EXPEDITION TO SURINAM. 



93 



marched due N. towards the place whence we con- G H A P. 



XX 



je<5tured the hallooing noife to have proceeded, being all ._ .^J ,,, 

 much fatigued for want of reft, efpecially Colonel Four- 

 geoud, who could hardly fupport himfelf, fo much was 

 he weakened by the ague. We had not marched above 

 two miles, I having the van-guard, when a rebel negro 

 fjprang up at ray feet from under a fhrub, where he 

 had been afleep ; but as we had orders not to fire upon 

 ftragglers, he efcaped, running with almoft the fwiftnefs 

 of a ftag amongffc the brambles. I no fooner made re- 

 port to the old hero, than, fwearing he was a fpy, which 

 I believe was true, he fliook off his illnefs, and quickened 

 his pace with redoubled vigour : but our purfuit was 

 to no purpofe, at leaft this day ; for about one o'clock we 

 got into a bog, from which we could hardly extricate 

 ourfelves, and were forced to return to our laft night's 

 encampment, miffing two privates of the Society troops, 

 whom we fuppofed to have i^eriflicd in the marfh. 



This day we faw great quantities of arnotta - trees, 

 with which this part of the foreft abounds. In the even- 

 ing a Have prefented me with a buJJj - fpider of fuch 

 magnitude, that putting him into a cafe -bottle above 

 eight inches high, he actually reached the furface with 

 fome of his hideous clav/s, whilft the others w^ere rett- 

 ing upon the bottom. No creature can be more dread- 

 fully ugly than this enormous fpider, Vv^hich the people 

 of Surinam erroncoufly call the tarantula. The body is 

 divided in tv/o, the pofterior part oval, and the fize of an 

 Orlean-x-lum ; the fore-part fquare, with a figure fome- 



what- 



