68 STUDIES OF KATUREi- 



" It is dinner-time,*' faid Virginia to the family, 

 *' the fhadows of the bananas are at their feet;" or 

 elfe, " night approaches, for the tamarinds are 

 *' clofing their leaves." " When (hall we fee you ?" 

 faid fome of her companions of the vicinity to her; 

 *' at the time of the fugar-canes," replied Firgijiia; 

 *' your vifit will be flill fweeter and more agree- 

 *' able at that time," returned thefe young people. 

 When enquiries v/ere made refpefting her own 

 age, and that of Paul, *' My brother," faid fhe, 

 *' is of the fame age with the great cocoa-tree of 

 *' the fountain, and I, with that of the fmall one. 

 *' The mango-trees have yielded their fruit twelve 

 '* times, and the orange-trees have opened their 

 " bloffbms twenty-four times, fince I came into the 

 *' World. Like Fauns and Dryads, their lives 

 feemed to be attached to thofe of the trees. They 

 knew no other hiftorical epochs, but the lives of 

 their mothers ; no other chronology, but that of 

 their orchards ; and no other philofophy, but uni- 

 verfal beneficence, and refignation to the will of 

 God. 



After all, what occafion had thefe young people 

 for fuch riches, and knowledge, as we have learnr 

 to prize ? Their ignorance and their wants, were 

 even a farther addition to their happinefs. Not a 

 day pafled, in which they did not communicate 

 to each other fome afliftance, or fome informa- 

 . tion ; 



