JAMAICA. 197 



the best pastures in the West Indies, spread to all parts of 

 Jamaica. The approach to the town of Montego Bay was 

 very fine, and so clear was the atmosphere that the high- 

 lands of Cuba, ninety miles away, were seen faintly on the 

 north-western horizon. Philip Gosse was the guest while 

 at Montego Bay of Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Lewin. With this 

 gentleman he had already corresponded on zoological ques- 

 tions, and had obtained useful notes from him. The 

 naturalist's experience in the north of Jamaica was sufficient 

 to persuade him that he had done perfectly right to settle 

 in the southern district of the island. He found the fauna 

 and flora in the country of St. James distinctly more scanty 

 and less valuable than in his own Westmoreland and St. 

 Elizabeth. This was the most extensive of many excur- 

 sions which he took from the central stations of Bluefields 

 and Content, sometimes riding out until nightfall, and 

 trusting to the never-failing Jamaica hospitality to supply 

 him with a bed. 



For a whole year his health was excellent, and even 

 when Sam got the fever in consequence of their explora- 

 tions in damp hot hollows of the forest, his master escaped 

 scot-free. Towards the end of December, 1845, however, 

 after stalking yellow bitterns for a day or two in the 

 morass, and ending up with several hours spent knee-deep 

 in the deep mud of the foetid creek, getting pot-shots at 

 pelicans and kingfishers, both the white naturalist and the 

 black one were laid up with a very sharp attack of fever. 

 Four days later, they were both down in the creek morass 

 again, shooting snipe and ground-doves, but from this time 

 forth Philip Gosse was liable to violent headaches and 

 sickness at quickly recurring intervals. He consequently 

 began to put his house in order, cataloguing his captures 

 and preparing to leave the country. 



On March 3, 1846, he rode with Sam to Savannah-le- 



