CARIBBEAN EXPEDITION, 1956 — SCHMITT 449 



spend a lot of time here. The botanist and a helper from the crew 

 ascended the little islet of Petit Batteau to its high point of only 140 

 feet. Petit Batteau is a rough island composed largely of stony 

 debris, covered by a thick and thorny growth of low shrubs and cacti. 

 While the plants of this area represent widespread and common ele- 

 ments of the Antillean flora, the region is so seldom visited by botan- 

 ists that it seemed worthwhile to obtain representative specimens of 

 even well-known plants. Diving inside the reef, Captain Nicholson 

 brought us our first living crinoid of the trip. It was with sincere 

 regret that we left this beautiful anchorage for Mustique on the way 

 to St. Lucia by way of Bequia. Mustique is one of the few remaining 

 "feudal" holdings among the islands. It has been in the hands of one 

 family from the time of the original grant to the present day, and on 

 it is a village of several hundred of the descendants of the original 

 slave laborers on its plantations, who today work as tenants for the 

 owners of the island, whose responsibility they are for life. As one 

 might say, they are an integral part of the land — they neither know 

 nor have any other home. Seining was attempted off one of the better 

 looking beaches, but the effort was not worthwhile because the many 

 scattered coral heads made it impossible successfully to complete a 

 single haul. Skin diving saved the day for us, as cracked-up coral 

 clumps and the sponges so retrieved were alive with small animals of 

 all kinds. 



A 4-hour run brought us to Bequia. Its harbor, Admiralty Bay, is 

 a quiet, out-of-the-way, withal very beautiful place, unspoiled by 

 tourists except for the few who may go there for no more than a dip 

 in the sea, a sunning on the beach, and a sleep in the shade. It was 

 there that we saw some of the neatest sailing ever. It is marvelous 

 how some of the stolid looking island schooners, with nothing but 

 their sails to power them, can make their anchorages in a light breeze 

 among other craft as easily as the best of motor sailers. True enough, 

 it takes them a bit longer to tack back and forth across the bay, but 

 the consummate skill and the certitude with which it is accomplished 

 are a thrill to watch. We witnessed just such a performance during 

 the heavily overcast afternoon that we were in Bequia; then, as the 

 schooner came to anchor, the sun broke through the clouds to high- 

 light the previously shaded white sails, a brilliantly scarlet hull 

 against the azure sea, the green hills in back, and the white-flecked blue 

 sky above. It was a seacape unsurpassed. 



In passing on the way to Castries, St. Lucia, we stopped briefly at 

 Soufriere. Through intermittent showers we beheld one of the most 

 impressive harbor entrances in all the Lesser Antilles, guarded as it is 

 to the east by the Pitons, Petit and Gros. Here, warm sulfur baths 

 were enjoyed. History has it that the Empress Josephine spent her 



