sealed up; but on looking into them, I found I had enemies at home as well