SECOND JOURNEY. 89 



and under arrest in his own house. He has four 

 accomplished daughters, respected hy the whole town. 

 Towards the close of day, when the sun's rays are no 

 longer oppressive, these much-pitied ladies are seen 

 walking up and down the balcony with their aged 

 parent, trying, by their kind and filial attention, to 

 remove the settled gloom from his too guilty brow. 

 This was not the time for a traveller to enjoy Cayenne. 



The hospitality of the inhabitants was the 

 tantsf Ichabl " same as ever, but they had lost their wonted 



gaiety in public, and the stranger might 

 read in their countenances, as the recollection of recent 

 humiliations and misfortunes every now and then kept 

 breaking in upon them, that they were still in sorrow 

 for their fallen country : the victorious hostile cannon 

 of Waterloo still sounded in their ears : their Emperor 

 was a prisoner amongst the hideous rocks of St. 

 Helena ; and many a Frenchman who had fought and 

 bled for France was now amongst them, begging for a 

 little support to prolong a life which would be forfeited 

 on the parent soil. To add another handful to the 

 cypress and wormwood already scattered amongst these 

 polite colonists, they had just received orders from the 

 court of Janeiro to put on deep mourning for six 

 months, and half-mourning for as many more, on 

 account of the death of the Queen of Portugal. 



About a day's journey in the interior, is the cele- 

 brated national plantation. This spot was judiciously 

 chosen, for it is out of the reach of enemies' cruisers. 

 Plantation of ^ i s called La Gabrielle. No plantation 

 LaGabrieUe. ^ fl^ wes t ern W0 rld can vie with La 



Gabrielle. Its spices are of the choicest kind ; its soil 

 particularly favourable to them ; its arrangements beau- 



