OG CAUKA. 



that tliey could Lutli go and stay, and were as well able to 

 get to r>lanchisseiise as the horses beside which they walked. 



The ward of Blanchissense, on the north coast, whither we 

 were bound, was of old, I understand, called Blanchi Sali, or 

 something to that effect, signif}'ing the white cliffs. The 

 French settlers degraded the name to its present form, and 

 that so hopelessly, that the other day an old Negress in Port 

 of Spain puzzled the officer of Crown praperty by informing 

 him that she wanted to buy " a caiTe in what you call de 

 washerwoman'^." It had been described to me as possibly 

 the remotest, loneliest, and unhealthiest spot in her Majesty's 

 tropical dominions. 'No white man can live there for more 

 than two or three years without ruin ta hi& health. In spite 

 of the perpetual trade-wind, and the steepness of the iiill-sides, 

 malaria han^js for ever at the mouth of each little mountain 

 torrent, and crawls up inland to leeward to a considerable 

 height above the sea. 



But we did not intend to stay there long enaugh to catch 

 fever and ague. We had plenty of quinine with us ; and 

 cheerily we went up the valley of Caura, first over the great 

 boulder and pebble ridges, not bare Like those of the Moor of 

 Dinnet, or other Dee-side stone heap, but clothed with cane- 

 pieces and richest rastrajo copses; and then entered the 

 narrow gorse, which we had to follow into the heart of the 

 hills, as our leader, taking one parting look at the broad 



