198 
CONTENT. 
walls. Animal life is almost unseen : the solitude is 
scarcely broken by the voices of birds, except that 
now and then the Rainhird and the Hunter (large 
cat-tailed cuckoos that love the shade) sound their 
startling rattle, or the Mountain Partridge utters 
those mournful cooings which are like the moans of 
a dying man. Such a scene however is the favourite 
haunt of Erehus odora, a gigantic Moth, which often, 
as we pass, darts out, like a great bat, from its con- 
cealment in the dark corner of two tree-spurs, or a 
hollow in the rock, and dances with a perplexing 
irregularity hither and thither, till it suddenly settles 
again, or is lost in the maze of stems. 
Returning to the foot of the hill, if we follow the 
right-hand track, the scene is widely different. Here 
were formerly the provision grounds of the negroes 
belonging to Grand Yale; but these having been 
thrown up, a dense growth of small wood has accumu- 
lated, consisting chiefly of Bastard Cedar, Sweetwood, 
Prickly-yellow', with a scattering of Mahogany and 
Logwood. The path is narrow ; and though the 
bushes are low, they meet overhead, so that we ride 
in shade ; but it is the ‘‘ greenwood shade,” that the 
old ballads delight to describe ; for a soft, green light 
penetrates through the pellucid foliage, and the rays 
of the sun, reflected from the glossy surface of the 
dancing leaves, flash and sparkle like a thousand 
diamonds, throwing an indescribable air of cheerful- 
ness over the scene. A little way from the path 
there is a natural well of considerable depth, at the 
bottom of which is an unfailing spring of clear water, 
always cool ; the negro children scramble down its 
