110 JUNGLE PEACE 



mirable collection of old works. I walked slowly 

 back, thinking of the strange contrast between 

 what I had seen and the unlovely, commercial- 

 ized buildings along the street. I was startled 

 from my reverie by the challenge of the sentry, 

 and for a moment could not think what to an- 

 swer. I had well-nigh forgotten my own per- 

 sonality in the vividness of the stately early 

 Victorian atmosphere. 



Long after the Colony House dog had noisily 

 announced the beginning of his nocturnal feast, 

 I lay behind my net poring over the Memoirs 

 of the Lady Hester Stanhope, as related by her- 

 self in conversations with her physician, com- 

 prising her opinions and anecdotes of some most 

 remarkable persons, and I came to the conclu- 

 sion that by far the most remarkable of them all 

 was Lady Hester herself. 



Berbice, we were told by residents elsewhere, 

 was behind the times. I found it up to date, 

 colonially speaking, and, indeed, possessing 

 certain ideas and ideals which might advan- 

 tageously be dispersed throughout the colony. 

 But New Amsterdam, with all its commercial 

 hardness of outline and sordid back streets, 

 flashed out in strangely atavistic touches now and 



