7G MOXTSEEIIAT. 



tlie cultivated portion. Tii another quarter Toco a noto- 

 riously lawless squatter had expressed his intention of 

 shootinir the Government otticiah The white gentleman 

 walked straight up to the little forest fortress hidden in bush, 

 and confronted the Negro, who had gun in hand. 



" T could have shot you if I had liked, buccra," 



" Xo, you could not. I should have cut you down first : so 

 don't play the fool," answered the official quietly, hand on 

 cutlass. 



The wild man gave in ; paid his rates ; received the crown 

 title for his land ; and became (as have all these sons of the 

 forest) fast friends with one whom they have learnt at once 

 to love and fear. 



But among the Montserrat hills, the Governor had struck 

 on a spot so fit for a new settlement, that he determined to 

 found one forthwith. The quick-eyed Jesuits had founded a 

 Mission on the same spot many years before. But all had 

 lapsed again into forest. A group of enormous Palmistes 

 stand on a plateau, flat, and yet lofty and healthy. The soil 

 is exceeding fertile. There are wells and brooks of pure 

 water all around. The land slopes down for hundreds of 

 feet in wooded gorges, full of cedar and other admirable 

 timber, with Palmistes tow^ering over them everywhere. 

 Par away lies the lowland ; and every breeze of heaven 

 sweeps over the crests of the hills. So one peculiarly tall 



