288 WANDERINGS IN 



FOURTH tn at i t should happen. The world at lame would 



JOURNEY. 



"suffer by it. For ages yet to come, may this 

 great commonwealth continue to be the United 

 States of North America. 



The sun was now within a week or two of 

 passing into the southern hemisphere, and the 

 mornings and evenings were too cold to be 



Embarks comfortable. I embarked for the island of An- 

 tigua, with the intention of calling at the different 

 islands in the Caribbean sea, on my way once 

 more towards the wilds of Guiana. 



We were thirty days in making Antigua, and 

 thanked Providence for ordering us so long a 

 passage. A tremendous gale of wind, approach- 

 ing to a hurricane, had done much damage in the 

 West Indies. Had our passage been of ordinary 

 length, we should inevitably have been caught 

 in the gale. 



st John's. St. John's is the capital of Antigua. In better 

 times it may have had its gaieties and amuse- 

 ments. At present it appears sad and woe- 

 begone. The houses, which are chiefly of wood, 

 seem as if they have not had a coat of paint for 

 many years ; the streets are uneven and ill-paved ; 

 and as the stranger wanders through them, he 

 might fancy that they would afford a congenial 

 promenade to the man who is about to take his 

 last leave of surrounding worldly misery, before 

 he hangs himself. There had been no rain for 

 some time, so that the parched and barren 



