62 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



upon the (hallows, to meet the furge, then, as ft 

 approached, fled toward the fliore, purfued by it*s 

 vaft, foaming, and raging fwell, a confiderable way 

 up the ftrand. But Firginiay as often as flie faw 

 this, fcreamed aloud, and declared that fuch kind 

 of amufement terrified her exceedingly. 



Our meals were followed up by the (inging and 

 dancing of thefe two young people. rirginia 

 chanted the felicity of a rural Hfe, and the wretch- 

 ednefs of fea-faring men, whom avarice prompts to 

 encounter a furious element, rather than cultivate 

 the earth, which confers fo many benefits, in peace 

 and tranquillity. Sometimes, after the manner of 

 the negroes. Paid and (he performed a pantomime. 

 Pantomime is the firft language of Man ; it is 

 pradifed among all Nations. It is fo natural, and 

 fo expre(rive, that the children of the whites 

 quickly learn it, from feeing thofe of the blacks 

 thus amufe thenifelves. Firginia, recolleding the 

 hiftories which her mother ufed to read, thofe efpe- 

 cially which had afFefted her the moft, exhibited 

 the principal events of them, with much natural 

 expreffion. Sometimes, to the found of Domingo\ 

 tam-tam, (he made her appearance on the downy 

 ftage, bearing a pitcher on her head. She ad- 

 vanced, with timidity, to fill it with water at the 

 fource of a neighbouring fountain. Domingo and 

 Mary, reprefeating the (liepherds of Midian, ob- 



ftruded 



