290 WANDERINGS IN 



FOURTH Nearly midway, betwixt Guadaloupe and 



JOURNEY. . 



Dominica, you descry the Saintes. Though high, 



and bold, and rocky, they have still a diminutive 

 appearance when compared with their two gigan- 

 tic neighbours. You just see Marigalante to 

 windward of them, some leagues off, about a 

 yard high in the horizon. 

 island of Dominica is majestic in high and rugged moun- 



Dominica. . . MI , ,11 



tains. As you sail along it, you cannot help 

 admiring its beautiful coffee plantations, in places 

 so abrupt and steep, that you would pronounce 

 Roseau, them almost inaccessible. Roseau, the capital, 

 is but a small town, and has nothing attractive 

 except the well-known hospitality of the present 

 harbour-master, who is particularly attentive to 

 strangers, and furnishes them with a world of 

 information concerning the West Indies. Roseau 

 has seen better days ; and you can trace good 

 taste and judgment in the way in which the town 

 has originally been laid out. 



Some years ago it was visited by a succession 

 of misfortunes, which smote it so severely, that 

 it has never recovered its former appearance. A 

 strong French fleet bombarded it ; while a raging 

 fire destroyed its finest buildings. Some time 

 after, an overwhelming flood rolled down the 

 gullies and fissures of the adjacent mountains, 

 and carried all before it. Men, women, and 

 children, houses, and property, were all swept 

 away by this mighty torrent. The terrible scene 



