CHAPTER XXIII 



The Attractions of Winter Weather 



THERE is a luxury, no doubt, in life in the 

 tropics ; and when we are shivering in our 

 English damp and fogs, the islands of the South with 

 their balm-scented breezes will flit before us in 

 visions of the earthly Paradise. We are alive to the 

 charms of cloudless skies ; of the checkered shadows 

 under flowery groves in landscapes lit up by floods of 

 sunshine ; of myriads of brilliant stars reflected in 

 sleeping seas landlocked within reefs of coral. We 

 can sympathise with the feelings of the tempest-tossed 

 adventurers who, after beating in the teeth of Atlantic 

 gales into the Unknown, exchanged the decks of their 

 straining caravels for a time of blissful repose in the 

 islands of " the Indies " ; as we can imagine those 

 seductive memories of the Cytherasan Otaheite that 

 incited the mariners of the Bounty to their memorable 

 deed of violence. But the tropical Edens have their 

 shady sides for men who have been bred in more 

 bracing latitudes. It is all very well for the sensuous 

 aborigines to live in each glowing hour and take 

 little heed of the morrow ; to gather their fruits 



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