ARRIVAL AT BARBADOES. 



police at Bridgetown appeared to be thoroughly 

 efficient. As, about nine o'clock, we prepared to go 

 ashore, we found on deck two privates — black men 

 in plain uniform — who seemed to have no difficulty 

 in keeping perfect order amid the crowd of boatmen 

 that swarmed round the big ship. We had already 

 learned the event of the hour — the fall of three inches 

 of rain during the day and night preceding our arrival. 

 This is more than usually falls during the entire 

 month of March, and seemed to be welcomed by the 

 entire population. On landing we encountered a 

 good deal of greasy grey mud in the streets, but all 

 was nearly dry when, after a short excursion, we 

 returned in the afternoon. After a short stay in the 

 town, where there was a little shopping to be done, 

 and where some of my companions indulged in a 

 second breakfast of fried flying-fish, I started with a 

 pleasant party of fellow-travellers to see something 

 of the island. It was arranged that, after a drive of 

 six or seven miles, we should go to luncheon at the 



house of Mr. C , the owner of a sugar-plantation, 



whose brother. Colonel C , was one of our fellow- 

 passengers. We enjoyed the benefit of the recent 

 heavy rain in the comparative coolness of the air — 

 the thermometer scarcely rose above 8o° Fahr. in the 

 shade — and in freedom from dust. 



A small, low island, nearly every acre of which has 

 been reduced to cultivation, cannot offer very much 

 of picturesque beauty ; nevertheless the first peep of 

 the tropics did not fail to present abundant matter of 

 interest. In this part of the world the dry season, 

 now coming to an end, is the winter of vegetation, 



