344 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



outlines of St. Kitts, an island named probably for the 

 good giant who bore his lord aloft, rather than for the 

 great navigator who discovered it. Farther yet, and 

 forty miles out of sight, lies St. Eustatius, where the 

 American flag was first saluted by a foreign power ; 

 and a few miles beyond is Saba, a single volcanic 

 peak, ending on the north this chain of volcanic 

 islands. The Virgin Isles, named for St. Ursula and 

 her ten thousand virgins, yet farther lie obscured. 

 Nearer is Antigua, but low and dim. The curtains 

 of mist again drew together, and I prepared to de- 

 scend. 



This mountain was once the home of a bird of ill- 

 omen, (described in former pages,) the Diablotin^ 

 or "Little Devil," which lived in holes in the rocks, 

 and was hunted with dogs by the planters in olden 

 time. Its discovery was my principal motive for 

 ascending the Soufriere ; but I returned without find- 

 ing a trace of its existence. Fatigued, and bathed 

 in perspiration, I arrived at the hot bath, on the bor- 

 ders of the high-woods, and plunged into its limpid 

 waters ; but half an hour's immersion in its tepid cur- 

 rent removed every trace of weariness, and I floated 

 blissfully until the sinking sun warned me to be on 

 the march again. 



Years ago three hundred and sixty-five there 

 landed upon this island of Guadeloupe, Juan Ponce 

 de Leon, noblest and gentlest of all those old con- 

 quisladores, fresh from his discovery of Florida. But 

 two years previously he had sailed in quest of that 

 wonderful fountain of youth, lured on by the tales of 

 the Indians of Cuba. And who knows but that he was 

 still seeking that fountain of rejuvenescence when he 



