14 NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



climates, that there is more contentment and real en- 

 joyment of life among people who are held to regular 

 daily work — not excessive or exhausting — than among 

 those who have little or nothing to do. 



The house at which we were hospitably entertained, 

 with no architectural pretensions, struck us as ad- 

 mirably suited to the climate. On the ground floor, 

 several spacious and airy sitting-rooms opened on a 

 broad verandah that ran round the building, and a 

 number of fine trees close at hand, with the dense 

 impervious foliage characteristic of the tropics, offered 

 the alternative of sitting in the open air. One of the 

 natural advantages of Barbadoes is the almost com- 

 plete absence of noxious and venomous insects and 

 reptiles. The frequency of poisonous snakes in some 

 of the islands, especially Martinique and Sta. Lucia, 

 must seriously interfere with the pleasures of a country 

 life. 



The voyage from Barbadoes to Jacmel, which occu- 

 pied the greater part of three nights and two days, 

 was highly enjoyable, but uneventful. With a tem- 

 perature of about 80° in the shade, and a pleasant 

 breeze from the north-east, life on deck was much 

 more attractive than any occupation in the cabins, 

 and nothing more laborious than reading an interesting 

 book, such as Tschudi's " Travels in Peru," or at the 

 utmost some brushing up of nearly forgotten Spanish, 

 could be undertaken. In the early morning, the rising 

 of the coveys of flying-fish as the steamer disturbed 

 them from their rest on the surface, with their great 

 silvery fins glancing in the level rays of the sun, was 

 always an attractive sight. They certainly often 



