myself from them, for they held my hands and clothes, I conjured them to offer us some encouragement to better their condition, by bettering it as much as they could themselves,—­enforced the virtue of washing themselves and all belonging to them, and at length made good my retreat.  As there is no particular reason why such a letter as this should ever come to an end, I had better spare you for the present.  You shall have a faithful journal, I promise you, henceforward, as hitherto, from your’s ever.

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Dear E——.  We had a species of fish this morning for our breakfast, which deserves more glory than I can bestow upon it.  Had I been the ingenious man who wrote a poem upon fish, the white mullet of the Altamaha should have been at least my heroine’s cousin.  ’Tis the heavenliest creature that goes upon fins.  I took a long walk this morning to Settlement No. 3, the third village on the island.  My way lay along the side of the canal, beyond which, and only divided from it by a raised narrow causeway, rolled the brimming river with its girdle of glittering evergreens, while on my other hand a deep trench marked the line of the rice fields.  It really seemed as if the increase of merely a shower of rain might join all these waters together, and lay the island under its original covering again.  I visited the people and houses here.  I found nothing in any respect different from what I have described to you at Settlement No. 1.  During the course of my walk, I startled from its repose in one of the rice-fields, a huge blue heron.  You must have seen, as I often have, these creatures stuffed in museums; but ’t is another matter, and far more curious, to meet them stalking on their stilts of legs over a rice-field, and then on your near approach, see them spread their wide heavy wings, and throw themselves upon the air, with their long shanks flying after them in a most grotesque and laughable manner.  They fly as if they did not know how to do it very well; but standing still, their height (between four and five feet) and peculiar colour, a dusky, greyish blue, with black about the head, render their appearance very beautiful and striking.

In the afternoon, I and Jack rowed ourselves over to Darien.  It is Saturday—­the day of the week on which the slaves from the island are permitted to come over to the town, to purchase such things as they may require and can afford, and to dispose, to the best advantage, of their poultry, moss, and eggs.  I met many of them paddling themselves singly in their slight canoes, scooped out of the trunk of a tree, and parties of three and four rowing boats of their own building, laden with their purchases, singing, laughing, talking, and apparently enjoying their holiday to the utmost.  They all hailed me with shouts of delight, as I pulled past them, and many were the injunctions bawled after Jack, to ‘mind and take good care of Missis!’ We returned home through the glory of a sunset all amber-coloured