ESCAPE OF THE EEPUBLICAN EXILES. 139 



clothes. At this indulgence which, undoubtedly, 

 might have excited gratitude in any one the French- 

 men were flung into absolute raptures. The raptures 

 were increased, if possible, by their treatment on the 

 road. They spent their first night at the plantation 

 of a hospitable friend of the governor, who, though 

 he was prevented by some business from being at 

 home, gave them the freedom of his handsome house. 

 They were enchanted. His "gardens, his large 

 rooms, his verandahs, his table, his elegant furni- 

 ture, and still more his comfortable beds," were topics 

 for ever. All was magical. They exclaimed, " It was 

 Elysium after Tartarus ! " This day of festivity 

 closed with a carousal of the negroes of the estate, 

 who, oppressed as they were, danced merrily after the 

 general supper. 



All henceforth was a triumphal entry. They re- 

 embarked in their two handsome gondolas, and 

 dropped down the river towards Surinam, all as- 

 tonishment at the " richness of the plantations on 

 its banks, the neatness of the canals, the beauty of 

 the gardens, and the stateliness of the buildings ; " 

 unvisited as they had been by the voice of universal 

 liberty, and unstained by the blood of a king. 



On their way still further down, they were met by 

 a party of the principal planters, who gave them 

 another feast ; and, on resuming their voyage again, 

 they met, just as the sun was plunging his golden 

 visage deep down into the endless forests of the west, 



