SOUTH AMERICA. 



275 



a conjecture. Heaven forbid that it should happen. The Fourth 



Journey. 



world at large would suffer by it. For ages yet to come, 



may this great commonwealth continue to be the United 



States of North America. 



The sun was now within a Aveek or two of passing into 



the southern hemisphere, and the mornings and evenings 



were too cold to be comfortable. I embarked for the Embarks for 



Antigua. 



island of Antigua, with the intention of calling at the 

 different islands in the Caribbean sea, on my way once 

 more towards the wilds of Guiana. 



We Avere thirty days in making Antigua, and thanked 

 Providence for ordering us so long a passage. A tre- 

 mendous gale of wind, approaching to a hurricane, had 

 done much damage in the West Indies. Had our passage 

 been of ordinary length, we should inevitably have been 

 caught in the gale. 



St. John's is the capital of Antigua. In better times it st. John's, 

 may have had its gaieties and amusements. At present 

 it appears sad and woe -begone. The houses, which are 

 chiefly of wood, seem as if they have not had a coat of 

 paint for many years ; the streets are uneven and ill- 

 paved; and as the stranger wanders through them, he 

 might fancy that they would afford a congenial promenade 

 to the man who is about to take his last leave of sur- 

 rounding worldly misery, before he hangs hhnself. There 

 had been no rain for some time, so that the parched and 

 barren pastures near the town might, with great truth, be 



2 N 2 



