We had delicious
cucumbers and melons; the maize was already a foot high, the sugar-canes
were prospering, and the pine-apples on the high ground promised us a
rich treat.
We hoped our distant plantations were going on as well, and all set out
one fine morning to Falcon's Nest, to examine the state of things there.
We found my wife's corn-fields were luxuriant in appearance, and for the
most part ready for cutting. There were barley, wheat, oats, beans,
millet, and lentils. We cut such of these as were ready, sufficient to
give us seeds for another year. The richest crop was the maize, which
suited the soil. But there were a quantity of gatherers more eager to
taste these new productions than we were; these were birds of every
kind, from the bustard to the quail, and from the various establishments
they had formed round, it might be presumed they would not leave
much for us.
After our first shock at the sight of these robbers, we used some
measures to lessen the number of them. Fritz unhooded his eagle, and
pointed out the dispersing bustards. The well-trained bird immediately
soared, and pounced on a superb bustard, and laid it at the feet of its
master. The jackal, too, who was a capital pointer, brought to his
master about a dozen little fat quails, which furnished us with an
excellent repast; to which my wife added a liquor of her own invention,
made of the green maize crushed in water, and mingled with the juice of
the sugar-cane; a most agreeable beverage, white as milk, sweet and
refreshing.
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