238 



WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



feeding on tliem put you in mind of Ovid's description 

 of famine. : — 



" Dura cutis, per quam spectari \dscera possent." 



It is somewhat singular, that there is not a single river 

 or brook in the whole island of Antigua. In this it 

 differs from Tartary in the other world ; which, ac- 

 cording to old writers, has five rivers ; viz. Acheron, 

 Phlegeton, Cocytus, Styx, and Lethe. 



In this island I found the Eed-start, described in 

 Wilson's Ornithology of the United States." I wished 

 to learn whether any of these birds remain the whole 

 year in Antigua, and breed there ; or whether they all 

 leave it for the north when the sun comes out of the 

 southern hemisphere j but, upon inquiry, I could get 

 no information whatever. 



After passing a dull week here, I sailed 

 Guadaioupe^ for Guadaloupe, whose bold and cloud-capped 

 mountains have a grand appearance as you 

 approach the island. Basseterre, the capital, is a neat 

 to^vn, with a handsome public walk in the middle of it, 

 well shaded by a row of fine tamarind trees on each 

 side. Behind the town, La Souffriere raises its high 

 romantic summit ; and, on a clear day, you may see the 

 volcanic smoke which issues from it. 



^sTearly midway, betwixt Guadaloupe and Dominica, 

 you descry the Saintes. Though high, and bold, and 

 rocky, they have still a diminutive appearance when 

 compared with their two gigantic neighbours. You 

 just see Marigalante to windward of them, some leagues 

 ofi*, about a yard high in the horizon. 



Dominica is majestic in high and rugged 

 Dominica. mountains. As you sail along it, you cannot 

 help admiring its beautiful coffee planta- 



