Chap. YIIL SLAVE VILLAGE OF KING OLEXDA. 141 



could grasp the balustrade, my foot slipped, and I fell 

 headlong into a deep hole, from which I was extri- 

 cated with difficulty. My arras and watches were 

 fortunately not at all damaged by the bath, and I was 

 glad to find that it did not damp the charges in my 

 revolver, for, on reaching the opposite bank, I fired 

 them all off, not a little to the surprise of the negroes, 

 whose respect for the weapon was thereby very much 

 increased. 



A march of about a mile beyond the river brought 

 us to a large plantation, the chief slave settlement of 

 the late King Olenda. It comprised a large extent 

 of land cleared from the forest, and contained a 

 village inhabited by the slaves, three or four hundred 

 in number. I was greatly astonished to find the 

 houses better built than in the town of Olenda, and 

 the whole village more neat and orderly. The plan- 

 tation extended over a picturesque and undulating 

 tract of ground, with brooks of crystal water in the 

 hollows. In places where these cool streams flowed 

 under the shade of trees, their banks w^ere most 

 delightful, being overgrown with rich vegetation, and 

 the trunks and branches of the trees overhead covered 

 with vines and parasitic plants. The great quantity 

 of plaiilaiu-trees in the open ground, with their 

 gigantic, glossy leaves, the patches of ground-nuts, 

 and the light green blades of the sugar cane, gave 

 a pleasant aspect to the place, and hid the charred 

 trunks and stumps of trees which are otherwise so 

 unsightly in these clearings. 



The slave village had its chief, himself a slave, 

 and all called themselves the children of Olenda. 



