368 JOURNAL OF A 
pretty sure, that I should find enough to amuse me for some 
hours, when the arrival of Sir Thomas Reade, the Adjutant- 
general, delivered me from the burden of my contrivances. 
When he heard the plan I had formed, he protested, that I should 
not quit my company, but accompany the captain and Mr. So- 
merset to Plantation-house to dinner. With the most obliging 
opposition to all my remonstrances, he fairly compelled me to join 
the cavalcade, and we set out with the Governors adjutant. Lieu- 
tenant Pritchard, all well mounted. 
The road up Ladder-hill is a steep zigzag, and were there not a 
parapet of about three feet in height skirting it towards the declivity, 
the view downwards would be frightful. At the top of the hill, a 
battery commands both the road, and the gate leading to it from 
the plain above. The mass of rocks, and the innumerable frag- 
ments lying on the hill, bear evident marks of their having once 
been in a state of fusion. The traces of that dreadful eruption, by 
which this singular island was lifted up above the surface of the 
ocean, appear in all directions. To the right, on the waste above, 
we were made particularly attentive to a number of gullies, in par- 
allel lines, resembling torrents of burning lava. An attempt has 
been made to plant a hedge of Indian fig, on each side of the road, 
but it does not seem to thrive well. 
Leaving High-knole, a steep conical hill, to the left, with a fort 
and guard on the summit, the Avhole face of the country changes 
from a wilderness to a garden. The declivities of the hills are 
covered with short grass of the most lively green, and their summits, 
with bushes and trees. On a plain below, the camp of the 66th 
rcginient presented itself. Jt is called Fiancis-plain camp, and, as 
the military was just then on parade, the sound of martial music 
greeted our ears, as Ave rode along the hill. Plantation-house lies 
to the right, and is approached between two handsome lodges, 
with a guard-house, signal-house, and llags. The road leads 
through a grove to the main entrance. The house is a spacious 
