i6o TRAVELS IN 
or thirty perfons, to whom I gave a fmall 
quantity of tobacco in exchange for fome 
mats, which I was very glad to procure. This 
difcovery gave me great pleafure, both on 
account of the profit which I derived from 
it, as well as of the agreeable furprife it oc- 
cafioned. I took great delight in contem- 
plating them, for a long time, in their peace- 
ful occupations. They pofTefled five milch 
cows, and a fmall flock of fheep. In the 
labouring feafon, the men difperfed them- 
felves over the neighbouring plantations, where 
by their induftry they amafled enough to 
procure themfelves tobacco, and to render 
their fituation more comfortable. They af- 
fured me that, in the large woods with 
which the fides of all the mountains in this 
country are covered, elephants and buffaloes 
w^ere fometimes to be met with. Upon this 
intelligence I immediately began to fearch the 
mountains and forefts ; but my labour was in 
vain, for neither I nor my people could dif- 
cover o.ny of them. I perceived, indeed, the 
prints of the feet of elephants, but they had 
been made long before; from which I gueffed, 
what w^as aftervv^ards told me, that if chance 
at 
