l68 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



thofe very huts, the happinefs of which flie had fo 

 lono; conftituted. and which her death had filled 

 with forrow, the whole funeral ceremony was de- 

 ranged ; the hymns and the chanting ceafed ; no- 

 thing was now to be heard in the plain, but fighs 

 and fobs. Crowds of young girls, belonging to 

 the neighbouring plantations, haftened to fpread 

 over the coffin of Virginia^ handkerchiefs, chap- 

 lets, and wreaths of flowers, invoking her as if 

 flie had been a faint. Mothers prayed Heaven 

 to beftow on them daughters like her ; the young 

 men, miflrefles as confiant -, the poor, a friend as 

 afFedionate, and the Haves, a miftrefs as kind. 



When they had arrived at the place deftined for 

 her interment, the negreflfes of Madagafcar, and 

 the Cafres of Mofambique, placed baikets of fruit 

 around her body, and fufpended pieces of fluff on 

 the neighbouring trees, according to the cuflom 

 of their country. The Indians of Bengal, and thofe 

 of the coafl of Malabar, brought cages of birds, 

 which they fet at liberty over her corpfe ; to fuch 

 a degree does the lofs of a beloved objed interefl 

 all Nations, and fuch a power does unfortunate 

 virtue poffefs, feeing it attrads and unites all reli- 

 gions around it's tomb. 



It was necefiliry to place a guard near her gravo, 

 in order to keep back fome of the daughters of the 



poor 



