250 REFLECTIONS. 



my bowl of punch, and drinking success to 

 the draining of that lake which their Indian 

 ancestors considered the residence of their 

 Deity, but which the present race (convert- 

 ed to Christianity) think it no sacrilege to 

 mutilate and destroy : when I pictured to 

 myself the vast difference between the hum- 

 ble slaves before me, and the wild and fierce 

 temperament of their free forefathers, who 

 deemed life worthless if not enjoyed with 

 liberty ; when I considered the vast popu- 

 lation that once peopled the surrounding- 

 plains, and the small force of Spaniards that 

 conquered and rendered them tributary, I 

 was lost in reverie ; and it was not until the 

 cold, which warned me to attend to the 

 expiring embers, had effectually laid hold 

 of me, that I recovered from the abstrac- 

 tion into which I had so insensibly fallen. 

 On such a night as this, I was suddenly 

 roused by a most terrific noise, a mixture 

 of loud roarings, and deep moans, which 



