24 THE VOYAGE. 
with the pelicans in the Zoological Gardens in the 
Regent’s Park had given me an idea of clumsi- 
ness, and to see them spooning the fish from out 
their pond is certainly no indication of being 
adepts at fishing. I know no prettier sight than 
to watch the brown pelican fishing in the Bay of 
Panama ; no awkwardness there, every movement 
easy and graceful. Soaring high in the lurid at- 
mosphere, to the eye little more than a tiny dark 
spot, suddenly down comes the bird as if hurled 
from the clouds; plunging in head-first, its sharp 
beak cleaves the water like a wedge; a fish seized 
is at once pouched; and, rising without any ap- 
parent effort from the sea, it soars off again, to 
look out for another chance. Should the fish be 
missed, an event that does not often happen, the 
bird sits quietly on the water, and stares round 
in stupid astonishment. 
We remained several days at Tobago; and as 
we rode at anchor in the deep roadstead, I could 
have easily pitched a penny into the groves of 
tamarind and orange-trees, that grew on the very 
beach. From the sea-line to the summit of the 
island, which is quite a thousand feet in altitude, 
the hills rise in terraces, but so densely clothed 
- with cocoa-nut, banana, tamarind, orange, and 
pci No 
