CHAPTER XXI 



TRINIDAD 



' The sullen passage of thy weary steps 

 Esteem a foil, wherein thou art to set 

 The precious jewel of thy home-return." Shakespeare. 



EARLY on the morning of the first day of November 

 the anchors came up, and we were taken to the 

 sea-wall at the foot of the Avenida and there made fast. 

 We were told that the ship would not sail until noon. 

 An automobile was therefore brought into requisition, 

 and a jolly party, made up of little people and their 

 elders, the latter forming part of the company at the 

 Captain's table, went under the guidance of the writer 

 for a short excursion through the city. We drove out 

 to the end of the Avenida Beira. We were interested 

 in seeing people being conveyed to the top of Sugar Loaf 

 Mountain in a basket-car hanging from a steel cable, 

 stretched from sea-level to the summit, just as people are 

 conveyed to the top of The Rock at Gibraltar. We 

 took a peep at the Botanical Gardens. We traversed 

 various streets of the city, looking at the sights, and 

 finally came back to the Avenida, at the lower end of 

 which we saw the blue and white funnels of our floating 

 hotel. The youngsters having declared themselves to 

 be thirsty, it was proposed that we all should indulge in 

 the mild luxury of caldo da cana. This is simply the 

 freshly expressed juice of sugar-cane. In the fruit-shop 



which we entered, there was a small mountain of canes 



316 



