SOUTH AMERICA. 147 



drown it, and in her last illness she told Mary 







to be kind to it for her sake. 



When age and want had destroyed the sym- 

 metry of Mary's fine form, the village began to 

 consider her as one who had dealings with spirits; 

 her cat confirmed the suspicion. If a cow died, 

 or a villager wasted away with an unknown com- 

 plaint, Mary and her cat had it to answer for. 

 Her broom sometimes served her for a walking- 

 stick : and if ever she supported her tottering 

 frame with it as far as the May-pole, where once, 

 in youthful bloom and beauty, she had attracted 

 the eyes of all, the boys would surround her, and 

 make sport of her, while her cat had neither friend 

 . nor safety beyond the cottage wall. Nobody con- 

 sidered it cruel or uncharitable to torment a witch ; 

 and it is probable, long before this, that cruelty, 

 old age, and want, have worn her out, and that 

 both poor Mary and her cat have ceased to be. 



Would you wish to pursue the different species 

 of game, well stored and boundless is your range 

 in Demerara. Here no one dogs you, and after- 

 wards clandestinely inquires if you have a hundred 

 a year in land to entitle you to enjoy such pa- 

 trician sport. Here no saucy intruder asks if 

 you have taken out a licence, by virtue of which 

 you are allowed to kill the birds which have bred 

 upon your own property. Here 



" You are as free as when God first made man, 

 Ere the vile laws of servitude began, 

 And wild in woods the noble savage ran." 

 L2 



