CHAP. IV. EXCURSION INTO THE COUNTRY. 93 



parallel to the coast, we turned towards the interior, and 

 passed through a rich and picturesque part of the island, 

 different in some respects from the Moka, and Plaines Wil- 

 helms side, but equally beautiful. Our road, bordered by 

 large tamarind and other fine trees, amongst which was 

 the flamboyant, or Poinciana regia, now in full bloom, 

 lay through a valley to the northward of Mountain Long, and 

 presented on either hand plantations of cane or manioc, with 

 the huts of Creoles or Coolies, and the dwellings of planters. 

 More distant, the Bay of Tombs lay in placid repose on the 

 one hand, and the lofty and singularly formed mountain of 

 the Peter Botte on the other. 



The cool morning air, the novel aspects of the scenery, both 

 of mountain and plain, combined to render the journey in- 

 teresting and pleasant, and I was musing on the profusion 

 with whicli the beneficent Creator had diffused over the face 

 of nature forms of purity and beauty almost in lavish exu- 

 berance, when I noticed, at a short distance from the road, 

 an Indian woman sitting on the ground amongst the flowers 

 of a species of jessamine, growing unenclosed by any fence 

 round the door of her straw hut. She held a bunch of the 

 sweet flowers in her hand, apparently enjoying their fra- 

 grance, for she took no notice of our passing ; and was perhaps, 

 in thought, far away amongst the flowers with which she had 

 been familiar in her native country. 



After passing for some distance along a steep descent, we 

 reached a stream of water, and alighted ; as our carriage 

 could proceed no farther. After crossing the brook, we as- 

 cended by a steep and somewhat circuitous route, until, after 

 walking about three-quarters of a mile, we reached the 

 Grande Donjon, the residence of Mr. Kittery, an Indian 

 gentleman. The house with this remarkable name stands 

 on a steep pile of basaltic or volcanic rock, rising almost per- 

 pendicularly from the adjacent valley. The proprietor of the 



