equally favourable place by the side of Ellen, for
Archie kept his post pertinaciously, determined not to be
out-manoeuvred, and the road was not of a width to allow of three
abreast. The rest of the gentlemen followed, talking and joking
merrily.

The road led between hedges of prickly-pear, eight or ten feet in
height, and often of considerable width, the broad leaves so closely
overlapping each other that they formed a dense mass through which the
light failed to penetrate, bright scarlet flowers and purple fruit
ornamenting the massive wall. Here and there cocoa-nut trees sprang up
from the inner side like oaks or elms in an English hedgerow, most of
them loaded with fruit; while occasionally a cabbage palm or the
palmetto royal towered above them, surpassing its neighbours in graceful
beauty, its straight trunk rising without a branch to the height of a
hundred feet or more, crowned by a waving plume, in the centre of which
appeared a tender green shoot. Through the openings to the right
appeared plantations of sugar-cane, and occasionally fields of Indian
corn--the magnificent yellow cobs, with long, wavy beards, hanging from
their vigorous stalks.

"Did you taste the cabbage palm the other day at dinner?" asked Archie.

"Yes, I thought it very nice," answered the young lady, rather surprised
at the question.

"Do you know where it came from?" asked Archie.

"From a cabbage garden, I suppose," answered Ellen, laughing.

"No, from the top of one of those lofty trees," answered Archie. "That
is to say, it was at the top, but to obtain it the tree had to be cut
down."

"What a cruel sacrifice! I should not have eaten it with any
satisfaction had I known that," exclaimed Ellen.

"We soon get indifferent to such matters in this country," said Archie.
"See how many of them there are in all directions."

"I am afraid that you will become indifferent in other matters,"
observed Ellen--"to those slave-whips, for instance, though you say they
are only used in cases of necessity. When the drivers are judges as to
whether that necessity is lawful, the poor slaves are likely to feel the
lash very frequently, I suspect."

"It is found from experience that they cannot otherwise be kept in
order," answered Archie. "I confess that at first I shuddered as I saw
the whip used."

"Do the blacks never rebel against such treatment?" asked Ellen.

"They have at times," replied Archie. "In the year '37 there was an