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either the gum-arabic-tree, the guava, the banyan, or the ipicac, 

 or the pimento, or the spice, the cinnamon, the pepper, the caper, 

 the castor-oil, or in short any one of half the plants which stock 

 our drug or grocery shops. One day I noticed an onion-like 

 looking plant, with somewhat curious leaves, and asked its name. 

 It turned out to be my old acquaintance ' squills,' of syrup fame. 



" The crowning glory of Nassau is her unrivalled bay, with its 

 enchantingly crystal clear water. Many a pleasant day have I 

 passed sailing round the pretty shores of this pleasant island. 

 We usually had for ' captain ' a certain remarkable darkie, by 

 name ' Captain ' Sampson Stump, one of those sable worthies 

 you read about, full of devilry, and withal shrewd and witty, and 

 a capital sailor. The Cap'en is reputed wealthy, for he is a great 

 favourite with the visitors, and on Sundays he is considered by the 

 inhabitants of Grant Town the greatest ' dissentin' minister ' in 

 the island. Amongst the natural wonders the Cap'en took us to 

 see was the ' sea garden.' I wish Victor Hugo could behold it, for 

 then he could paint in his vivid language a pendant to his sea 

 monster, the devil-fish of the ' Toilers of the Sea ' ; but this time 

 he would show us the beautiful instead of the hideous — the para- 

 dise of the sea, and not its hell. They give you a box with a 

 glass bottom to it to look through, which you put over the side 

 of the boat and dip beneath the surface of the waves. Lo ! you 

 behold the garden of the sea-nymphs, the home of Aphrodite, 

 Beneath you, seen through the pale, pellucid waters of this vast 

 aquarium, is a lovely garden, full of every imaginable delicate- 

 tinted sea-flora. Some are pale pink, others are of light yellow, 

 and some brown as leaves in autumn, surrounding the vivid purple 

 and scarlet sea anemones, which cling to the summits of beds of 

 pearly coral. Here purple sea-fans wave gently to and fro. Here 

 are groves of wonderful sponges, and here beds of marine flowers 

 of all kinds and shapes. Fish as brilliant as humming-birds — red, 

 blue, and metallic green and orange — peep in and out knowingly 

 of the branches of this strange submarine vegetation, which is 

 crossed and re-crossed in all directions by pathways of the soft 

 and silver gravel. Nothing more fascinating, more fairylike, can 

 be well imagined. We expect at any moment to see Venus or 



