82 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of dressed mineral was grayish "brown, but many lumps were ob- 

 served of chocolate and ferruginous shades, and many more mot- 

 tled and streaked with all three ; the light-colored variety some- 

 times shaded to milk-white. The appearance was generally earthy, 

 except with the white variety, which was translucent and resem- 

 bled flint or opal. The structure was partially oolitic, with many 

 minute cavities, which were usually lined with a white coating. 

 The grayish-brown and chocolate varieties were also frequently 

 amygdaloidal, and the latter kind yielded a few specimens which 

 were beautifully inlaid with ovoidal forms as large as coffee 

 grains, of a lighter brown than the surrounding mass. Most of 

 the phosphate was amorphous; but occasionally the surfaces of 

 hollows or cavities in the pockets and of crevices or seams in the 

 gangue would be covered with the opal-like variety in botryoidal 

 forms of varying sizes, from that of a mustard seed to that of a 

 currant. 



The composition of the mineral is that of a hydrated phosphate 

 of aluminum and iron, with a variable amount of silica and other 

 insoluble matter. The commercial article was guaranteed to con- 

 tain thirty-five per cent of phosphoric anhydride, while the purest 

 specimens yielded about forty-two per cent. Scarcely more than 

 a trace of lime has been found in any specimen. 



By the time at which we had concluded our examination of the 

 mine the sun had become very hot, and we returned to the house, 

 where we spent the middle of the day in the shade of the veranda. 

 Perched up there, six hundred feet above the sea, with the water 

 almost beneath us, we enjoyed a view as novel as it was interest- 

 ing. The air seemed cool, although out on the rocks the heat was 

 scorching in its intensity. The sea, so far below us, looked like a 

 lake just rippled by the breeze. To the east could be seen the low, 

 cloudlike outline of Antigua. Directly in front of us, to the south, 

 lay Montserrat, its nearest headland seeming but a few miles 

 away, and having a white ledge near the sea which resembled the 

 sail of a sloop rounding the point. Once a cloud spun down from 

 the sky in the form of a funnel, and, touching the sea, formed for 

 an instant a waterspout, but there was not enough volume to last. 

 A steamship plowed its way toward Montserrat, and to us, in our 

 rocky eyrie, appeared like a toy. The sea was the same, and yet 

 diiferent every minute. 



On the rocks about the house were also objects to attract the 

 attention. Lizards, both brown and green, ran over the ledges 

 and among the cactus, which grew in large masses on the slope 

 below the veranda, while above them might almost always be seen 

 a tiny hawk hovering in the air, looking very much like a martin 

 with its dark-blue back and white belly, but betraying its identity 

 by its movements. Bright green humming birds poised them- 



