154 



EAMBLES AFTER SPORT. 



miglit speak hopefully of being able next year to afford a 

 new carpet in his dining-room. Some men will sell 

 their health for a little extra pay, but I am sure lO^OOOZ. 

 a year would not induce me to stay at Aspinwall. Santa 

 Martha has a beautiful little land-locked harbour, and 

 the heat is something really dreadful. Santa Martha 

 and La Guayra are, I was told by an American on board, 

 the two hottest places out of the Yankee for Hades. It 

 is a charming-looking place from the sea, girdled around 

 with trees and flower-bearing shrubs. Of course, I had 

 ^^ Westward Ho '' with me, and I peopled the place again 

 with Amyas Leigh, and Frank, and Lucy Passmore. 

 On the sea beach were numerous cannon half buried in 

 the sand, and two extremely well-built forts commanded 

 the entrance. As I rambled about among these relics, 

 I could imagine the Spanish cannoneers at their side, 

 levelling them at the Lutheran dogs. As I was 

 examining one an enormous lizard, at least 2Jft. long, 

 crawled out of the mouth : as it blazed away in the sun 

 like a huge flaming emerald, I thought I never saw so 

 fair a sight. One of the cannons at the Custom-house 

 was a beautiful piece of bronze work in excellent pre- 

 servation; it was about 6ft. long, and covered with 

 fantastic carving. An inscription merely stated that 

 '^Josephus donavit.^^ There were some most extra- 

 ordinary woolly-haired goats here of a very large size, 

 but I could gain no information about them. 



Arrived at Jamaica, I put up at an hotel kept by Miss 

 Orant, which possessed the advantage of being very 

 clean as well as cheap. The change from the extortionate 

 demands of Peru and Panama was no less pleasing than 

 remarkable, and for the first time for some weeks, I 

 enjoyed a good dinner and night^s rest. I stayed at 



