AIIICA. 



191 



ed and gone, the furniture was destroyed, the 

 shops and store-houses were empty. The first 

 house we went to was that of the person styled 

 Governor ; he was stretched on a mattress laid on 

 the floor, for no bed-stead or other vestige of fur- 

 niture was left ; and he was suffering under the 

 cold fit of an ague. His wife and daughter were 

 in an adjoining room, where they had collected a 

 few friends ; but they looked most disconsolate 

 and miserable. The town had been attacked by 

 a Patriot force, and had, as i usual, suffered by 

 being made the scene of conflict. Most of the 

 people had fled to the interior, and the empty 

 streets and house gave a silent desolation to the 

 place, which was very striking. Such of the in- 

 habitants as were obliged to remain, either from 

 sickness or from other causes, were reduced to se- 

 vere privations. We saw some families that had 

 not a table nor a bed left, nor a chair to offer us 

 when we entered ; and the governor's wife declar- 

 ed she had not a change of dress ; her daughter 

 was in the same distress ; a pretty little round* 

 faced modest girl, whose attempts to tie a piece 

 of a handkerchief round her neck, in the absence 



