from home. I now speak of Adolphe Barrot, who was sent as
consul-general to Manilla. He came with several friends to spend
some days at Jala-Jala. Being unwilling that he should suffer any
unpleasantness from the state of my feelings, I endeavoured to render
his stay at Jala-Jala as agreeable as in my power. I arranged several
hunting and shooting parties, and excursions through the mountains
and on the lake. For his sake I resumed my old mode of life, such as
I had been used to before I was overwhelmed by misfortune.

The days which I thus spent in company with Adolphe Barrot aroused
within me my former taste for exercise, and my ruling passion for
adventure. My friend Vidie--always with the intention of exciting me
to action--pressed me very much to go and visit a certain class of
the natives which I had often expressed a wish to examine. My affairs
being almost regulated; my son being placed under his care, and that
of his nurse, and of a housekeeper in whom I had every confidence;
I was induced, by this feeling of security, and by the instances of my
friend, to proceed to visit the district of the Ajetas, or Black-men,
who were a wild race, altogether in a state of nature. They were the
aborigines of the Philippines, and had for a long time been masters
of Luzon. At a time not very far distant, when the Spaniards conquered
the country, the Ajetas levied a kind of black-mail from the Tagalese
villages situated on the banks of the lake of Bay. At a fixed period
they quitted their forests, entered the villages, and forced the
inhabitants to give them a certain quantity of rice and maize; and
if the Tagalese refused or were unable to pay these contributions,
they cut off a number of heads, which they carried away as trophies
for their barbarian festivities. After the conquest of the Philippines
by the Spaniards, the latter took upon themselves the defence of the
Tagalese, and the Ajetas, terrified by their fire-arms, remained in
the forests, and did not re-appear among the Indians.

The same race is found in various parts of the Malay country; and the
people of New Zealand--the Paponins--resemble them very much in form
and colour.

My intention was to pass some days amongst those wild savages, and
our preparations were speedily made. I chose two of my best Indians to
accompany me. It is not requisite to state that my lieutenant was one
of the party, for he was always with me in all my perilous expeditions.

We took