322 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



ASCENT OF THE GUADELOUPE SOUFRIERE. 



POINT A PITRE. — THE RIVIERE SALEE. — USINES. — EARTH- 

 QUAKE, FIRE AND HURRICANE. — A LIVING BULWARK. — THE 

 CARAVELS OF COLUMBUS. — OUR LADY OF GUADELOUPE. — 

 THE CARIBS. — BASSE TERRE. — LE PERE LABAT. — ORPHANS. 



— THE CHOLERA PLAGUE. — A PERMIS DE CHASSE. — MIXED. 



— A HORSE WITH POINTS. — GOVERNMENT SQUARE. — THE CON- 

 VENT. — A SUMMER RETREAT. — MATOUBA. — MY THATCHED 

 HUT. — DOCTOR COLARDEAU. — THE COOLIE. — THE COFFEE 

 PLANTATION. — FIRST COFFEE IN THE WEST INDIES. — ITS CUL- 

 TIVATION. — TEMPERATURE OF THE COFFEE REGION. — BLOS- 

 SOMS AND FRUIT. — PICKING AND PREPARING. — THE HIGH 

 WOODS. — THEIR GRANDEUR. — GIANT TREES. — HUGE BUT- 

 TRESSES. — LIANAS, ROPES AND CABLES. EPIPHYTES AND 



PARASITES. — AERIAL GARDENS. — THE SULPHUR STREAM. — 

 THE CONE. — THE SUMMIT. — THE PORTAL. — BLASTS OF HOT 

 AIR. — NATURE'S ARCANA. — SULPHUR CRYSTALS. — ERUP- 

 TIONS. — A GRAND VIEW. — IMPENETRABLE FORESTS. — AN 

 EXTINCT BIRD. — JUAN PONCE DE LEON. — THE FOUNTAIN OF 

 YOUTH. — THE DESCENT INTO GLOOM. 



IT was in the height of the "hurricane season," in 

 August, that I left Isle of Martinique, the birth- 

 place of Josephine, for Guadeloupe. At four o'clock, 

 one calm morning, we steamed into the harbor of Point 

 a Pitre, Guadeloupe's metropolis, and fired a gun. It 

 was very dark ; only the light-house lamp sent its 

 gleam abroad ; but in an hour the water about us was 

 alive with boats. 



