178 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



several heavy squalls that careened our vessel alarm- 

 ingly. 



At daylight I awoke, dreaming of coffee and lime 

 groves, for I recognized in the land-breeze that came 

 to us the odor of spices and the freshness of earth, 

 and knew that we were under the lee of Dominica. 

 We were off Prince Rupert's Bay — a secure harbor 

 for a fleet — with the town of Prince Rupert's, hidden 

 in cocoa palms, lying in a fever-stricken valley. We 

 were again becalmed, and night found us just entering 

 the bay of Roseau, with a sea dashing over the sea- 

 wall and jetty too violently to allow us to land. 



" We expect you at your old quarters," wrote my 

 good friend William Stedman ; and one of his do- 

 mestics shouldered my trunk and conveyed it to his 

 hospitable mansion. 



What a delight it was to be back among these gen- 

 erous people ! Whatever the characteristics of English 

 or Scotch at home, they soon acquire, in the West 

 Indies, a feeling for a stranger fellow-man that is 

 wondrous kind. It seemed like getting home again, 

 this return to Dominica after a few months' absence, 

 and I would gladly have remained among my friends 

 of the coast ; I was soon in the mountains, however, 

 searching for some birds of which I had heard, and 

 was rewarded by the discovery of several new varieties. 



Returning to the coast after ten days' absence, I 

 was caught in a thunder-gust, the rain coming from 

 three ways at once, out of three converging gorges ; 

 the path was flooded in a few minutes, and the river 

 roaring loudly and seething like a caldron. The 

 storm passed and hurried on over the town, drench- 

 ing it, and swept out over the sea, where it remained 



