HOME OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. 305 
author: of the “ Westorre de P Impératrice Foséphine,” 
M. Aubenas, (to whose volume I am indebted for the 
facts relating to the early life of Josephine,) quotes 
entire. 
A deep bay nearly divides the island of Martinique 
near the southern end. On its northern side, Fort 
de France; at its bight, La Montagne and Riviére 
Salée; and directly south of Fort de France is the 
little town (Petzt dourg. it is called) of Trois-Ilets — 
the Three Islets — hidden from sight by a high cape. 
I was going to hire a boat and three men to carry 
me across the bay; but just as we were ready to go, 
early one morning, the rain came down in sheets, 
and we were obliged to wait. I then learned that 
a boat plied regularly between the town, and the 
petit bourg, and that it was but a mile and a half to 
“Lhabitation de La Pagerie.” Its usual hour of 
starting was at four, but the rain delayed it until five 
in the afternoon. John, my self-appointed domestic, — 
a negro with an ugly face and one white eye, — had 
safely stowed my apparatus, hunting gear, and him- 
self, and I found with difficulty, between a couple of 
negresses, a place for myself. There were twenty- 
five of us, and I, as the only white man, duly felt my 
insignificance. 
Amid a great deal of jabbering, we pushed off. 
The boat was a long, open, flat-bottomed one, with a 
large mast, to be shipped in the bow, with a leg-of- 
mutton sail, and a smaller one perched right in the 
peak. A small negro boy had charge of the latter. 
They pulled out a bit, then shipped the mast. The 
wind came in puffs, at times very strong, and the 
captain at the helm was repeatedly shouting: “Gar- 
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