umber of strange birds resorted to this
valley, many of whose notes were rich, full, and melodious, while
others were harsh and disagreeable, but, generally speaking, the
plumage was various, splendid, and beautiful. The modest partridge
appeared in company with the magnificent balearic crane, with his
regal crest, and delicate humming birds hopped from twig to twig,
with others of an unknown species; some of them were of a dark,
shining green; some had red silky wings and purple bodies; some were
variegated with stripes of crimson and gold, and these chirped and
warbled from among the thick foliage of the trees. In the
contemplation of such beautiful objects as these, all so playful and
so happy, or the more sublime ones of dark waving forests, plains of
vast extent, or stupendous mountains, that gave the mind the most
sensible emotions of delight and grandeur, leading it insensibly

"To look from nature up to nature's God."

Speaking on these subjects, Lander very feelingly expresses himself,
"For myself," he says, "I am passionately fond of them, and have
regretted a thousand times, that my ignorance incapacitated me from
giving a proper representation of them, or describing the simplest
flower that adorns the plains, or the smallest insect that sparkles
in the air. This consideration gives me at times many unhappy
reflections, although my defective education arose from circumstances
over which my boyhood had no control."

Having passed through the immense valley already mentioned, they had
not travelled far before they arrived and halted at a large village
called Tudibu; here they rested a while, and then continuing their
journey for two hours over even ground between high hills, they rode
into the town of Gwen-dekki, in which they purposed passing the
night. The chief was either very poor or very ill natured, for the
only thing he sent them was a little boiled yam, with a mess of
unpalatable gravy, which he would not have given, if he had not
expected ten times its value in return. Divine service, it being
Sunday, was performed in the course of the day, and this was a duty,
which to persons in their situation, was found inconceivably
pleasant. It rendered them happy and resigned in the midst or their
afflictions and privations; reposing their confidence in the
all-protecting arm of that beneficent Being, who is the author and
disposer of their destinies, and in whom alone, thus widely separated
as they were fr