MORNING' ON THE PEAKS. 155 



When the advancing light began to break over the 

 black and frowning peaks, and Venus waned, the 

 Peadove commenced, from the neighbouring woods, 

 her five-fold coo, hollow and moaning. Then the 

 Petchary cackled his three or four rapid notes ; and 

 from a distant wooded hill, as yet shrouded in dark- 

 ness, proceeded the rich, mellow, but broken song of 

 the Hopping Dick. Now the whole east was ruddy, 

 and the rugged points and trees on the summit of the 

 mountain-ridge, interrupting the flood of crimson 

 light, produced the singularly beautiful phenomenon 

 of a series of rose-coloured beams, diverging from the 

 eastern quarter, and spreading like an expanded fan 

 across the whole arch of heaven, each ray dilating as 

 it advanced. Then Mocking-birds all around broke 

 into song, pouring forth their rich gushes and powerful 

 bursts of melody, filling the ear, and overpowering all 

 the other varied voices, which now helped to swell 

 the morning concert of awakening birds. 



PHCENIX PARK. 



Many of the opulent merchants of Savanna le Mar 

 have pleasant country seats, a few miles out of town. 

 At one of these, the residence of a kind friend, I 

 frequently spent a few days ; though the neighbour- 

 hood was not peculiarly favourable to my pursuits. 

 As Jamaica houses are commonly built on one prin- 

 ciple, I will briefly describe it. The furnished part 

 of the house is all on the same level, forming what 

 we should call the first floor, the whole of the 

 ground-floor being devoted to store-rooms and cellars. 



