A LOST FEBRUARY 



what our caves do not have in such numbers — 

 swarms of bats. The bats came out of the crevices 

 of the rocks over our heads like bees out of a hive 

 in swarming time, making a curious soft hum with 

 their myriad wings. What acute senses of some 

 kind these creatures must have! In that primal 

 darkness, when our torches were extinguished, they 

 would pass and repass us, and thread their way 

 through those narrow, crooked alleys, without touch- 

 ing a wing to rock or man. The sense which in 

 the darkness makes us aware of our near approach 

 to any object, the bat doubtless has in a very acute 

 and highly developed form. 



We found Balaclava one of the most attractive 

 places we had yet reached. There was a clean, well- 

 kept lodging-house, where good meals and good 

 beds could be had at a reasonable charge. We had 

 contemplated a canoe voyage from near this place 

 down Black River to the sea, but abandoned the 

 project. Canoeing or camping out in a tropical 

 country can have little of the attraction it has amid 

 our more simple, wholesome, and companionable 

 nature. From this point we returned to Kingston 

 by rail, leaving the team to come by the road. 



From Kingston one sees the rows of white build- 

 ings of New Castle clinging to the shoulders of 

 the mountain hke some new kind of cliff swal- 

 low's nests. They have an enticing, adventurous 

 look. New Castle is the rendezvous of the British 

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