July 8, 1880J 



NATURE 



215 



settled himself in a cabin in the midst of the forest amongst 

 the mountaineer population, which is of mixed race, partly 

 negro, partly, Carib, partly European. Here the moun- 

 taineers' children waited on him, and brought him beetles 

 and snails and humming-birds, which they caught with 

 birdlime. But he had to dispense with their services, for 

 they brought him far too many things of one kind, and 

 especially huge land-crabs as big as a man's hand. He 

 had incautiously remarked that he should like a specimen 

 of this crab, which abounds in the ravines and rivulet 

 banks. " Each boy and girl in the place resolved 

 to be the first to furnish me with the coveted crab. 

 The consequence was that my place was soon over- 

 run with shell-fish — ugly red and yellow crabs, as 

 large as a man's hand, and from that to the most 

 diminutive. One of the girls in a mischievous mood 

 brought in a crab with a family of little ones, over 

 a hundred, just large enough to be seen, and let them 

 loose on the floor. Through some open window, while I 

 was absent, some giant crab would be dropped on the 

 floor to await my arrival. This was not done in a spirit 

 of mischief, but from an earnest desire to aid me in my 

 labours. For a week I could not stir without coming in 

 contact with a shelly creature. I could not put my foot 

 out of bed without a shudder of apprehension. Of nights 

 I would be awakened by the rattling of ale-bottles, and 

 arising, would discover that some crab had got thirsty 

 in the night and had inserted a claw, which had caught 

 in the neck of a bottle." In the afternoon the author 

 sat looking out through the loophole of this cabin, which 

 served as a window, and surveyed the peaceful Caribbean 

 Sea, with the same vessels to be seen sometimes be- 

 calmed under the lee of the Caribbee Islands day after day. 

 The sea is, however, not always placid ; in the " hurricane 

 season" it rises in its wrath. It is disturbed, however, 

 only by a hurricane ; nothing less. In the mornings and 

 evenings he explored the beautiful forests and stream- 

 beds around his camp, gun on shoulder, and collected 

 all he could find. Sometimes on these excursions he 

 had merry companions, laughing girls combining Carib, 

 French, and negro blood in their veins, and full of life 

 and fun. Let us follow him with Marie and her 

 friend in search of crayfish (we presume a species 

 of Palaemon, the author unfortunately does not state). 

 " The path is slippery, and we shall need a help from 

 ' Marie's ' hand, for the way leads up hill and over rocks 

 wet and smooth, whilst wet leaves flap in our faces and 

 creeping ferns and trailing plants hang on our feet as 

 we z'^. 



" We reach the river, the stream that flows out of 

 the mountain lake, broad and with gravelly beach, with 

 immense boulders as islands, and a wall of vegetation on 

 either side that rises straight up a hundred feet. Here 

 the two girls made into the stream in search of crayfish. 

 The stream is broad with deep pools, and in these the 

 crayfish lurked, looking like miniature lobsters in the 

 clear water. We can see only the small ones, but Marie 

 assures us that there are large ones out of sight beneath 

 the cascades. 



" Erect upon a rock she stood for a moment, then 

 plunged head foremost into a foaming pool, disappearing 

 from sight. A moment later rising bubbles preceded 

 a round little head, from which hung long limp tresses; 



a pair of shoulders brown and bare, and round arms and 

 little hands reaching out for a support. She had a cray- 

 fish in each hand, and another with wriggling legs in her 

 mouth." 



The following is an account of the method in which 

 humming-birds are caught : — " Let us follow little Dan, 

 the oldest and sharpest of the humming-bird hunters, as 

 he goes out for birds. First he goes to a tree called the 

 mountain-palm, which replaces the cocoa-palm in the 

 mountains, the latter growing only along the coast. Be- 

 neath the tree are some fallen leaves fifteen feet in length; 

 these he seizes and strips, leaving the midrib bare, a 

 long slender stem tapering to a point. Upon this tip he 

 places a lump of bird-lime, to make which he had 

 collected the inspissated juice of the bread fruit and 

 chewed it to the consistency of soft wax. Scattered over 

 the Savanna are many clumps of flowering bushes, over 

 whose crimson and snowy blossoms humming-birds are 

 dashing, inserting their beaks in the honeyed corolla?, 

 after active forays resting upon some bare twig, pruning 

 and preening their feathers. Cautiously creeping toward 

 a bush upon which one of these little beauties is resting, 

 the hunter extends the palm-rib with its treacherous 

 coating of gum. The bird eyes it curiously but fearlessly 

 as it approaches his resting-place, even pecking at it ; but 

 the next moment he is dangling helplessly, beating the 

 air with buzzing wings in vain efforts to escape the clutches 

 of that treacherous gum." 



Mr. Ober tried hard to keep humming-birds alive, but, 

 as usual, without success. They never survived many 

 days. If exposed to the light they kept up a constant 

 fluttering, until the muscles of their wings became so 

 stift' they could not close them, but expired with the wings 

 widely outstretched. " Every morning I would introduce 

 into the cage a bough of fragrant lime-blossoms, at which 

 they would all dash instantly, diving into the flow^ers with 

 great eagerness. Sugar dissolved in water and diluted 

 honey was their favourite food, and they would sip it 

 greedily. Holding them by their feet I would place their 

 beaks in a bottle of syrup, when they would rapidly 

 eject their tongues and withdraw them, repeating this 

 operation until satisfied. They never displayed fear, but 

 would readily alight on my finger and glance fearlessly 

 up at me, watching an opportunity, however, for escape." 



The boiling lake of Dominica was visited and photo- 

 graphed by the author. It was remarkably quiet during 

 his visit, showing only a slight movement in the centre. 

 The margin show-ed traces of the recent subsidence of 

 the water-level, and on the following day the water had 

 risen again somewhat, and was more active. It appears 

 that the ebullition must be intermittent, but Mr. Ober did 

 not see it in full action, though the water rose further, and 

 the disturbance and noises continued to increase. The 

 temperature of the water was only 96° F., though Dr. 

 Nicholls, one of the party who discovered the lake, found 

 it at 196° F., and Mr. Prestoe, of the Botanic Gardens of 

 Trinidad, from 180" to 190°. The author follows Mr. 

 Prestoe in the expectation that by the widening and 

 deepening of the outlet the lake will disappear in time, 

 and a geyser alone remain. In a boiling spring hard by 

 the author and his guides cooked their supper of wild 

 yams and eggs, and, as usual, cold water for drinking 

 was found also close at hand. 



