152 A NATURALIST ON DESERT ISLANDS. 



sun. Above us, among the branches, was the faintest 

 hiun of insects, always a noticeable and pleasant sound 

 to anyone fresh from the sea ; and the soft cooing of an 

 amorous dove was borne to us on the drowsy air from 

 the mangrove swamp. Here and there, a lizard rustled 

 noisily among the dry brown fronds, which had fallen 

 from the trees ; and in the silence of this temple of 

 Nature out lightest footstep put to flight the birds which 

 it contained. 



Opposite us, upon the slopes of the rising ground, 

 which we could see through the trees, stood a solitary 

 palm-built hut. Roughly thatched and roughly made, 

 it had an instant fascination, and was the very thing one 

 had always pictured in one's boyhood as being inseparably 

 associated with desert islands. We fell in love with it 

 upon the spot. It stood " in its own groxmds," and these 

 formed a perfect little oasis in the midst of a wilderness 

 of granite boulders and cactus, which rose like an amphi- 

 theatre around it. A tall fence, which would have done 

 credit to Robrason Crusoe himself, kept at bay the 

 encroaching hordes of cactus and saved the crops within 

 from the onslaught of wandering goats. Inside this 

 ring-fence were flourishing the fruits of the owner's labour 

 — patches of cotton, snow-flecked with bursting capsules 

 of silken down ; green crops of waving Indian com and 

 guinea grass ; a plot of sweet potatoes and yams ; a Httle 

 sugar cane, and a small grove of bananas. A pomegranate 

 tree, loaded simultaneously with rich red blossom and 

 golden fruit, and some tall hibiscus shrubs, also in full 

 blossom, formed a patch of gay colouring, and a little 

 shade, by the door of the hut, where slept a oat 

 and a dog. 



As we drew near, the dog woke, and came running and 

 barking down the little winding path which led to the 

 cocoanut plantation ; and then " Robinson Crusoe " himself 

 appeared, at the threshold of his house, and stood shading 

 his eyes from the sun to see what manner of men had 

 come to usurp his peaceful seclusion. A minute later, 



