The intelligent conversation of Mr. Beans made the evenings delightful, for Mr. Canes’ approaching ball had somehow the effect of suspending all ordinary visits in the neighbourhood. During the whole time I remained at Prospect Pen, we were not once interrupted by a stranger; even the daughter of my host did not give the social apartment much of her company, being chiefly engaged in her own room writing letters for a ship in the bay that was on the eve of returning to England, and in preparing a dress for the festival of her friend.

The depressing heat of the day rendered the exercise of riding too much for me, but in the mornings and evenings I had some agreeable shooting on the skirts of the wood adjoining the plantation. Into the woods themselves I never ventured, having a judicious apprehension of the reptiles by which they were said to be dangerously infested. Nor was the game that offered itself very inviting, for it chiefly consisted of talkative green parrots, which held general meetings in a large tamarind-tree near the house, where they ever appeared to have so many important topics to discuss, that I fancied the assemblage could be nothing less than representatives in Parliament; and sometimes, instead of firing, I became a groundling, and listened uninstructed to their debates.