The repast with the negroes
We accepted the offer of our newly-made friends to share with them their small huts for the night, and they being plentifully provided with various skins of animals, a more agreeable resting-place could hardly be desired. The old negro, without being obtrusively inquisitive, was anxious to know our object in crossing the country; and my father informed him of our route, and produced the rough chart he had made upon our first starting upon the expedition. A long consultation was the result, and a doubtful shake of the head was given by the old man as to the possibility of our accomplishing the task; at the same time he gave an incredulous look at my mother and sister, who, he seemed to consider, would hardly be able to endure the journey and the hardships attending it. To say the truth, my mother looked but very weak, and I remember being struck myself with her appearance. My sister was of such a buoyant temperament, that her joyous spirit would carry her through almost any temporary difficulties; but still we were all considerably jaded. And I remember I thought the rude habitation of our entertainers a most delightful place of refuge, compared to being obliged to bivouac in the woods; and, indeed, I dreaded leaving the following morning. I believe we were all of us impressed with the same idea. When we at first met with them, I was overcome with surprise, and was afraid that some calamity was about to befal us. By degrees, however, the feeling wore off, and by that strong and undefined species of discernment which most possess in discovering those kindly disposed towards us, I became on most familiar terms with our friends. The young man, whose name was Rangal, I discovered, was the only son of the elder negro. He was very solicitous in his attentions to me, and his peculiar manners considerably amused me during our evening's sojourn.
More negroes
Upon our retiring to rest, the two negroes, father and son, took up their station in the apartment we had at first entered; this they did to keep watch that no one should harm us; not that there was any absolute necessity for their so doing, but it was an attention meant to impress us with confidence as to our safety. Early the following morning, after a refreshing and undisturbed sleep, I accompanied Rangal to take a survey of the surrounding country, calling at a neighbouring habitation where the remaining portion of the negroes had located. They conversed with my guide a great deal, two or three speaking at the same time; but it was in a dialect entirely new to me, and beyond my comprehension. They evidently, by their gestures, referred to us; but in what way, I was at a loss to understand. There were also a female and three children, the latter varying from seven to eleven years old. They looked at me in perfect amazement, and the three children retired, whispering, to a corner at the darkest part of the room; but I could see by the whites of their eyes in the gloom, that their gaze was rivetted upon me, in which a feeling of curiosity was mingled with dread. For myself, I was only struck with their comical appearance, and fairly laughed outright, in which I was joined by the negroes, one of whom, I supposed their father, brought them forward and introduced them in due form.
Upon returning to our habitation of the previous night, we found our party taking their morning's repast; and I learned that the old negro had insisted upon accompanying us, with his son Rangal, on our journey during the day. He had also arranged where we should halt for the following night which was at the habitation of a friend of his, situate many miles on our road.
The forest
All being got in readiness, we again commenced our pilgrimage. There had been a heavy fall of rain in the night, and it was comparatively cool and refreshing to what it had been, but still the heat was intense to us. We, however, proceeded on our journey with tolerable spirits. My father and uncle shot several birds in the early part of the day, which afforded us an excellent repast. We shortly arrived at a thick and apparently impenetrable forest. Through this we had to travel before reaching our destination for the night. Once having fairly entered its precincts, there appeared to my mind an impossibility of ever again emancipating ourselves from it. The sun, which had been so scorching to our aching sight, was now no longer visible, save here and there, where a few rays would find a passage through the otherwise impenetrably dense foliage, to remind us of the world beyond our sight. The luxuriance of the foliage, the variety of tropical plants which in the fecundity of nature spring up in a few hours—so rapid is their growth in these climates,—the busy hum of myriads of insects, the reptiles, and occasionally the howling of the fiercer animals of prey, can hardly be appreciated by description. Ever and anon we paused, as a rustling of the foliage would give notice of the passage of some fierce animal, who was, as he stole along, unconscious of the presence of man in his domains. We proceeded most watchfully on our way, my father and uncle with guns across their shoulders, ready for immediate service, if required; so, what with our number, and the caution used, we felt ourselves tolerably secure; the more so, as it is a remarkable fact that no species of animal, however fierce, is ever very willing to attack man in open combat, without provocation.
Waterton, the celebrated naturalist, who has travelled through the woods in search of animals for scientific purposes, says, speaking on this subject, "Time and experience has convinced me that there is not much danger in roving amongst snakes and wild beasts, provided you have self-command. You must never approach them abruptly; if so, you are sure to pay for your rashness, because the idea of self-defence is predominant in every animal; and thus the snake, to defend himself from what he considers an attack upon him, makes the intruder feel the deadly effect of his poisonous fangs. The jaguar flies at you, and knocks you senseless with a stroke of his paw; whereas, if you had not come upon him too suddenly, it is ten to one but that he had retired, in lieu of disputing the path with you." Secure, however, as we might feel ourselves, it was a matter of surprise to us how the two negroes would fare upon their return, without our party. They would, however, in spite of every persuasion to the contrary, persist in accompanying us, and we were fain to let them have their own way. Presently an incident occurred which made us see the necessity of caution. As I was walking by the side of my uncle Henry, I discerned, glaring from a neighbouring clump of foliage, two fierce-looking eyes. I impulsively caught my uncle by the arm, and pointed in breathless terror to the spot. He paused, and raising his gun, would have fired, had not my father precipitately intervened, and motioned him to be passive. "Do not venture to fire," he whispered, "till there is a greater necessity." At the same time he raised his gun, and both kept guard till the other members of our party passed the point where danger was to be feared. The animal did not move, but appeared ready to spring forth; which had it done, the pieces must then have been discharged. When we had got some little distance from the object of our dread, my father and uncle gradually retreated, with their faces and guns directed towards the animal, until they had got sufficiently out of danger; and we had the satisfaction of observing the animal bound off in another direction. It appeared to be a tolerably large-sized puma, as well as we could discern. This little incident made us doubly cautious, and all were loud in praising the presence of mind evinced by my father; for had my uncle fired so incautiously, it is very improbable that he would have wounded the animal mortally, but it might have incited him to a desperate attack upon us.
The negro's daughter
After one or two false alarms, we arrived again in the open country. The darkness of the forest had led us to believe that the day was on the decline; but on emerging into the plain we were greeted again with the rays of the sun. We had still, however, some distance to journey before we arrived at our proposed destination, and my mother, who appeared wearied, was again seated on the back of one of the mules. But even this mode of conveyance was fatiguing to one unaccustomed to such long journeys, in a country so different to our own. The negroes were the most fresh of the party; indeed, heat, and long hours of fatigue or anxiety, seemed to have no effect upon them, for they retained under these trials their good temper and loquacity. The elder of the two seemed, as indeed he always had been, to be of a reflective temperament; and as he was walking by the side of my father, somewhat ahead of the rest, he turned round, and gazing at my sister, said, "Make me think of de ole day—de ole day." "How so?" said my father. "Had a little girl once myself. Long ago, now! long ago!" And he again lapsed into silence, ruminating, in rather an abstracted melancholy mood, for some minutes. "You lost her, then, did you?" said my father. The old man shook his head sorrowfully, and placing his hand upon my father's shoulder, confidentially, exclaimed, "De white man!" He then promised to tell us the history of the affair before leaving. Arriving shortly at the point he had originally proposed when we commenced our journey in the morning, we discerned two or three habitations, even more rude than those we had left, and our guides expressed much surprise and chagrin at finding them uninhabited. We, however, determined upon taking possession of them for the night, and at once proceeded to make the necessary preparations for our stay.