Usually, the ants have been first afield, and have taken up their abode in
the very heart of the fig, forming a most undesirable mouthful for the
unwary stranger. The wild plums are very good, but to attain perfection,
should be buried for some days previous to eating. I trust these details
will not prove tedious to my readers, but I know from experience the
benefit arising from even a slight knowledge of wild fruits and herbs,
which have often quenched thirst and assuaged hunger when other food was
wanting, and rendered endurable what would otherwise have been a painful
journey.

We camped that night where darkness overtook us, close to a thick scrub
which lined the bank of the river, and we paid for our stupidity in not
selecting a more open spot, for myriads of mosquitoes put sleep out of the
question. The truth was that this belt of scrub had lined the river for
several miles past, and we hoped at every turn to come to a break, but night
set in whilst we were still between the leafy walls.

Daylight came at last, and we pushed onward. An hour took us into a
beautiful black-soil plain of great extent, without a stick of timber, and
well watered, not only by the Macalister, which meandered through its
centre, but by several large lagoons, overgrown with the lovely white
lotus, and crowded with waterfowl. The existence of such a planter's
paradise was totally unsuspected, and we all gazed spell-bound on this
splendid tract of country, possessing every requisite for successful
cultivation, and a water road for the produce. Dunmore was a true prophet
when he exclaimed --

"Before a year is past this will be settled upon."

A fine sugar plantation now stands on "Bellenden Plains," with superb cane