at once, and if prudently managed, to lead the way to future prosperity. He intended to enter upon a specific agricultural speculation, as soon after his arrival in North America as circumstances would admit; and having commenced his operations, and laid matters in train for its advancement, he thought he should be able to turn his mind to schemes of conquest or discovery, or whatever else seemed most calculated to gratify his restless spirit and aspiring propensities.

One of his fellow-passengers on the voyage out, was Emily Valance, a girl about twenty-two years of age, and possessing considerable personal attractions, the effect and agreeableness of which, however, were much diminished by the boldness and haughtiness of her demeanour, and the louring and discontented expression of her countenance. She had, it is true, many causes for dissatisfaction and uneasiness; for her parents having been reduced from comparative affluence to the verge of poverty, by unmerited misfortunes, were obliged to quit their native country, carrying her along with them, and permanently withdrawing her from all the objects and pleasures that had afforded her either interest or delight.

She looked forward with dread and aversion to the change of scene that awaited her in North America, and constantly indulged in vain regrets and irritating recollections, instead of endeavouring to prepare her mind for the new sphere of life in which she was

about to be placed for probably the remainder of her days. She spurned the society of those persons of her own sex who were in the ship; but the superiority of her manners, perhaps, rendered this accountable and excusable; and she seldom spoke, except to anticipate evil, and complain of the inconveniences around her. She was, at the same time, imperious in deportment, and affected in her style of dress; and her reserve and abstraction evidently did not proceed from an indifference to admiration, but from her placing no value upon that of her companions on board.

These peculiarities of behaviour and disposition in Emily Valance, excited Derbond's interest and attention more than her external appearance; and perceiving that she was no common person, he sought her acquaintance, and cultivated her good graces with so much success, that they soon became more than friends, and found deep and satisfactory pleasure in each other's society. To him she bewailed the hardness of her fate in being doomed to reside in a land of savages, where there was nothing worth enjoying or wishing for; and he, on the other hand, confessed to her his most secret views and purposes; and by so doing, pleased her imagination and flattered her vanity. fore the voyage was concluded, it may be said that they mutually loved, though not to such a degree as to lead to any promise or engagement on either side, the prospects of both parties being too unsettled to

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admit of their thinking of marriage, even had they been so disposed.

All the emigrants landed at Savannah in Georgia, and presently disposed themselves over the neighbouring country; and Derbond then bade Emily farewell, declaring that he should often think of her, and would return to visit her when he had chosen his place of abode and determined upon his future course of life.

Derbond's views were directed towards forming a cotton plantation, the soil and climate of Georgia being considered peculiarly adapted for it; and he had brought with him the necessary implements for that species of agriculture, and now purchased three negroes to work for him and enable him to pursue it. But he could not find any unoccupied land near Savannah suited to his purposes, and he therefore proceeded southward in search of what he wanted; and at length chose a tract of ground lying on a branch of the Sitilla River. He obtained a grant of it from the local government, and immediately removed to the spot with his slaves; where, having built a log-house for his residence, he began to inclose part of his estate, and plant cotton-trees and tobacco.

The place was eighty miles distant from Savannah, and his nearest neighbour was an emigrant who had settled ten miles off, in a northerly direction. Towards the south of his property lay the great marsh of Ouaquahenegow, already mentioned, whose confines were

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totally unknown to any one, except through the report of the Indians, while its interior was supposed by them to be altogether inaccessible. Derbond did not dislike the solitariness of his situation, for he knew that even in the town of Savannah itself, he would have been in a manner equally detached from society, on account of his feeling no sympathy in the pursuits and pleasures of the generality of its inhabitants, or indeed of those of any other part of Georgia.

He passed much of his time in superintending the progress of his cotton plantation, and often hunted in the neighbouring forests, or made excursions along the banks of the river which formed the northern boundary of his estate. On these and similar occasions, he often met small parties of Indians, and he always took care to conciliate them by presents and gentle treatment, and to impress them with the idea that he considered himself under their protection, and trusted to it. He would sometimes carry one or two of these people home with him, and give them food and shelter as long as they pleased to remain; asking them to requite him by teaching him their language, which he was, for various reasons, extremely desirous of acquiring.

Derbond led this kind of life nearly a year, never once seeing an European during that time. His plantation prospered, his slaves proved faithful and industrious, and he began to have some idea of in

trusting it to their care and management, and undertaking a journey to Savannah, to make preparation for an expedition of discovery which he had meditated for several weeks, and which had been suggested by a certain piece of information obtained by him in conversation with an Indian; for he now spoke the language sufficiently well for all common purposes, and was much beloved by the people from whom he had learned it. They had at different times related to him a variety of superstitious fables concerning the marsh of Ouaquahenegow, the substance of which was, that the spirits of deceased persons of their own race and of both sexes inhabited its interior, and that the hunters who had on several occasions penetrated beyond its borders, either by accident or design, had encountered these mysterious beings, and been warned by them to retrace their steps, and to expect death if they hesitated or disobeyed. The females, who were reported to be exceedingly beautiful, had always fled on seeing these intruders, and apparently given notice of their approach to their male friends or husbands, who never failed to appear soon afterwards, armed with bows and arrows and lances, frowning awfully, and using menacing gestures. Two intrepid Indians, who had entered the marsh for the purpose of satisfying themselves and their countrymen of the truth of these reports, had never returned or been heard of, though some of their relatives had gone in search of them,