— 138 
save our own voices and our foot steps as wo forced our way 
through the thickets. As we rounded the foot of the spur of 
the mountain we came upon a hut occupied by an old man. 
He was the oldest black man I saw in the Island, as grey as a 
badger, but busily occupied preparing green bananas for bis 
supper. lie told us he was once a slave and remember some 
of the former French Governors. 
“ After dinner we lay on the grass outside, and the men 
improvised a dance for our amnsement. The music consisted 
of an empty tin biscuit box held on the breast and^ struck 
sharply with the fingers. All sang, if singing it could be call- 
ed, made up of cries, and wails and yells clapping their hands 
in time to the music (save the mark). They kept up their 
dances with a vigour I should not have given Drowsy credit 
for. The fun grew fast and furious, and we were obliged at 
last to put a stop to it, so as to get a good night’s rest, as it 
was the eve of our departure. 
“ I had forgotten to mention that we had not been utterly 
without game. One morning at breakfast time we were asto- 
nished by a visit from a maroon Sow with a litter of 13 young 
ones, pretty little stripped creatures. All were at once the 
alert for a chasse. A chasse, if without honor, certainly not 
without danger. The old mother was a vixen A. I. and we 
had to look sharp to keep clear of her, for the way she grunt- 
ed and chased ^ls was worth seeing. The little ones too were 
as active as cats, and what with their squeals, the Sow’s grunts 
and the men’s yells it was a very Babel. They succeeded in 
capturing three in spite of the mother, and at last drove her 
off. They arrived safe and well in Port Louis, and to see 
their cunning ways, and good appetites, no one would suppo- 
se they were only young sucking pigs, they might have been 
on their own hook for months. 
“ Mr Gordon left us next morning, and we packed up all 
our loot of every kind and sent it off to Make by Grumbler 
and another man, and we left our JEyrrie, for new explorations. 
lt Our way lay over one of the most villainous paths of the 
islaud, covered with great boulders. Frequently wo had to 
cross half rotten trees which had fallen ovor them bare-foot ; 
