264. CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 
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In this island there are two zones of vegetation and 
of animal life, that of the coast and that of the moun- 
tains. The shore lines are*broken; precipitous cliffs 
shoot up out of the sea and huge rocks stand out gray 
and bare, alternated by lovely bays. A vegetation of 
low growth covers the hills along the shore, affording 
shelter for few birds; where a dense growth of vines, 
or a flowering shrub occurs, a cactus, or a frangi- 
panni, there may be found the humming-birds. The 
second zone, or belt, comprises that portion contain- 
ing the most luxuriant vegetation and the greatest 
variety of tropical forms. It may be roughly esti- 
mated as lying between one thousand and twenty-five 
hundred feet above the sea. Here are nearly all the 
birds of the lowland in profusion and many species 
not found below. To the mountains, then, I must go, 
if I would secure new birds or seek to slay a monkey. 
Leaving the hot road that wound along the shore, 
I took another, beneath volcanic cliffs, rode beneath 
rustling palm-trees and out upon a river bank, where 
were congregated the washerwomen of the town. 
Cool were they in attire and in effrontery, as they 
waded knee-deep the shallows of the stream, reclined 
upon the rocks, or sat chatting upon the banks, with 
no raiment save a handkerchief wrapped about the 
loins. Old women, young women, girls and boys, and 
little “ pick’nees” waded the stream, most of them 
naked as the rocks the river laved. Black were they 
as those traditional crows, and no raven’s wing could 
be glossier than their shining skins. 
Half-way to the mountain lake is the little hamlet 
of Constantine, where, on a narrow ridge between 
two deep valleys, a little chapel overlooks other val- 
