12 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 
CHAPTER II. 
CAMP LIFE IN THE TROPICS. 
A MARCH MORNING. — MATIN MUSIC. — JEAN BAPTISTE. — SONNY. 
— BREAKFAST IN THE MOUNTAINS. — QUEER CUSTOMS. — DE- 
LIGHTFUL TEMPERATURE FOR MARCH. — THE HUNT FOR BIRDS, 
—A DAY’S DUTIES.—STRANGE BIRDS AND SCENERY.— THE 
““TREMBLEUR.” — A PRECIPICE.— AN ORGAN-BIRD, THE “ MOUN- 
TAIN WHISTLER.” — BIRD NOTES.— MY. CHASSEURS.— LAND 
CRABS. — ARDENT ASSISTANTS. — TWILIGHT. 
T is a bright March morning. As I throw open the 
shutters of my shanty and let in the light of early 
day, J look out upon a scene of loveliness that it were 
worth many a day’s journey to enjoy. 
From beyond the mountains, east, the sun has 
climbed a little way until he peers through a defile in 
the hills, and a rift in the cloud masses, and floods 
only a narrow pathway down the surrounding hills, 
their northern slopes, a bit of the gloomy valley miles 
below, and bursts upon the calm Caribbean Sea with 
concentrated glory. A sail, floating on that sea, drifted 
hither and thither by strong, unaccountable currents, 
—which came, perchance, from Martinique or Bar- 
bados to the south, or from Guadeloupe or Montserrat 
to the north, —is ablaze with light, which gives it 
the appearance of being on fire. No sound comes 
up from the valley below, nor from the surrounding 
mountain sides; even the rain frogs and the nocturnal 
