90 



ter having witnessed the death of a great num_ 

 ber of his friends, he withdrew far from the 

 coasts to the mountains of Cocollar. Without 

 neighbours, the quiet possessor of five leagues 

 of savannahs, he enjoyed at once that indepen- 

 dence, which belongs to solitude, and that sere- 

 nity of mind, which a pure and bracing air pro- 

 duces in men who live agreeably to the simpli- 

 city of nature. 



Nothing can be compared to the impression 

 of majestic tranquillity, iwhich the aspect of the 

 firmament inspires in this solitary region. Fol- 

 lowing with the eye, at the entrance of the 

 night, those meadows that bound the horizon, 

 that plain covered with verdure, and gently un- 

 dulated, we thought we saw from afar, as in the 

 deserts of the Oroonoko, the surface of the ocean 

 supporting the starry vault of Heaven. The 

 tree under which we were seated, the luminous 

 insects flying in the air, the constellations that 

 shone toward the south ; every object seemed 

 to tell us, that we were far from our native soil. 

 If amid this exotic nature the bell of a cow, or 

 the roaring of a bull were heard from the 

 depth of a valley, the remembrance of our coun- 

 try was awakened suddenly in the sound. They 

 were like distant voices resounding from beyond 

 the ocean, and with magical power transporting 

 us from one hemisphere to the other. Strange 



