ASCENT OF THE GUADELOUPE SOUFRIERE. 345 
essayed to explore these wilds and met with disastrous 
defeat from the Caribs? I have floated on the glassy 
surface of the wonderful spring of Wakulla, in Florida, 
and one winter’s day sailed down the bright waters 
of Silver Spring, and do not wonder that the simple 
natives should invest these mysterious creations with 
occult power. But it is a pity that the old Spaniard 
could not have found this mountain spring, one dip in 
which were worth a month’s immersion in those of 
Florida. 
A velvet-backed humming-bird came down from 
the odorous banks above me—a tiny bird, with a 
Latin name too long to mention here — and danced 
in the sunlight, his garnet throat glowing like a coal 
in the departing beams, as I bade farewell to this 
enchanted spot and descended into the deep gloom 
of the high-woods. 
