IO CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



government house in a garden of flowers ; and near, 

 the court-house, of stone, yellow and low. Opposite, 

 on a bluff overlooking the sea, is the public garden, 

 neatly enclosed, tastefully ornamented ; a few large 

 trees, many roses, humming-birds, butterflies, and a 

 grand view of the sea. The road leads by a broad 

 green savane, near which is a ruined cemetery, down 

 between long rows of lowly cabins, its bed green and 

 grassy, within a stone's throw of the surf on the pebbly- 

 beach. 



This is Roseau, which I left one March morning 

 for the mountains. Early came the women, who were 

 sent by a kind friend to carry my luggage : heavy 

 boxes and bales they had engaged to carry to the 

 mountains on their heads. It was all the way as- 

 cending, but they faithfully performed their duties, 

 nor once complained. Astride an island colt, the 

 loan of another friend, and accompanied by still 

 another, whom I had met a few days before, I left 

 behind me the town, and set my face to the moun- 

 tains. 



Down the street, past the jail, across the river over 

 an excellent bridge, under the cliffs of St. Aromant, 

 into the banana and citron groves that lie at the moun- 

 tain's base ; then up higher and higher, the path grow- 

 ing rocky and slippery, past the lovely valley of 

 Shawford, where the house of my friend Stedman, 

 built upon a small plateau, surrounded by hills, em- 

 bowered in limes and plantains, overlooks a tropical 

 garden. A mile above, we entered a deep ravine, 

 where are the first perfect tree-ferns on the trail ; the 

 gorge is filled with them, and the banks along the 

 path are covered with smaller ones, infinitely beautiful. 



