352 SHIPWRECK OF THE MEDUSA, 
in gathering cotton. My father then dismissed the negroes 
who worked by the day, as he had to come and go to Senegal, 
where the urgency of his business yet required his presence. 
I remained a long while without seeing him ; but at the 
end of eight days I was agreeably surprised at finding our 
boat in the little bay of the Babaguey. I ran with the family 
negroes to disembark our effects, and I soon had the pleasure 
of holding my sister Caroline in my arms. My father came 
on shore afterward with the youngest children, and all the 
family found themselves united under the roof of the African 
cottage, in the island of Safal. " You see, my child," said 
my father to me on entering our huts, " you see all our rich- 
es ! we have neither movables nor house at Senegal : every 
thing we can claim as our own is here." I embraced my fa- 
ther, and my brothers and sisters, and then went to unload 
our boat. Our house was soon filled. It served at once for 
a cellar, granary, store-house, a parlor, and bed-chamber. 
However, we found a place for every thing : next day vv^e be- 
gan to fit them up more commodiously. My sister and my- 
self lived in the small house to the west ; my father took up 
his residence in that toward the east ; and the large hut in 
the centre was the place where the children slept. Round 
about the last we suspendp.d some boards by cords, to hold 
our dishes and various kitchen utensils. A table, two bench- 
es, and some chairs, a large couch, some old barrels, a mill to 
grind the cotton, and implements of husbandry, constituted the 
iurniture of that cottage. Nevertheless, in spite of its hum- 
bleness, the sun came and gilded our roofs of straw and reeds. 
My father then fitted up his cottage as a study. Here were 
boards suspended by small cords, upon which his books and 
papers were arranged with the greatest order ; there a fir 
board, supported by four feet driven into the ground, served 
as a desk ; at a distance stood his gun, his pistols, his sword» 
his clarionet, and some mathematical instruments. A chair, 
a small couch, a pitcher, and a cup, formed his little furniture. 
Our cottage was situated on the top of a little hill of gentle 
ascent. Forests of mangrove trees, gum-trees, tamarind- 
trees, sheltered us on the west, the north, and the east. To 
the south was situated the plantation Avhich we called South- 
field. This field was already covered with about three hun- 
dred thousand feet of cotton, a third of which had nearly be- 
gun to be productive. Upon the banks of the river, and to 
the west of the cotton field, was situated our garden ; finally, 
to the south of the plain were our fields of maize, beans, and 
millet. 
