122 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ 



on starvation terms by her account of herself and by 

 her looks, in the absence of the family. Altogether we 

 had a most lovely walk, and Pourtales enjoyed it as 

 much as I did. We returned to the ship by half -past 

 nine o'clock with an appetite for breakfast. 



TO MRS. THOMAS G. GARY 



Government House, Barbadoes [December 29] 

 IT happens we are staying with Governor Rawson, 

 ... at one of the most charming of tropical country 

 houses, a wilderness of enormous rooms with balconies 

 and jalousies, and breezes blowing through in every 

 direction. Our host is the most cordial, affectionate 

 man with charming tastes, quite engrossed with his 

 collections, which are arranged in a great central hall 

 of the house with an eye to artistic effect, and with 

 his fernery where one can sit in the shadows and see 

 the ferns kept moist by the play of the fountain on 

 them in a soft mist, and by his gardens where we 

 recognize old Brazilian friends the crimson Poin- 

 settia (the "Star of the North," as they call it here) 

 and palms and blooming garden shrubs which I have 

 never seen since the first South American journey. 

 All this is very pleasant, and we enjoy it while we may. 



At Sea, January 12, 1872 



MY letters will be dull enough, for since we left Bar- 

 badoes there is nothing to record but an uneventful 

 voyage, very rough during the first part for a week or 

 so, but very pleasant and calm for the last five or six 



