A CATASTROPHE. 427 



sandy plaza. The door which had opened to us 

 with so much alacrity was now shut, but not by the 

 hand of inhospitality. Mr. Catherwood and the 

 owner had left for the village, and the house was 

 locked up. Some of the villagers, however, came 

 to us, and conducted us to the quartel, which was 

 garrisoned by two women, who surrendered at dis- 

 cretion, provided us with chocolate, and, although 

 the hut was abundantly large for all of us, unexpect- 

 edly bade us good-night, and withdrew to a neigh- 

 bour's to sleep. If they had remained, not being 

 worn down by fatigue as w e were, and, consequent- 

 ly, more wakeful, a sad catastrophe might have 

 been prevented. We laid our birds carefully on a 

 table to dry ; during the night a cat entered, and we 

 were aw^aked to see the fruits of our hard day's la- 

 bour dragged along the floor, and the cat bounding 

 from them, and escaping through a hole in the side 

 of the hut. It was no consolation to us, but if she 

 had nine hves, the arsenic used for preserving the 

 birds had probably taken them all. 



Before daylight the next morning we were again 

 in the saddle. For some distance back from the port 

 the ground had been washed or overflowed by the 

 sea, and was a sandy, barren mangrove brake. Be- 

 yond commenced the same broken, stony surface, 

 and before we had proceeded far we discovered that 

 Doctor Cabot's horse was lame. Not to lose time, 

 I rode on to procure another, and at eight o'clock 

 reached the village of Silan. In the suburbs I dis- 



