of his eternal gratitude." Hereupon the crowd clapped their hands with
delight, the singers shouted, the drummers thumped, and the dancers
vaulted their admiration of the piety and generosity of Omaree.

Here he was placed in an easy sitting posture, in a commodious arm-chair
that commanded a view of the plantation and the Pacific; where, sheltered
from the meridian sun by a lofty arbour of the climbing _cobea_ and wild
vine tastefully trained through a cluster of cocoa-palms, he was invited
to witness a dramatic representation containing incidents which they knew
his memory reverted to with pride and pleasure. This drama, in which a
great company of performers took part, was carried on with much taste and
spirit. The old priest undertook to translate the most interesting
passages for my edification (still acting as the mouthpiece of his
deceased friend), with the exception of a few "love-passages," as Queen
Elizabeth would have called them, the import of which was sufficiently
perspicuous without verbal comment.

Whilst remaining at Hayti, I took an excursion, on foot and alone, through
the mountains one day, to visit this interesting spot. The ascent to the
cavern was steep and toilsome. I was obliged frequently to change my
course, and pursue a more lengthened route than what my eye had
anticipated; but at length I reached the place, and, pausing a few minutes
to rest after my weary journey, struck a light, and, with lantern in hand,
entered the awful cave. A large stone had been so placed within the
entrance that it might have served for a stopper occasionally. Even in its
withdrawn position I passed it with difficulty. "Now," I exclaimed, "I
shall behold with my own eyes the aboriginal style of burial in these
sacred and almost inaccessible recesses, which that unsatisfactory
historian, Ferdinand Colon, was too lazy to inspect with his own eyes, and
which his father had never seen in all his hunting-matches. Indeed, I don't