out any trouble, and for little charge! What a country is this to
live in! and what an improper creature am I to live in it! Had I but
the graundee, I would have found her out by this time, be she where she
would; but, whilst every one about me can pass, repass, and act as they
please, I am fixed here like one of my trees, bound to the spot, or,
upon removal, to die in the attempt. Alas! why did I beget children
here, but to make them as wretched and inconsolable as myself! Some of
them are so formed, indeed, as to shift for themselves; but they owe it
to their mother, not to me. What! am I a father of children who will
be bound one day to curse me? Severe reflection! Yet I never thought of
this till now. But am I the only father in such a case? No, surely! for
am not I as much bound to curse my father as my children are to curse
me? He might have left me happy if he would; I would them if I could.
Again, are there not others who, by improper junction with persons
diseased in body or vicious in mind, have entailed greater misery
upon their posterity than I have on mine! My children are all healthy,
strong, and sound, both in body and mind; and is not that the greatest
blessing that can be bestowed on our beings? But they are imprisoned
in this arkoe! What then? With industry, here is no want; and as they
increase they may settle in communities, and be helpful to each other.
I have lived here well nigh sixteen years, and it was God's pleasure
I should be here; and can I think I was placed here with an injunction
contrary to the great command, "Increase and multiply?" If that were so,
can it be possible I should have received the only means of propagating,
as it were, from Heaven itself? No, it was certainly as much my Maker's
will that I should have posterity here, as that I myself should at first
be brought thither. This is a large and plentiful spot, and capable of
great improvement, when there shall be hands sufficient. How many petty
states are less than these my dominions! I have here a compass of near
twenty miles round, and how many thousands grow voluntarily grey in a
far less circuit?

I had hardly finished my reflections (for I was sitting by myself in my
tent upon one of the trees I had turned into benches), when I heard a
musical voice call, "Peter! Peter!" I started. "What's this?" says I.
"It is not Youwarkee's voice! What can this mean?" Listening, I heard it
again, but at so great a distance I could but ju