was lying on the ground, one of the banditti, thinking I was about
to take it up, cocked his musket, and swore that he would lay me
dead upon the spot if I presumed to put my hand upon it. After
this, some of them went away with my horse, and the remainder stood
considering whether they should leave me quite naked, or allow me
something to shelter me from the sun. Humanity at last prevailed;
they returned me the worst of the two shirts and a pair of trousers;
and, as they went away, one of them threw back my hat, in the crown
of which I kept my memorandums, and this was probably the reason
they did not wish to keep it. After they were gone, I sat for some
time looking round me within amazement and terror. Whichever way I
turned, nothing appeared but danger and difficulty. I saw myself in
the midst of a vast wilderness, in the depth of the rainy season--
naked and alone, surrounded by savage animals, and men still more
savage. I was five hundred miles from the nearest European
settlement. All these circumstances crowded at once on my
recollection, and I confess that my spirits began to fail me. I
considered my fate as certain, and that I had no alternative but to
lie down and perish. The influence of religion, however, aided and
supported me. I reflected that no human prudence or foresight could
possibly have averted my present sufferings. I was indeed a
stranger in a strange land, yet I was still under the protecting eye
of that Providence who has condescended to call Himself the
stranger's Friend. At this moment, painful as my reflections were,
the extraordinary beauty of a small moss in fructification
irresistibly caught my eye. I mention this to show from what
trifling circumstances the mind will sometimes derive consolation;
for though the whole plant was not larger than the top of one of my
fingers, I could not contemplate the delicate conformation of its
roots, leaves, and capsula without admiration. Can that Being,