MY FIRST CAMP. 25 



CHAPTER III. 



IN AND ABOUT MY FIRST CAMP. 



THE CARIBBEAN SEA, ITS DECEPTIVE APPEARANCE AND PLA- 

 CIDITY. — MY NEIGHBORS, THE MOUNTAINEERS, THEIR SAY- 

 INGS AND WISE SAWS. — A FRENCH MISSIONARY NEEDED. — 

 THE IGUANA AND ITS FLESH. — GLIMPSES OF MRS. GRUNDY. — 

 A WORK OF ART. — CRUISING FOR CRUSTACEANS. — THE 

 "GRIVES." — MARIE. — LONG-TAILED DECAPODS. — " WHERE 

 ' CRABS GROW." — "WAIT THERE, MONSIEUR." — ASTONISHED. 

 — SHOCKED. — THE RIVER. — DRENCHED. — A NAIAD. — A VIC- 

 TIM TO SCIENCE. — FOOD FOR THE GODS. 



THE pictures seen from my cabin door are beau- 

 tiful, but all suggest alike the sea. Detached 

 peaks rise to the eastward and southward, connected 

 by a continuous chain of hills to the sea. Their line 

 is irregular, and very shapely are those mountain- 

 peaks, clothed with verdure to their summits. The 

 broken slope in front of my cabin slants rapidly to 

 the precipice that borders the valley containing the 

 river which hastens to the sea. Outlined against its 

 silvery surface are dark green mountains ; a loosely 

 branched tree stands out against it as against the sky ; 

 palms, with gracefully spreading foliage, show dark 

 against it. It spreads so far and wide, and seems to 

 climb so high to meet the sky, that it is hardly pos- 

 sible to tell where sea leaves oft' and sky begins. 

 Every day I am puzzled to ascertain the horizon line. 



