But they soon associated together, and, by their union and numbers, became formidable to their oppressors. They retired to a considerable distance from the Dutch settlements, and, occupying a fertile tract of country, erected such slight habitations as their means afforded, and the climate required. They began to till the soil, and bountiful nature returned an abundant harvest for their efforts. They increased rapidly, and in process of years they established a government suited to their condition. By degrees the hostility between them and the Dutch settlement subsided, and amicable intercourse commenced, and at the time I was there, a considerable traffic was carried on between the inhabitants of Maroontown and those of Paramaribo. The settlement continues to the present time to consist entirely of a negro population, living in the heart of Guiana, almost without the mixture of foreign blood. Their manners are rather those of Africa than America. We shall have something more to say of this strange place in another chapter.
(To be continued.)
The Law of Honor.
A FABLE.
Two musquitoes met upon a cabbage-leaf one fine summer’s morning, glutted with the spoils of the preceding evening. Flushed with success, and anxious for battle, they began to eye each other with no very gentle looks. Still they had no pretence upon which to begin shedding each other’s blood, till one of them ran out his sting, and began to whet it and put it in order for the first emergency. “Do you run your sting out at me?” said the other. “That’s just as you please to take it.” “Sir, that’s a downright insult.” “Very well, sir, I can’t help that.” “Draw, then, and defend yourself!” Upon this challenge, like other duellists, they made a great bluster, and while they prepared for battle with an air of great courage, meanly took great pains to get the advantage of ground and position. After several passes, one was mortally wounded: they then made up, and while one expired, the other, in the most chivalrous manner, said he was a gentleman. So the musquito died with satisfaction.
House in Cairo.
Kahira, or Cairo.
This city, which is the capital of Modern Egypt, is situated in a plain between the eastern bank of the river Nile and the ridge of Mokattam. It occupies about three square miles, and is surrounded by a wall, and commanded by a large citadel, where the pacha resides. The streets are unpaved and narrow, some of them having rows of shops on each side.
The roofs of the houses are flat, and covered with plaster. The ground floor apartments next the street have small wooden grated windows; but those of the upper stories are formed of wooden lattice-work, which is so close that it shuts out much of the light of the sun, but admits the air. In the better houses, the windows are furnished with frames of glass in the inside; these are closed in the winter.