INDIAN GARDENS. 333 



to their former owners. ' When, ten years after the 

 discovery of the island, the intolerable tyranny of 

 the Spaniards had driven the inhabitants from what 

 Columbus had described as " the painted gardens of 

 the plain," the homes of the Vega Real, and de- 

 populated them, the natives fled in numbers to the 

 glens and fastnesses of this adjoining district. The 

 limestone rocks, which pierce the summits of the 

 mountains, abound with caverns in which the bones 

 of the unfortunate fugitives who preferred death to 

 servitude, are still found accompanied by the remains 

 of their domestic dog. It was in the hottest month 

 of the year (July, 1831) that I visited this delightful 

 valley. The rains which come with the vertical sun, 

 and prevail all through the solstitial season, had that 

 year been unusually late. They had as yet fallen 

 only in gentle showers, and the constant sea wind 

 that blows refreshingly between the mountains had 

 scarcely heaped on the summits those white accumu- 

 lations which were to fertilise the fields with season- 

 able moisture. But the air was agreeably cool, and 

 all through the unprecedented drought of the year, 

 the grass in these sheltered vales was fresh, and the 

 ground overspread with flowers, and the crops of 

 corn and pulse were affected by none of those heated 

 blasts which had destroyed the hopes of the husband- 

 man elsewhere. We found the nights beautiful: 

 the stars shone with exceeding brilliance. Nothino- 

 could surpass the magnificence of the green parks 

 of palm and heavy-laden fruit-trees of curious foliage 

 in the villages. There were vestiges, — fragments 

 of earthen vessels, stone hatchets, and chased or- 



