“I am exceedingly engaged.
We are now in the rainy season. For the last six weeks we have had rain daily,
generally accompanied with thunder, the reverberations of which are exceedingly
grand as it rolls and reechoes among the hills by which we are surrounded. We
have a heavy shower for an hour or two, and then the sun breaks out and dries
everything in a moment. The rains have kept it very cool, that is to say, the
morn-
| APPENDIX | 437 |
“If you were to walk out at night, you would think the whole country was filled with animated creatures; your ears are stunned with the noise of insects, frogs, toads, serpents, and other reptiles. Few snakes have appeared near us, but I should not desire to walk through the impenetrable forests that surround us; though the negroes do so barefooted. I asked one whom I found buried among the trees whether he was not afraid of snakes: ‘No.’—‘Why?’—‘Because they are afraid of me, and glide away as fast as they can.’—‘But what if you trampled upon one unawares?’—‘Then it will bite me,’ said the poor fellow with the greatest indifference. . . .
“The 84th regiment that came out with us has lost three
officers, and a great many men: the disease continues with them. The heaviest
sickness and mortality prevail among the merchant sailors, many of these have
died. The navy always run out to sea . . . . Our trials are yet to come, but I
have no fear. I trust that the same God who has hitherto so mercifully
preserved and blessed me will still spare my life . . . As I cast my eye
downwards on the beautiful verdant plain between this and Kingston, I could not
help contrasting the fine and pleasing aspect of the country with the extent of
sick-
| 438 | APPENDIX |
