34i 



flint from the world.,, we can neither want 

 fruit, , food, nor phyfic ; for the hedges, the 

 fields, and the gardens amply fupply them all 

 —drink, clothing, and condiment we alfo col- 

 led: from the trees, the plants, and the buflies ; 

 and, in the calabafh, bountiful nature has even 

 furnifhed us with plates, bafons and difhes. 



We are here fo removed from the head- 

 quarters of the army, that I fcarcely know 



which would be mod reafonable for you 



to expeft news of its operations from Ber- 

 bifche, or for me to afk tidings of its pro- 

 ceedings from England ! No dire£t or regular 

 communication is eftablifhed, and the little 

 intercourfe continued between us is highly 

 uncertain and precarious. The intelligence 

 that reaches us is moft commonly accidental, 

 and in its circuitous route, it is new-modelled, 

 by fuch a variety of reporters, and becomes fo 

 garbled and disfigured, that too frequently it 

 preferves fcarcely any features of accuracy. 

 From the army it travels to fome fhip, and is 

 tranfported to Barbadoes. There, perhaps, it 

 takes a long reft, or wanders over the ifland. 

 Next it is picked up in the ftreets, in a dif« 

 tortcd form, by fome trading captain, or his 



* 3 



