216 



TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



thedr warlike dances, the Indians, at a given signal, 

 discharged a flight of arrows which killed the Gover- 

 nor, all the priests present, and most of the white 

 people ; very few escaped. The Corregidor* of this 

 Indian town or mission happened to be sick, conse- 

 quently absent during the transaction ; the event 

 saved his life, but exposed him to the suspicion of 

 being cognizant of the conspiracy. ■ ' 



Sitting as we are now, we have as already said, a 

 splendid view of the greater part of the colony, for 

 now Nature displays herself in the grandest majesty 

 — in landscapes of surpassing loveliness, dn mountain 

 scenery, and in visions of water and woodland that 

 are not easily comparable. We are surrounded by 

 gigantic trees, most of them in bloom, and tropical 

 flowers of every shade and colour. We have busy 

 birds — great and small — hovering with glistening 

 plumage over our heads and flitting about from 

 branch to branch, the small humming birds sticking 

 their long prehensile bills into every flower, their 

 wings moving and making that pleasant humming 

 sound from which they derive their name. But, alas, 

 if all these birds have glorious plumage they are as 

 Thomson says, deficient in the glorious songs one 

 hears from their kindred in other climes, 



" But if kind nature bids them shine, 

 Arrayed in all the beauteous beams of day 



Yet frugal still she humbles them in song." 



but still there are a few whose notes, though not 

 prolonged are very sweet. 



* Joseph gives the name I omit it 



