A XIGHT PICTURE. 91 



laid close together and supported by posts, which 

 are raised eight or nine feet from the ground. 

 They mount this kind of platform by step-ladders. 

 At sunset the dreaded insects issue forth in swarms, 

 and then the negroes betake themselves to these 

 platforms, where they sup, and smoke and chat 

 for a great part of the night, after which they 

 sleep till day in the open air. I had never used 

 the precaution of taking a tent with me, and I lay 

 with them, and in their manner that is, almost 

 naked, the great heat not permitting me to wear 

 any sort of garment. The mosquitoes were not 

 indeed so troublesome as under cover, but still 

 they sucked a great deal of blood, and every morn- 

 ing I had my face disfigured with pimples. This, 

 however, did not hinder me from passing my nights 

 very agreeably. Besides the amusement I received 

 from the fables, dialogues, and witty stories, with 

 which the negroes entertained each other accord- 

 ing to their custom, I was ravished with behold- 

 ing a sky ever blue and serene, and bespangled 

 with stars that shone forth with the brightest lustre. 

 Raised on this platform, as on a small observatory, 

 open on all sides, I could easily accompany those 

 luminaries with my eye in their revolution from 

 east to west. Oftentimes, I did not lose sight of the 

 upper edge of the disk of the sun and of the larger 

 stars till theyplunged under the horizon of the ocean. 



