36 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
that be have decided otherwise, much to the discomfort of 
United States citizens who wish to visit these ports of the na- 
tional domain. Charlotte Amalia, the port of St. Thomas, has 
the harbor and town well lighted at night, while the port of 
Frederiksted, St. Croix, is plunged in darkness, constituting a 
grave peril to navigation, especially in thick eather; a condi- 
tion which caused grave danger when the “‘ Parima’’ overran the 
port at St. Kitts on a thick squally night the year before, when I 
was returning from the Barbados. Of course it may be said 
that St. Croix has no land-locked harbor, and its port is more 
open to attack on that account, but I very much doubt if the 
danger to the town of reasonable port lights is as great as the 
danger of no lights to vessels trying to make the port at night. 
Moreover, the towns along the coast are not rendered less liable 
to attack by this procedure. Any U-boat commander could spot 
the desired objective during the day with perfect impunity 
and shell it without any trouble whatever either by day or by 
night. The British admiralty seems to have at last come to the 
conclusion that the ports should be lighted. In 1917 they were 
rigidly darkened, but Governor Best of Antigua informed me 
that the order had recently been rescinded or greatly modified. 
Quite a number of our party went ashore at Frederiksted, where 
we secured automobiles and took a drive over to Christiansted 
on. the opposite side of the island. The roads were excellent and 
the novelty of bowling along between rows of stately palms and 
through great sugar estates, with many beautiful vistas of 
tropical valleys between hills that would be called mountains at 
home, with a glimpse of the blue sea beyond, was hugely appre 
ciated by the Iowa folk. Christiansted is a quaint old town, 
greatly reminding one of the Moorish coast villages. In many 
eases the houses of the wealthier residents are occupied by 
shops or business offices below, the family living quarters being 
in the second story. Much rare old furniture, mostly mahog- 
any, is still to be found in such places, and I met a Jewish lady 
who claims to make big money by searching out such treasures 
and buying them for a comparatively small sum to sell to con- 
noiseurs in the United States. There are extensive coral reefs 
on the eastern side of the island that would doubtless be fine 
collecting ground for littoral and shallow water forms. 
