322 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

 ASCENT OF THE GUADELOUPE SOUFRIERE. 



POINT A PITRE. THE RIVIERE SALEE. USINES. EARTH- 

 QUAKE, FIRE AND HURRICANE. A LIVING BULWARK. THE 

 CARAVELS OF COLUMBUS. OUR LADY OF GUADELOUPE. 

 THE CARIBS. BASSE TERRE. LE PERE LABAT. ORPHANS. 



THE CHOLERA PLAGUE. A PERMIS DE CHASSE. MIXED. 



A HORSE WITH POINTS. GOVERNMENT SQUARE. THE CON- 

 VENT. A SUMMER RETREAT. MATOUBA. MY THATCHED 

 HUT. DOCTOR COLARDEAU. THE COOLIE. THE COFFEE 

 PLANTATION. FIRST COFFEE IN THE WEST INDIES. ITS CUL- 

 TIVATION. TEMPERATURE OF THE COFFEE REGION. BLOS- 

 SOMS AND FRUIT. PICKING AND PREPARING. THE HIGH 

 WOODS. THEIR GRANDEUR. GIANT TREES. HUGE BUT- 

 TRESSES. LIANAS, ROPES AND CABLES. EPIPHYTES AND 

 PARASITES. AERIAL GARDENS. THE SULPHUR STREAM. 

 THE CONE. THE SUMMIT. THE PORTAL. BLASTS OF HOT 

 AIR. NATURE'S ARCANA. SULPHUR CRYSTALS. ERUP- 

 TIONS. A GRAND VIEW. IMPENETRABLE FORESTS. AN 

 EXTINCT BIRD. JUAN PONCE DE LEON. THE FOUNTAIN OF 

 YOUTH. THE DESCENT INTO GLOOM. 



IT was in the height of the w hurricane season," in 

 August, that I left Isle of Martinique, the birth- 

 place of Josephine, for Guadeloupe. At four o'clock, 

 one calm morning, we steamed into the harbor of Point 

 & Pitre, Guadeloupe's metropolis, and fired a gun. It 

 was very dark ; only the light-house lamp sent its 

 gleam abroad ; but in an hour the water about us was 

 alive with boats. 



