32 THE NATURALIST OF THE ST. CROIX 



see the customers of the firm and spend the winter. He 

 was then but twenty-three years of age and was a young 

 man to be sent upon such a business mission. How well 

 his evenings and odd moments during the day, when 

 not at work, must have been spent in reading and useful 

 studies, to have given this young man of twenty-three 

 such mastery of his business that the older members of 

 the firm could feel satisfied to send him on an important 

 business trip to those foreign ports ! 



Mr. Boardman landed at Berbice in British Guiana in 

 January, 1841 — a place only six degrees from the equa- 

 tor. He seemed to have been transported to a new 

 world. Everything was novel, strange and delightful ; 

 the flowers, the trees, the fruits and foliage, the birds, 

 animals and people were all new and interesting. He 

 was captivated by the beauty of the birds in their gor- 

 geous plumage ; while the rich flora, the orchids and the 

 grandest of all the lilies, the Victoria regia, the leaves of 

 which were six and a half feet in diameter, which he saw 

 growing in its native habitat, the Berbice river — all 

 these gave unbounded delight. From Berbice Mr. 

 Boardman went to Demerara, one hundred miles north 

 of Berbice, where the firm had sold large quantities of 

 lumber ; and from there to Barbados, then to St. Vin- 

 cent, Guiana, Trinidad and the Windward Islands, in 

 all of which places the firm had customers and in each 

 of which he saw beautiful birds, interesting plants and 

 strange animals. 



At Demerara, Mr. Boardman had letters to a gentleman 

 having a large estate in the country, whom he found 

 to be a good naturalist. Mr. Boardman enjoyed his 

 acquaintance very much. He told him about the birds, 



