- 42 - 
Mart inique . 
. 1894 
March 1 
Cloudy most of the day with an endless procession 
of heavy showers. 
We left Dominica at midnight and reached Martinique 
early this morning. The first thing I saw when I looked 
out of my port hole was a curiously shaped little boat 
about five feet in length and very narrow, in which 
were two negro boys, naked save for a cloth about the loins. 
They were diving for coins which our passengers were 
throwing over and which they overtook with surprising ease. 
One of them swam directly under the steamer, coming up on 
the other side although we sre now drawing 18 feet. 
Chapman and I went ashore directly after breakfast 
and drove directly to the Jardin de Plantes where we spent 
most of the forenoon. The almost incessant and often 
very heavy showers interfered seriously with our photo¬ 
graphing but I made a series of mental pictures which should 
never fade. To describe them ever so feebly and imper¬ 
fectly is utterly beyond my powers. As the garden is 
said to be one of the most beautiful in the world, I was 
in a measure prepared for the wonderful variety of rare 
and curious trees, shrubs and plants, but I was totally 
unprepared for the natural beauties of the place. It is 
a ravine two or three hundred yards wide at the mouth, 
narrowing to a width of only three or four rods at the 
upper end where the little river which flows through the 
