them as "my home," or "my country." I did not
attempt to distinguish between France and Switzerland, England and
America. Curiously enough, the subject that interested them most was the
animal kingdom, and when I told them that I hoped some day to take them
away with me to see my great country and the animals it contained, they
were immensely delighted. Particularly they wanted to see the horse, the
lion, and the elephant. Taking a yam-stick as pointer, I would often
draw roughly in the sand almost every animal in Nature. But even when
these rough designs were made for my admiring audience, I found it
extremely difficult to convey an idea of the part in the economy of
Nature which each creature played. I would tell them, however, that the
horse was used for fighting purposes and for travel; that the cow yielded
food and drink, and that the dogs drew sledges. It was absolutely
necessary to dwell only on the utilitarian side of things. Beasts of
burden would be incomprehensible. Both of my children were very proud of
my position among and influence over the blacks.

And really I looked like a black-fellow myself at this time--not so much
on account of exposure, as because my body was constantly coated with the
charcoal and grease which serves as a protection from the weather and
from insects. My children, you may be interested to learn, never grasped
the fact that my exile was other than quite voluntary on my part.

The children of the blacks continued to interest me as much as ever (I
was always fond of children); and I never grew tired of watching them at
their quaint little games. I think they all loved me as much as I did
them, and I was glad to see that their lives were one long dream of
happiness. They had no school to attend, no work to perform, and no
punishment to suffer. There are no children like the children of the
bush for perfect contentment. They seldom or never quarrelled, and were
all day long playing happily about the camp, practising throwing their
reed spears; climbing the trees after the honey-pods, and indulging in a
thousand and one merry pranks. Often and often I looked at those robust
little rascals, and compared them sadly with my own children, who were
delicate almost from birth, and who caused me so much anxiety and
heartache.

When the combination of circumstances, which is now well known to my
readers, caused me to settle in my mountain home, two or three hundred
miles to th