I4O CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



stumps of hollow trees, clefts of rocks, and from holes 

 which they dig for themselves in the earth. 



The sea is their destination, and here they cast their 

 spawn. For this purpose, no sooner has the crab 

 reached the shore than it eagerly goes to the edge of 

 the water and lets the waves wash over its body to 

 wash off the spawn. The eggs are hatched under 

 the sand, and soon after, millions of the new-born 

 crabs are seen quitting the shore, and slowly traveling 

 up the mountains. In going down, they turn neither 

 to right nor left ; even if they meet a house, they will 

 attempt to scale it. The procession sets forward with 

 the precision of an army. It is commonly divided 

 into battalions, with the strongest in front. The night 

 is their chief time of traveling, but if it rains by day, 

 they improve that occasion. When the sun shines, 

 they make a universal halt till evening. In the season 

 of moulting, they retire to their burrows to cast their 

 shells, filling them with grass and leaves. 



My native boy's account of their habits agreed sub- 

 stantially with this, and he added, moreover, that if 

 there was any one thing better than another, it was the 

 flesh of these same crabs ; a statement I can cheerfully 

 verify, as that night we feasted on crab on the half- 

 shell, crabs' claws, crab fricasseed and crab roasted. 



As the camp we had left was at a good height above 

 the sea-coast, we were now in the upper regions of the 

 mountains. The vegetation had already changed to 

 a great extent and had more of an Alpine character. 

 As we walked along we could now and then catch 

 glimpses of the sea at a distance, and obtain a view 

 of the nearer sea of trees, spread over the fair valleys 

 below us. In the afternoon we were painfully scaling 



