MY FIRST CAMP. 25 
Oy 
CHAPTER III. 
IN AND ABOUT MY FIRST CAMP. 
THE CARIBBEAN SEA, ITS DECEPTIVE APPEARANCE AND PLA- 
CIDITY. — MY NEIGHBORS, THE MOUNTAINEERS, THEIR SAY- 
INGS AND WISE SAWS.—A FRENCH MISSIONARY NEEDED. — 
THE IGUANA AND ITS FLESH. — GLIMPSES OF MRS. GRUNDY. — 
A WORK OF ART.— CRUISING FOR CRUSTACEANS. — THE 
“GRIVES.” — MARIE. — LONG-TAILED DECAPODS. — ‘ WHERE 
CRABS GROW.” — “ WAIT THERE, MONSIEUR.” — ASTONISHED. 
— SHOCKED. — THE RIVER, — DRENCHED, —- A NAIAD. — A VIC- 
TIM TO SCIENCE. — FOOD FOR THE GODS. 
HE pictures seen from my cabin door are beau- 
tiful, but.all suggest alike the sea. Detached 
peaks rise to the eastward and southward, connected 
by a continuous chain of hills to the sea. Their line 
is irregular, and very shapely are those mountain- 
peaks, clothed with verdure to their summits. The 
broken slope in front of my cabin slants rapidly to 
the precipice that borders the valley containing the 
river which hastens to the sea. Outlined against its 
silvery surface are dark green mountains; a loosely 
branched tree stands out against it as against the sky ; 
palms, with gracefully spreading foliage, show dark 
against it. It spreads so far and wide, and seems to 
climb so high to meet the sky, that it is hardly pos- 
sible to tell where sea leaves off and sky begins. 
Every day I am puzzled to ascertain the horizon line. 
