88 
A RIDE TO CONTENT. 
heads and into our scorched faces the torrid fury of 
his effulgence, unmitigated by a cloud ; — 
“ ■ ■ ireirraTO S’ avy}j 
’HeAtou o|e?a, v4(pos 5’ ov cpaivero irdarfs 
Tai7}S, ouS^ opewv” — (//. xvii. 371.) 
amidst which the brawling, murmuring sound of the 
running brook, and the sight of its sparkling, dash- 
ing, crystal waters, have an indescribably refreshing 
effect upon the senses. The wild scream of the 
Kildeer Plover is suddenly heard, and up springs a 
flock of these birds, which wheel in swift flight 
around the traveller’s head, and alight close to their 
first station. In the rushy shallows of the stream 
the stately form of the Snowy Gaulin is seen, de- 
liberately wading hither and thither ; or watching, 
motionless and silent, for his aquatic prey. Plump 
Peadoves, with large liquid gentle eyes, walk about 
on the turf beneath the pimento trees, picking up 
the fallen fruit, or the seeds of papilionaceous weeds ; 
and now and then their reiterated cooing, a very 
soft and mournful sound, comes from the bordering 
woods, falling gently and soothingly on the ear. In 
the farthest corner of the pasture, a great bed of 
that truly gorgeous plant, the Barbadoes Pride, or 
Flower-fence [Ponciana pulcherrima) , glowing with 
scarlet and orange, indicates the commencement of a 
road that leads through the gloomy forest to Basin 
Spring, near the summit of the Bluefields Ridge. 
But this we leave on the left ; and pursue our road be- 
neath the orange-trees, that have been planted in bor- 
dering rows along each side of the highway. Beauty, 
