CAPTAIN AXSELMO. 



3ig 



of country in a blaze. I mean that the fire will 

 sometimes run on for a league, and even more. 

 It will occasionally blaze forth most violently, 

 and catching the branches of the large trees, the 

 flames will at intervals flash above their summit ; 

 — it will then subside, but continue smothered 

 in the hollow of some aged tree, or in a heap of 

 leaves which still retain some moisture ; but a 

 breath of air spreads it abroad, and it again runs 

 on with violence. The peasants almost inva- 

 riably smoke as they go along, and oftentimes 

 they ask for a lighted piece of wood at a cottage 

 which they may chance to pass. It is astonish- 

 ing to see with what unconcern they will hurl 

 this from them still unextinguished, knowing, as 

 they do full well, the consequences which fre- 

 quently have ensued. The act of setting fire to 

 a wood is subject to punishment by law, if in- 

 tention or even carelessness can be proved. The 

 crop of canes of some estates have, in many in- 

 stances, been injured by these means. 



Captain Anselmo resides upon a cotton plan- 

 tation which is his own property, and is culti- 

 vated by about forty negroes. The house is 

 situated upon the shelf of a steep hill, with a 

 beautiful plain below, upon which trees are 

 thickly scattered. At the foot of the hill is a 

 large fish-pond, through which a rivulet runs in 

 the rainy season. The owner has lately inclosed 

 a piece of land, and was making a garden upon 



