APPENDIX.] THE MAROONS. 387 



capital, returned in person to the scene of action, and 

 it is impossible to speak of his, and general Walpole's 

 exertions, in terms of sufficient approbation, or to 

 convey any just idea of the fatigues and hardships 

 which the troops underwent, without entering into a 

 copious detail of the various enterprizes and skirmish- 

 es that ensued, and the difficulties they had to en- 

 counter from the nature of the country. The line of 

 operation extended upwards of twenty miles in length, 

 through tracks and glades of which the military term 

 defile, gives no adequate conception. The caves in 

 which the Maroons concealed their ammunition and 

 provisions, and secured their women and children, were 

 inaccessible to the whites. The place called the Cock- 

 pit:) before mentioned, could be reached only by a path 

 down a steep rock one hundred and fifty feet in almost 

 perpendicular height. Strange as it may appear, this 

 obstacle was surmounted by the Maroons without diffi- 

 culty. Habituated to employ their naked feet with 

 singular effect, in climbing up trees and precipices, 

 they had acquired a dexterity in the practice, which 

 to British troops was altogether astonishing and wholly 

 inimitable. On the other hand, all the officers and 

 privates, both of the regulars and militia, from a well 

 founded confidence in their chief commanders, seem 

 to have felt a noble emulation which should most dis- 

 tinguish themselves for zeal in the cause, obedience 

 to orders, and a cheerful alacrity in pushing forward on 

 every service of difficulty and danger; sustaining with- 

 out a murmur many extraordinary hardships 3 among' 

 which, distress for want of water, and thirst even to 

 Jn-mirv, were H-M:*- <u the 



