TERCEXRA. 
11 
host informed us that he had sought in Praya a peace- 
ful enjoyment of health and of life’s blessings, without 
which, and contentment of heart, there is indeed little 
joy in our existence ; and these elements of happiness 
he assured us he had discovered even in the absence 
of all luxury, I had almost said of civilization. 
The day after our arrival at Praya had been fixed 
upon for our sporting excursion ; we therefore rose 
with the dawn, and having partaken of a substantial 
breakfast, we mustered our forces and set forth, declin - 
ing the services of a guide, upon the strength of the 
prowess we had exhibited the previous day. It was 
agreed that we should direct our steps towards a lake 
some few miles distant, where we had been assured 
that woodcocks and snipe were in great abundance, 
and guerillas and bandits were supposed to be some- 
what less numerous, they having been hunted out 
by the local authorities but a short time before. 
Our path first led along giddy precipices, which 
descend almost perpendicularly, a thousand feet 
and more, to the beach below. The vast flights 
of sea birds, now soaring above, now circling midway 
down the cliffs, determined two of our party to keep 
the coast ; while myself and two others, superior to 
so unsportsmanlike a temptation, held our original 
purpose and shaped our course for the interior. We 
had not proceeded far before we entered a pleasant 
and fruitful valley irregularly ascending to a high and 
rocky gorge, down which there dashed a little mourn- 
