The croak of the tree--toad, too, a genteel reptile, with all the
usual loveable properties of his species, about the size of the crown of
your hat, sounded from the neighbouring swamp, like some one snoring in
the piazza, blending harmoniously with the nasal concert got up by
Jupiter, and some other heathen deities, who were sleeping there almost
naked, excepting the head, which every negro swathes during the night with
as much flannel and as many handkerchiefs as he can command. By the way,
they all slept on their faces--I wonder if this will account for their
flat noses.
Next morning we started at daylight, cracking along at the rate of twelve
knots an hour in a sort of gig, with one horse in the shafts, and another
hooked on a--breast of him to a sort of studdingsail--boom, or outrigger,
and followed by three mounted servants, each with a led horse and two
sumpter mules.
In the evening we arrived at an estate under Mr Fyall's management, having
passed a party of maroons immediately before. I never saw finer men tall,
strapping fellows, dressed exactly as they should be and the climate
requires; wide duck trowsers, over these a loose shirt, of duck also,
gathered at the waist by a broad leathern belt, through which, on one
side, their short cutlass is stuck, while on the other hangs a leathern
pouch for ball, and a loose thong across one shoulder, supports, on the
opposite hip, a large powder--horn and haversack.
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