74 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 
room, drying houses, and barracks of the plantation. On 
the South, one looks down into rich dells with a perfect 
kaleidoscopic arrangement of the glossy green cacao leaves 
interspersed with the pods of many hues; while on the West, 
Brigand Hill, about which gruesome tales are retailed in the 
quarter about the days of the old buccaneers, especially the 
renowned Blackbeard who is supposed to have opened many 
a dead man’s chest and bottles of rum in the Caves of Bri- 
gand Hill. Further off in the blue-grey Mt. Harris forms an 
appropriate background. But the “piéce de résistance” of 
the picture is a large Pois doux (Inga), which has beenentirely 
monopolized by the cat’s claw vine now in flower, and cover- 
ing the tree with a veritable shower of gold. Nor is bird life 
wanting. Jacamars with their greeny-gold breasts flit from 
bough to bough, brilliant humming birds in all hues from 
flower to flower, the ubiquitous shrike or “qu’est ce qu’il 
dit’, of course, is omnipresent, whilst overhead flocks of 
green parroquets and blue and yellow macaws fly past chat- 
tering and screeching. 
G. A.F. having ventilated his political opinionsand finished 
with wine and wassail, returned from Port of Spain by first 
train, and we made arrangements to go at once to Nariva 
and Mayaro. I must here side-track a moment to narrate a 
rather amusing incident that occurred on his return. I 
- have previously mentioned G, A. F.’s retainer, Harris, who in 
a humble way reminded me of his illustrious prototype, the 
Harris of Mark Twain in “The Tramp Abroad.”’ Those who 
have read that book may remember that America’s cham- 
pion jokist always insisted on Harris experimenting in the 
first place on every new enterprise or undertaking. So it is 
with mine host and his Harris. G. A. F. happens to bea very 
ingenious mechanician, and has with infinite care and labour 
built him an aéroplane. The machine had just been finished, 
and lay on the terrace before the house ready for trial. G. A. 
F., being a very large and heavy man, thought that it would 
be better to have the trial trip conducted by a light weight, 
and called Harris for that purpose. Having shown him how 
to handle the lever and explained the steering gear, he 
ordered him to get into the aéroplane and try to clear the 
