Il6 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



tired and thirsty. Rapidly we descended, as fast as 

 loosened rocks and earth furrowed by the rains would 

 allow us, to a shady valley, where a foaming brook 

 came down to join the large river that entered the sea 

 two miles below. But another sound greeted our 

 ears, other than that of water laughing over mossy 

 stones ; it was the rumbling of loosened rocks and 

 rolling of stones caused by the hand of man. We 

 stopped to listen, and then Meyong went on ahead. 

 He beckoned and I followed, to see, as I peered over 

 the bank, a naked Indian running about in and out 

 of the brook ; a magnificent man, with brawny shoul- 

 ders and long black hair. Just ahead of him was a 

 woman, his squaw, clad in a ragged skirt. Both 

 were intently searching beneath the stones for some 

 object, the man overturning large rocks in his way. 



What was this thing they seemed so eager to find ? 

 It was not gold, for they do not know it in its virgin 

 state. It was something more valuable to them, for 

 present needs, a shell-fish for their breakfast and 

 supper. The crayfish, the fresh-water lobster, makes 

 its home beneath the rocks of the mountain streams. 

 Being so excellent, it is much sought by these people, 

 who have no guns, no bows nor arrows, and few dogs 

 with which to hunt. It is their chief reliance when the 

 seas are heavy and they cannot go out in their canoes 

 to fish. 



Pressing too near the bank, I dislodged a pebble 

 which fell with a splash into the stream. Hardly had 

 it touched the water, when, with a wild cry of alarm, 

 the startled Indians darted into the forest ; we could 

 hear them as they ran in their fear, for some minutes. 

 At the river we stopped to lunch and drink its pure 



