SOUTH AMERICA. 277 

 pared with tlieir two gigantic neighbours. You just see Fourth 



Journey. 



Marigalante to windward of them, some leagues off, 



about a yard high in the horizon. 



Dominica is majestic in high and rugged mountains, island of 



Dominica. 



As you sail along it, you cannot help admiring its beauti- 

 ful coffee plantations, in places so abrupt and steep, that 

 you would pronounce them almost inaccessible. Roseau, Roseau, 

 the capital, is but a small town, and has nothing attractive 

 except the well-known hospitality of the present harbour- 

 master, who is particularly attentive to strangers, and 

 furnishes them with a world of information concerning 

 the' West Indies. Roseau has seen better days ; and you 

 can trace good taste and judgment in the way in which 

 the town has originally been laid out. 



Some years ago it was visited by a succession of mis- 

 fortunes, which smote it so severely, that it has never 

 recovered its former appearance. A strong French fleet 

 bombarded it ; while a raging fire destroyed its finest 

 buildings. Some time after, an overwhelming flood 

 rolled down the gullies and fissures of the adjacent moun- 

 tains, and carried all before it. Men, women, and 

 children, houses, and property, were all swept away by 

 this mighty torrent. The terrilile scene was said to 

 beggar all description, and the loss was immense. 



Dominica is famous for a large species of frog, which 

 the inhabitants keep in readiness to slaughter for the table. 

 In the woods of this island, the large rhinoceros beetle 



