288 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 



cept the well-lmown hospitality of the present 

 harbour-master, who is particularly attentive to 

 strangers, and furnishes them with a world of in- 

 formation concerning the West Indies. Roseau 

 has seen better days; and you can trace good 

 taste and judgment in the way in which the town 

 has originally been laid out. 



Some years ago it was visited by a succession 

 of misfortunes, which smote it so severely, that it 

 has never recovered its former appearance. A 

 strong French fleet bombarded it ; while a raging 

 fire destroyed its finest buildings. Some time 

 after, an overwhelming flood rolled down the 

 gullies and fissures of the adjacent mountains, 

 and carried all before it. Men, women, and chil- 

 dren, houses, and property, were all swept away 

 by this mighty torrent. The terrible scene was 

 said to beggar all description, and the loss was 

 immense. 



Dominica is famous for a large species of Frog, 

 which the inhabitants keep in readiness to slaugh- 

 ter for the table. In the woods of this island, 

 the large Rhinoceros Beetle is very common; it 

 measures above six inches in length. In the same 

 woods is found the beautiful Humming-bird, the 

 breast and throat of which are of a brilliant 

 changing purple. I have searched for this bird 

 in Brazil, and through the whole of the wilds 

 from the Rio Branco, which is a branch of the 

 Amazons, to the river Paumaron, but never could 

 find it. I was told by a man in the Egyptian- 

 Hall, in Piccadilly, that this humming-bird is 

 found in Mexico ; but upon questioning him more 

 about it, his information seemed to have been 



