242 



I wifh I could repeat to you, as eIo~ 

 quently as I heard it related, the very intereft- 

 ing detail of an expedition fent into the woods 

 againft thefe Bufh negroes, laft year, under 

 the command of major M'Grah, and cap-* 

 tain Dougan. Many perfons had been rob- 

 bed, and had their property otherwife injured 

 by their predatory excurfions ; — indeed the 

 whole colony was difturbed, aud,Trom the in- 

 creafing number of thefe fanguinary hordes, 

 was threatened with eventual deftru&ion. It 

 was therefore refolved that a body of troops 

 fhould be fent into the woods to fearch for 

 their places of refort, and to endeavour to fub- 

 due or exterminate them* A party of the 

 Dutch foldiers of the garrifon was, accord- 

 ingly, equipped for this duty ; and marched 

 m due military order into the foreft. 



But this was not the fpecies of force 

 calculated for fuch an expedition : and from 

 not having obferved all the minute precautions 

 required, in this new and hazardous kind of 

 warfare, they were furprized and defeated by 

 the negroes; and very few of the foldiers 

 efcaped with their lives — mcft of them being 

 killed, and their fcalps, or bodies, fixed againft 



