WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 313 



and magnificent island of Martinico. St. Pierre, its 

 capital, is a fine town, and possesses every comfort. 

 The inhabitants seem to pay considerable attention to 

 the cultivation of the tropical fruits. A stream of water 

 runs down the streets with great rapidity, producing a 

 pleasing effect as you pass along. 



Here I had an opportunity of examining a Cuckoo, 

 which had just been shot. It was exactly the same as 

 the Metallic Cuckoo in Wilson's " Ornithology." They 

 told me it is a migratory bird in Martinico. It probably 

 repairs to this island after its departure from the United 

 States. 



At a little distance from Martinico, the celebrated 

 Diamond Rock rises in insulated majesty out of the 

 sea. It was fortified during the last war with France, 

 and bravely defended by an English captain. 



lu a few hours from Martinico, you are at St. Lucie, 

 whose rough and towering mountains fill you with sub- 

 lime ideas, as you approach its rocky shore. The town 

 Castries is quite embayed. It was literally blown to 

 pieces by the fatal hurricane, in which the unfortunate 

 governor and his lady lost their lives. Its present for- 

 lorn and gloomy appearance, and the grass which is grown 

 up in the streets, too plainly show that its hour of joy is 

 passed away ; and that it is in mourning, as it were, with 

 the rest of the British West Indies. 



From St. Lucie, I proceeded to Barbadoes in quest of a 

 conveyance to the island of Trinidad. 



Near Bridgetown, the capital of Barbadoes, I saw the 

 metallic cuckoo, already alluded to. 



Barbadoes is no longer the merry island it was when I 

 visited it some years ago : 



"Infelix habitum, teinporis hujus habet." 



