312 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



the capital, is but a sm^U town, and has nothing attractive 

 except the -well-known hospitality of the present harbour- 

 master, who is particularly attentive to strangers, and 

 furnishes them with a world of information concerning the 

 West Indies. Eoseau has seen better days ; and you can 

 trace good taste and judgment in the way in "which the 

 town has originally been laid out. 



Some years ago it was visited by a succession of mis- 

 fortunes, which smote it so severely, that it has never 

 recovered its former appearance. A strong French fleet 

 bombarded it; while a raging fire destroyed its finest 

 buildings. Some time after, an overwhelming flood rolled 

 down the gullies and fissures of the adjacent mountains, 

 and carried all before it. Men, women, and children, 

 houses, and property, were all swept away by this mighty 

 torrent. The terrible scene was said to beggar all descrip- 

 tion, and the loss was immense. 



Dominica is famous for a large species of Frog, which 

 the inhabitants keep in readiness to slaughter for the table. 

 In the woods of this island, the large Ehinoceros Beetle 

 is very common ; it measures above six inches in lengtL 

 In the same woods is found the beautiful Humming-bird, 

 the breast and throat of which are of a brilliant changing 

 purple. I have searched for this bird in Brazil, and 

 through the whole of the wilds from the Eio Branco, 

 which is a branch of the Amazons, to the river Paumaron, 

 but never could find it. I was told by a man in the 

 Egyptian-Hall, in Piccadilly, that this humming-bird is 

 found in Mexico ; but upon questioning him more about 

 it, his information seemed to have been acquired by 

 hearsay ; and so I concluded that it does not appear in 

 Mexico. I suspect that it is never found out of the 

 Antilles. 



After leaving Dominica, you soon reach the grand 



