150 A NATURALIST ON DESERT ISLANDS. 



goats, and undispatable evidence of the presence of man 

 in the shape of what looked, from a distance of a mile or 

 more, like a comfortable homestead. 



A second surprise came in the discovery of the fact that 

 the anchorage, as given in the " West India Pilot,'' at 

 the south-west comer of the island, does not seem to exist. 

 It is, in fait, a dangerous corner. This last, however, 

 was a matter of small accouat ; for Captain 

 Lebbem, by himting about along the southern coast for 

 a berth, found a comfortable one sheltered from every 

 wind but the south. 1+ is situated about the centre oi 

 this side of the island, opposite a pretty sheltered 

 cove, in which the water is of crystal clearness and 

 the bottom composed of pure white sand, variegated by 

 big clumps of coral and patches of waving seaweed and 

 sea-fans. 



At the head of the cove, the Hmpid water laps gently 

 upon a sloping beach of more sand, white as snow and soft 

 as down to the naked feet. On either hand, low cliffs 

 of granite, capped with coral limestone, and tricked out 

 here and there with green bushes, give a welcome shade 

 from the sun. It is a restful little nook, and might well 

 have given shelter to a group of syrens or sea-nymphs ; 

 but if it did not quite come up to such romantic ideas, 

 at any rate it made an ideal bathing place ; and the sailors 

 usurped the place of these alluring sea-maidens, who were 

 doubtless too modest to appear, during their frequent 

 visits to it in a state of nature. We christened this cove 

 Zenaida Bay, after the name of the yacht. 



Half a mile or so to the west of our anchorage lay a 

 curious lagoon-like inlet, the entrance to which is formed 

 by a sudden break in the low cliffs. On the occasion of 

 our j&rst ^'isit to the island (April 5th, 1906), being too 

 impatient to remain on board while a suitable anchorage 

 was discovered, a boat was lowered, while the yacht was 

 still under weigh, and we made for its mouth. Once 

 inside, we found the water smooth as the proverbial 

 duck pond ; and rowing along the mangrove bushes lining 



