196 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



discover it : around, below, above, the mysterious 

 music floated on the air, but the bird remained unseen. 

 The notes, I am certain, are ventriloquial, for they 

 never indicate the place in which the bird is at rest 

 while uttering them ; a bird may seem at a distance, 

 while in reality he is close at hand. 



Cautiously I plunged into the dense thicket of wild 

 pines and yuccas that grew on a quaking bed of 

 sphagnum, waded into a growth of calumet grass 

 higher than my head, and so, plunging deeply and 

 holding by rotten trees, I got within shot. At the re- 

 port, the bird flew wildly and fell at a distance from 

 where I stood ; a few steps farther, and I found my- 

 self on the edge of a deep gulch over which hung a 

 tangled mass of dead bushes and grass. Toby came to 

 my assistance with his cutlass, but we only succeeded 

 in getting a foot or two farther. I was obliged to leave 

 my first soufriere-bird, Toby remarking, "No use, 

 make um too much bad." We retraced our steps, and 

 when within sight of our cave, discovered some people 

 there ; a nearer approach revealed a party of ladies 

 and gentlemen from the windward sugar-estates, who 

 had come up to the mountain marooning. At my re- 

 quest, they made their headquarters in the cave, and 

 then we all started for the " new crater," reaching it 

 after some tough walking, and plucky riding on the 

 part of the ladies. 



The "new crater" lies east of the "old," and is 

 reached by a narrow trail half circling the huge basin 

 of the latter. The climb from the regular trail to 

 windward is steep and fatiguing, and made worse by 

 over-trailing grass and filamentous yucca, which will 

 get entangled in one's legs spite of endeavors to pre- 



