264 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



In this island there are two zones of vegetation and 

 of animal life, that of the coast and that of the moun- 

 tains. The shore lines are broken ; precipitous cliffs 

 shoot up out of the sea and huge rocks stand out gray 

 and bare, alternated by lovely bays. A vegetation of 

 low growth covers the hills along the shore, affording 

 shelter for few birds ; where a dense growth of vines, 

 or a flowering shrub occurs, a cactus, or a frangi- 

 panni, there may be found the humming-birds. The 

 second zone, or belt, comprises that portion contain- 

 ing the most luxuriant vegetation and the greatest 

 variety of tropical forms. It may be roughly esti- 

 mated as lying between one thousand and twenty-five 

 hundred feet above the sea. Here are nearly all the 

 birds of the lowland in profusion and many species 

 not found below. To the mountains, then, I must go, 

 if I would secure new birds or seek to slay a monkey. 



Leaving the hot road that wound alone the shore, 

 I took another, beneath volcanic cliffs, rode beneath 

 rustling palm-trees and out upon a river bank, where 

 were congregated the washerwomen of the town. 

 Cool were they in attire and in effrontery, as they 

 waded knee-deep the shallows of the stream, reclined 

 upon the rocks, or sat chatting upon the banks, with 

 no raiment save a handkerchief wrapped about the 

 loins. Old women, young women, girls and boys, and 

 little "pick'nees" waded the stream, most of them 

 naked as the rocks the river laved. Black were they 

 as those traditional crows, and no raven's wing could 

 be glossier than their shining skins. 



Half-way to the mountain lake is the little hamlet 

 of Constantine, where, on a narrow ridge between 

 two deep valleys, a little chapel overlooks other val- 



