QUEST OF THE FIREBIRDS 247 



will be transformed over the course of years from a place of 

 creeping desolation to a pleasant peaceful tropical village. For 

 these brothers are putting something more than mere hours 

 of labor into their industry and their island; they are installing 

 a sense of pride and, I believe, a portion of affection into their 

 speck of sea-girdled earth. I should like to write more about 

 the events leading to the uprising and the causes in back of it, 

 for they are an intricate and absorbing story, but Jim Erick- 

 son has asked me not to. He says there is no sense in reviving 

 old hurts or recalling events that had best be forgotten. I re- 

 spect his wishes and admire his forbearance. 



There was one disappointment. Aiy old hut had completely 

 crumbled to pieces and could no longer be used. Instead I took 

 up residence on the outer edge of the settlement where I ac- 

 quired a two-room house in fair state of repair for the magnifi- 

 cent sum of 1 3. 00 a month. For an additional $3.00 I acquired 

 the services of Celestina, a middle-aged black woman who did 

 my wash and prepared my meals but whose most interesting 

 accompHshment was singing "La Cucaracha," a result of sev- 

 eral amazing years in Mexico. She did this with such great 

 spirit and inflection of tone that I would have willingly have 

 retained her for the sake of hearing her sing. 



Although she did her best in the culinary arts, her meals 

 were distinctly Inaguan and, as such, highly indigestible. For- 

 tunately I received a reprieve now and then from her kindly 

 attentions by dinner invitations from the Ericksons and a 

 number from the commissioner. The Erickson dinners were 

 always a riot of fun and the evenings spent with the commis- 

 sioner in the tiny residency will long remain with me as 

 among the most pleasant I can remember. Over our cups of 

 English tea we swapped yams and compared notes late into 

 the night while outside in the dark the land crabs clattered 

 and banged over the residency yard. England produces, in 



