dust arose from the highways, and hung suspended in the air: the ground was
every where broken into clefts; the grass was burnt; hot exhalations issued
from the sides of the mountains, and their rivulets, for the most part
became dry: fiery vapours, during the day, ascended from the plains, and
appeared, at the setting of the sun, like a conflagration. Night brought no
coolness to the heated atmosphere: the orb of the moon seemed of blood,
and, rising in a misty horizon, appeared of supernatural magnitude. The
drooping cattle, on the sides of the hills, stretching out their necks
towards heaven, and panting for air, made the valleys reecho with their
melancholy lowings; even the Caffree, by whom they were led, threw himself
upon the earth, in search of coolness; but the scorching sun had every
where penetrated, and the stifling atmosphere resounded with the buzzing
noise of insects, who sought to allay their thirst in the blood of man and
of animals.

"On one of those sultry nights Virginia, restless and unhappy, arose, then
went again to rest, but could find in no attitude either slumber or repose.
At length she bent her way, by the light of the moon, towards her fountain,
and gazed at its spring, which, notwithstanding the drought, still flowed
like silver threads down the brown sides of the rock. She flung herself
into the basin; its coolness reanimated her spirits, and a thousand
soothing remembrances presented themselves to her mind. She recollected
that in her infancy her mother and Margaret amused themselves by bathing
her with Paul in this very spot; that Paul afterwards, reserving this bath
for her use only, had dug its bed, covered the bottom with sand, and sown
aromatic herbs around the borders. She saw, reflected through the water
upon her naked arms and bosom, the two cocoa trees which were planted at
her birth and that of her brother, and which interwove about her head their
green branches and young fruit. She thought of Paul's friendship, sweeter
than the odours, purer than the waters of the fountains, stronger than the