22 
THE LIGHT-HOUSE. 
oyster-catclier scanned tlie stranger witli curious 
eye. As I scrambled up tlie rough-liewn granite 
steps, mpiads of grey, fork -tailed, sea woodlice 
swarmed across tlie path ; glistening, brown, golden- 
eyed lizards darted among the loose stones; little 
bustling red ants scaled our legs ; slender, yellow 
stone-centipedes lurked in the damp corners ; a 
dark, ugly gecko poked out his warty head to look 
at us ; and a huge, black cocki'oach gathered 
around her flattened body a numerous brood, 
sheltering them carefully • as a hen does her 
chickens. Slow and sober-coloured beetles, called 
Opatrums, abounded on the barren sandy sjiots ; 
l)lue, brown, and yellow butterflies hovered gaily 
over the convolvulus and Tradescantia flowers that 
enlivened the sterile ground ; and, leaping and 
whirring among tlie stunted brushwood, were 
legions of noisy, long-shanked grasshoppers. 
There is a revolving light on the islet, and the 
bland custodian of tlie light-house informed me that, 
attracted by the brilliancy thrown back from his 
highly polished reflectors, winged insects come by 
