144 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 
drew out from a corner of the cave a manufactured 
flambeau and lighted it. By the glare it shed around 
I could see that I was in a smoke-blackened chamber 
large enough to contain fifty men, with high vaulted 
roof and rude seats hollowed out of the rock near the 
floor, which latter was covered with a thin coating of 
earth. There was a large heap of dry wood near the 
entrance, from which Meyong drew enough for a fire, 
which was soon blazing cheerily, the smoke escaping 
through some crevices in the roof. 
My first care was for my beloved gun; and having 
taken off the barrels and inverted them near the fire, 
I oiled the locks and steel parts of the stock, and, 
later, the barrels themselves; then stripping myself 
of clothing, I drew a blanket over my shoulders and 
waited for my garments to dry. Huge bats, disturbed 
by the unwonted light, flapped above us with regular 
beats of their broad wings, some of them large as 
pigeons, known as vampires, true blood-suckers. A 
small variety also flew softly about, hundreds of them. 
playing in the space above our heads and darting 
at us. 
“Zis old Charaib caverne,” said Meyong. 
“What, the one to which the chief carried the gov- 
ernor’s wife?” demanded I quickly. 
“Ouz, ze rock veritable.” : 
A long time ago,—nearly or quite two hundred 
years, — when the Carib was known only as the 
cruel, untamable cannibal, these Indians made long 
cruises in their canoes to procure victims for sacrifice 
at their feasts. One hundred miles north of Dominica 
lies the lovely island of Antigua, at that time thinly 
settled. To this island the Caribs made frequent pred- 
