46 ROMANCE OF LOW LIFE AMONGST PLANTS. 



robbed of all he possessed by banditti, " In this for- 

 lorn and almost helpless condition," he says, " when 

 the robbers had left me, I sat for some time, looking 

 around me with amazement and terror. Whichever 

 way I turned nothing appeared but danger and diffi- 

 culty. I found myself in the midst of a vast wilder- 

 ness, in the depth of the rainy season — naked and 

 alone — surrounded by savage animals, and by men 

 still more savage. I was five hundred miles from 

 any European settlement. All these circumstances 

 crowded at once upon my recollection, and I confess 

 that my spirits began to fail me. I considered my 

 fate as certain, and that I had no alternative but to 

 lie down and perish. The influence of religion, how- 

 ever, aided and supported me, I reflected that no 

 human prudence or foresight could possibly have 

 averted my present sufferings, I was indeed a 

 stranger in a strange land, yet I was still under the 

 protecting eye of that Providence Who has con- 

 descended to call Himself the stranger's Friend. At 

 this moment, painful as my reflections were, the 

 extraordinary beauty of a small moss irresistibly 

 caught my eye ; and though the whole plant was 

 not larger than the top of one of my fingers, I could 

 not contemplate the delicate conformation of the 

 roots, leaves, and fruit without admiration. Can that 

 Being (thought I) who planted, watered, and brought 

 to perfection, in this obscure part of the world, a 

 thing which appears of so small importance, look 

 with unconcern upon the situation and sufferings of 

 creatures formed after His own image ? Surely not. 

 Reflections like these would not allow me to despair. 



