192 THE LIFE OF PHILIP HENRY GOSSE. 



but, then, the whole habit of Hfe at the Moravian settlement 

 was averse to rule and tradition of every kind. In this 

 collection of odd, pictistic, and irregular white men, sur- 

 rounded by an emotional crowd of affectionate and half- 

 converted blacks, nothing was considered irregular, except 

 regularity. They were exceedingly averse to anything 

 which savoured of formality, even in their religion, and one 

 or two of the leaders, after the lengthy Sunday services, 

 would go out with their guns on horseback for the purpose 

 of " testifying " against any supposed sanctity in the Lord's 

 Day as a day. If on their side they never criticized or 

 disturbed the naturalist, he on his was much interested in 

 their form of Christianity. It is true that some of their 

 oddities puzzled him. He notes in his journal, after the 

 first meeting at which he was present, which lasted six 

 mortal hours, " the great weariness of body which so long 

 a sitting induced prevented me from enjoying the occasion 

 nearly so much as I had anticipated." But he soon fell 

 into their ways, and consented to help them in their 

 services. It was presently proposed that he should preach 

 each alternate Sunday at a coffee plantation called Content, 

 fifteen miles east of Bluefields, high up in the mountains. 



This proposal fell in well with his scientific projects, for 

 the fauna and flora of Content differed very considerably 

 from those of Bluefields, and represented a less marine atmo- 

 sphere and a higher altitude. There was a little cottage 

 at Content, romantically perched on a mass of bare rock 

 under the shadow of the mountain, and here he made it a 

 practice to lodge for three or four days every fortnight, 

 shooting and collecting in the vicinity. In this way he 

 would ride far into the interior, sometimes staying all night 

 at a hospitable planter's house, and becoming thoroughly 

 acquainted with the aspect and the products of this part of 

 the colony — never before or since, perhaps, visited by any 



