FLORIDA AND THE WEST INDIES 253 



modern Italian sculpture, the tomb of a dead 

 Governor, whose widow resides in an adjoining 

 villa. The inscription credits the deceased, poor 

 fellow, with more virtues than in all probability he 

 ever laid claim to in life ; but such is the veracity 

 of tombs. 



The most conspicuous landmark of Cartagena is 

 the lofty hill of La Popa, from which Drake is said 

 to have hurled the nuns into the sea for refusing to 

 give up the secret of some hidden treasure. This 

 ungallant act of sacrilege was hardly worthy of 

 Devon's great son, though the nuns, to be sure, 

 may have been a woundy obstinate lot of virgins. 

 As, however, the hill declines gradually to the sea, 

 let us hope that tradition has once more lied, and 

 that the ladies were merely given an opportunity of 

 escaping in their shifts. With a climate that recalls 

 the Palm House at Kew, Cartagena, looking from 

 all sides on a great lagoon, is among the most 

 picturesque halts on the cruise. 



Savanilla, or Porto Colombia, is a pier and 

 nothing more. That is to say, the pier is all that 

 is vouchsafed to those who remain aboard the 

 Tagus, though there is probably some sort of 

 village at the other end of it. It is, in fact, the 

 port for Baranquilla, a commercial centre of mild 

 importance, I understand, which lies even further 

 back from the sea than Cartagena. The retire- 

 ment of both is reminiscent of the days when these 

 blue seas were alive with pirate craft. Captain 

 Benson and I fished long and patiently from a 

 small boat made fast to the pier, but the bag was 

 a poor one. Through the clear water we could see 

 shoals of fish, but they, no doubt, could also see 



