350 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



" Sketch of Martinique. 



"Martinique is the largest of the Lesser Antilles, being about 50 

 miles in length and containing, it is estimated, abont 380 square miles. 



"The surface is very uneven, the interior being one grand region of 

 hills and mountains. The highest of these is Mount Pelee, northwest of 

 the principal town, St. Pierre, and in the northwestern part of the island. 

 It is over 4,000 feet in height-, it is a volcano, and has emitted smoke 

 and ashes within thirty years ; now, however, there are no signs of an 

 eruption. There are in all 5 or G extinct volcanoes. Here may be seen 

 in great perfection those picturesque pitons, or peaked mountains — coni- 

 cal peaks. One group in the interior shows itself in great beauty from 

 Fort de France. Mineral and warm springs occur in various parts of 

 the island, and some of the rivers are of good size. 



"To one glancing at a map of the island — with its high mountains, 

 dark ravines, gloomy gorges, tracts of elevated table land, numerous 

 bays and streams — this would seem the promised land for birds. Situ- 

 ated, too, midway the volcanic chain, it should possess birds that no 

 other island could boast. Yet I have found it otherwise, and in Domin- 

 ica, only 30 miles of latitude further north, I obtained more species and 

 found birds in greater profusion. This is owing to at least two causes — 

 the hand of man being manifest in both — 1st, the dense population (the 

 island having a population of not less than 130,000) ; 2nd, to the thorough 

 cultivation of all cultivable land. From the coast to the hills, and even 

 up the mountain sides, cane is grown; and when that is not practicable, 

 are the provision grounds of the negroes. The rest is pasture land, 

 trees, and rocks. I found great difficulty in getting a place of abode 

 outside the city, and it was a week or two after my arrival before I could 

 get even a floor to sleep upon. There are no hotels outside of St. Fierre 

 and Port de France, save at the two warm springs, and no inns or hos- 

 tel ries. 



" I lad it been practicable, I would have made a camp in the mountains; 

 but this I could not do, as 1 did in Dominica and St. Vincent. Notwith- 

 standing all this, I secured a roof and a room in a little hamlet in the 

 mountains called Morne Ronge, and from there made excursions to 

 Morne Calebasse, Morne Balisier, Mountain Pelee, and Champ Flore. 

 Birds were unusually scarce from the incessant persecution they are 

 subject to from boys and men ; later on, after returning to St. Pierre, I 

 went to Fort de France. Alter losing several days there, 1 crossed the 

 bay of Fort Royal to Trois Islets— where I had great difficulty in getting 

 Shelter. Fortunately I found a host in the proprietor of an estate near 

 Trois Islets ; the estate was none other than i L'habitation de la Page* 

 lie', where the Empress J osephine was born and passed her earlier years. 



" Finding lodgings in the negro barracks, and procuring sustenance 

 at the house of my friend the proprietor, I passed some time, obtaining 

 there nearly all the birds that I secured at all in the island. 



"Trois Islets is about 20 miles south of St, Pierre, on the Caribbean 



