82 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



and bare, to which the continual trade-winds have 

 given a color, gray and weather-beaten. Palm and 

 plantain crop out on the hillsides beyond, and the 

 former thrusts its head up from the river ravines be- 

 low. Behind it, hid by the swell of the knoll, are the 

 graves — not many, yet not few, for so small a settle- 

 ment — simply raised hillocks of earth ; and some 

 have upon them a few flowers, which seem to be 

 occasionally renewed. Upon the graves, all the trees 

 have fallen prostrate, or have been felled, to cover 

 them ; with limbs stretched at the foot of the cross. 

 I have never been in a cemetery that so appealed to 

 my feelings as this. All is still, and solitude reigns. 



From the slight depression of the surface here, 

 nothing is seen evincing human occupancy of the 

 valley, until the foot of the cross is reached. Many 

 an evening, during my six weeks' stay in that lonely 

 valley, have I climbed to the base of the cross and sat 

 there enjoying the silence and solitude. From that 

 point one overlooks the lower half of the valley, which 

 is shut in on three sides by high hills covered with 

 forest, abandoned fields, and provision grounds, alter- 

 nating. Beneath, the most prominent object is a rude 

 chapel, a loosely-built structure, to which comes 

 monthly a lusty priest, to care for the souls and the 

 silver of the people. Lower still, are the four or five 

 thatched huts comprising the village of Salibia ; but 

 one of these is occupied, and the cocoa palms rustle 

 their leaves in a desolate place ; and their rustling, 

 with the eternal roar of the ocean, is the only sound 

 heard from morning to night. 



There are sea-grapes there in perfumed bloom, 

 among the satin leaves of which dart humming-birds, 



