EASTWARD HO! 73 



plantation of dear old Doctor Thomas is situated. Here, 



1 would have made a short call on J. P., an old friend of pre- 

 historic days, but he had also gone to chant "The Maple Leaf 

 Forever. ' ' Through Sangre Chiquito on and on, cacao planta- 

 tions innumerable on both sides of the road laden with pods, 

 purple, scarlet, yellow and green. Perched on a hill on the 

 right side of the road, the " Casa de Fandango" of the " Cule- 

 bra," descendant from Spanish hidalgos, and the "doyen" 

 of the district, one who can discourse with equal facility on 

 either the mediseval customs of old Spain, including Toledo 

 blades and culebras, or the manners of modern London and 

 its latest development in taxicabs. Now for the long hills of 

 famed Morne Calabash, and Comparo, where "Louis Phi- 

 lippe" erst protege of the popular Lord Harris, enjoys his well- 

 earned otium cum dignitate. The roads are fairly graded 

 and were surmounted without difficulty, and at the bottom 

 of the long descent from these hills, lay El Recuerdo, about 



2 J miles from Manzanilla beach, my resting place for the 

 night. The house is prettily situated on a ridge, nearly 100 

 ft. above the level of the King's Highway, which has been 

 carefully levelled, round edged, and terraced. 



The " coupd'oeil" that presented itself at dawn nextmorn- 

 ing when I went outside the house, was truly picturesque. 

 Each terrace was lined with a wealth of plants of all kinds, 

 palms, crotons, colei, canna, dracenas, roses, begonias, all too 

 numerous to recapitulate, and G. A. F. assured me that they 

 had all been originally planted from slips just placed in the 

 ground, and not from rooted cuttings, proof positive of the 

 generous nature of the soil. Westward of the house, a lawn 

 had been laid out and planted with grass, and contiguous to 

 this plot is a small hill, on a rise of about 50 ft. from the 

 house, known as Mt. Beverley, on which the proprietor in- 

 tends to build a chalet, where he can pass a week-end far 

 from the madding crowd, and a delightful spot it is. Right 

 above the lofty tree-tops come with an uninterrupted rush, 

 the cool winds of the eastern sea, bringing fresh life from 

 across the Atlantic ; looking towards the North, the opposite 

 slopes are one mass of the flame-coloured Immortel (Eryth- 

 rina umbrosa), while immediately beneath are the engine- 



