had taken away, proceeded on their journey to the town. It gave us pain to obſerve that theſe miſerable beings were obliged to march forward, without ever halting; though the ſteep deſcent of the mountain muſt have been extremely fatiguing.
The mountains in the neighbourhood of the town ſerve as a place of refuge for ſlaves, whom the barbarous treatment they endure compels to attempt their eſcape. Driven by hunger they then frequently approach, under cover of the night, to habitations, in order to procure by theft their ſcanty means of ſubſiſtence. That they prefer ſuch a miſerable ſtate of exiſtence to remaining with their maſters, proves how inhuman the treatment muſt be to which they are expoſed. It muſt be very dangerous to truſt one's ſelf, alone and unarmed, amongſt the clefts of the rocks, where theſe wretches, driven by deſpair, ſhut themſelves from the ſight of the ſun, in order to eſcape from ſlavery.
Some drops of water, that ooze at this height from fiſſures between the beds of micaceous ſchiſtus, afford the traveller means of quenching his thirſt.
The high borders of the cleft, through which we were aſcending, were ornamented with various beautiful ſpecies of lilacs: we obſerved parti-
cularly
