PREFACE. vil 
cade, or a composition peculiarly tropical, I photo- 
graphed it; and my publishers have used as subjects 
for illustration’ only these photographs from nature, 
which have never been presented before. As with 
the illustrations, so with the sketches in type. I have 
but photographed the scenes I visited and the people 
I saw and lived among. Now and then, in follow- 
ing a thread of history that connects these islands and 
people with an almost forgotten past, I have availed 
myself of the language of the historian, but in rare 
instances. My only claim is, that these sketches are 
original, and fresh from new fields — new, yet old in 
American history, — and that they are accurate, so 
far as my power of description extends. They have 
not, like the engravings, had the benefit of touches 
from more skillful hands, and they may be crude and 
unfinished, and lack the delicate shadings and half- 
tones a more cunning artist could have given them; 
but they are, at least, true to nature. 
Though the voyage to and from these islands 
was fraught with incident, there was little that did 
not savor of the ordinary sea-voyage, hence it has 
been left out, and the narrative begins and ends in 
the Caribbees. Beside this, there yet remains much 
material which has not been drawn upon, comprising 
more of pure adventure, which, should public and 
publishers pass a favorable verdict upon this, may 
form a volume for another year. 
BEVERLY, Mass., October, 1879: 
