25O CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



tions are nowhere seen above ground ; we find only 

 what belongs unquestionably to volcanoes. " 



We would fain connect these mountain-peaks with 

 a submerged continent, a continent that extended over 

 the vast space now occupied by the Caribbean Sea, 

 and into the Atlantic far over toward the coast of 

 Africa. We are ready to believe that the " lost At- 

 lantis" of the ancients is not a myth, that it is not a 

 " fabled island," but had a real existence, and that the 

 land discovered by those Tyrian navigators who sailed 

 beyond the Pillars of Hercules and were driven by a 

 storm many days westward, was part of a continent 

 now beneath the waves — the eastern shore of a region 

 which these mountains once traversed ; for — 



"Who knows the spot where Atlantis sank ? 

 Myths of a lovely drowned continent 

 Homeless drift over waters blank ; 

 What if these reefs were her monument ? 

 Isthmus and cavernous cape may be 

 Her mountain summits escaped from the sea." 



The early geological history of the area occupied 

 by the Caribbean Sea, its coasts and its islands, has 

 excited the attention of many eminent scientific men, 

 and much light has been afforded by the study of the 

 land and marine faunas and of the geological forma- 

 tion of the islands and adjacent coasts. The con- 

 clusions reached by the later scientists are, that the 

 West Indian islands present the remains of a sunken 

 continent. Says that eminent naturalist, Wallace : 

 "The West Indian islands have been long isolated 

 and have varied much in extent. Originally, they 

 probably formed part of Central America, and may 

 have been united with Yucatan and Honduras in one 



