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Show •'! 88 THE UL\' AND TIIF. TOTF.M. • counselled his people to seck for n renewal of their strength in .slumber. They followed llis counsel without scn1plc, though :lOt without a. .struggle on the part of his brother, and others among them, to share his watch. This he would not permit, alleging his lnability to sleep, but promising, when he felt thus disposed, to de,•olve l1is present duty upon others. Long and sweet was the slumbers which they enjoyed, and unbroken by any alarm. 'When they awakened, the sun had sloped greatly in the western heavens, and but t.wo or three marching hours remained of the day. 'l'hese they employed with earnestness and vigor. The night found them on the edge of a great basin, or lake, thickly fenced in lvith great tl'ecs, and a dense and bewildering thicket. As the day closed, immcn.'!C flocks of wild fowl, gee.iC1 ducks, and cranes, alighted within the waters of the lake, and again did the arquebusiers, with a few shot, provide ample food for the ensuing day. Here they built themselves a ftre, around which tho whole party crouched, a couple only of their number being posted as sentinels on the hill side, from which alone was it reasonable to suppose that an enemy would appear. Again did they sleep without disturb..·mcc, arising with the dawn, again to resume their progress. But before they commenced their journey, a 110lemn council was held as to the courSCl which they should pursue. On this subject the mind of their youthful lender bad already adopted a leading idea. His experience in the country, a.s well as that of his brother, during frequent progresses, had enabled them to form a ycry correct notion of the topography of tho region. Besides, S3,·eral of their followers, were of the first colonies of Ribault, and had accompanied Laudonniere, Ottigny, ~ and boih tho Erlachs on various expeditions among tho Indians. "We arc now upon the great promontory of the Floridian," said .ALPHONSE ll 1£RL.ACH • 389 Alphonse, "a region full of dense thickets and impenetrable swamps. These we should labor to avoid, ns well !lS any approach in the direction of the Spaniards. By pursuing a course inclining to the north-west for a while, we shall be enabled to do so, and this done, gradually steering for the north..east, we JoJhall be enabled to reach the great mountains of the Apalachin. 'fhis is a region where, as we know, the red-men are more mild and gentle, more laborious, with larger fields of grain, and more hospitably given than those which inhabit the coasts. It may be that having sufficiently ascended the country, it will be our policy to leave the mountains on our left, following at their feet, until we shall have passed the tcnitories in the immediate possession of the Spaniard. Then it will be easy to speed downwards to the eastern coasts, where the people always received us with welcome nnd affection. We may thus renew our intercouso with the tribes that skirt the bay of St. Helena-the tribes of Audusta, Quade, 1\Iaccou nnd others of which ye wot. Dut, whctlJCr we take this direction or not, our present course should be ns I have described it. When we have reached the country where the land greatly rises, it will be with us to choose our farther progress. There is gold, ns we know, in nbundance in these mountains of the Apalachian i and it may be our good hap even to attain to the great city of the mountains of which Pot.anou nnd others have spoken, and to which certain travellers have giYen tho nnmo of the Grand Copal, of tho exist~nce of which I nothing doubt. This, they report as but fifteen or hvcnty days' march from St. Helena, north-"estward. It will, follow, if this description be true, that we arc quite lUI near to this place, as to St. Tielcna. Here is adventure nnd a. marvellous discovery open to us, my comrades and we shall, perhaps, in future days, bless tho cruelty of the Spaniards which hath |