3<X> CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



nificent palms ; the orcodoxas, glories of the moun- 

 tains, add their glorious crowns to that which adorns 

 the head of the empress. For hours I have gazed 

 upon that beautiful creation, as, seated beneath the 

 spreading tamarinds, I have striven to impress upon 

 my memory an ineffaceable image of its loveliness. 

 There is one view that is inexpressibly beautiful, with 

 the snow-white statue sharply outlined against a dis- 

 tant group of mountain-peaks, the Trots Pitons, which 

 are sometimes deep blue, again light green, or par- 

 tially obscured by drifting clouds. Against this back- 

 ground Josephine stands out white as an angel. An- 

 other view, at a little distance, gives a background of 

 tamarinds ; another that of the purple-green mango. 

 From any position it appears a perfect composition ; 

 an inimitable grace pervades the sweep of the royal 

 robes, and the whole suggests a master's hand. 



The statue fronts the sea, but the face is turned a 

 few points south, so that it looks toward a line of hills, 

 five miles away, nestled among which is the valley in 

 which Josephine was born. The sentiment conveyed 

 in the look of wistful yearning in that sweet face, 

 turned longingly to the scenes of her childhood, is as 

 beautiful as truthful. In front is the Caribbean Sea ; 

 the great fort hides the hills from the view of one 

 standing by the statue, but a few steps to the eastward 

 brings them insight. 



Upon a medallion of Napoleon, Josephine rests her 

 left hand. On the pedestal, a bas-relief in bronze 

 represents the famous coronation scene, recalling that 

 extraordinary pageant, when Bonaparte surpassed all 

 preceding coronations in the magnificence of this, 

 summoning the venerable Pius VII. from the Vatican 



