24 THE VOYAGE. 



with the pelicans in the Zoological Gardens in the 

 Regent's Park had given me an idea of clumsi- 

 ness, and to see them spooning the fish from out 

 their pond is certainly no indication of being 

 adepts at fishing. I know no prettier sight than 

 to watch the brown pelican fishing in the Bay of 

 Panama ; no awkwardness there, every movement 

 easy and graceful. Soaring high in the lurid at- 

 mosphere, to the eye little more than a tiny dark 

 spot, suddenly down comes the bird as if hurled 

 from the clouds ; plunging in head-first, its sharp 

 beak cleaves the water like a wedge ; a fish seized 

 is at once pouched ; and, rising without any ap- 

 parent effort from the sea, it soars off again, to 

 look out for another chance. Should the fish be 

 missed, an event that does not often happen, the 

 bird sits quietly on the water, and stares round 

 in stupid astonishment. 



We remained several days at Tobago ; and as 

 we rode at anchor in the deep roadstead, I could 

 have easily pitched a penny into the groves of 

 tamarind and orange-trees, that grew on the very 

 beach. From the sea-line to the summit of the 

 island, which is quite a thousand feet in altitude, 

 the hills rise in terraces, but so densely clothed 

 with cocoa-nut, banana, tamarind, orange, and 



