Chap. XVIII.— B. P.J QUEEN DOWAGER AND PRINCESSES. 295 
adopted country for some time. Indeed, the Princess 
considered herself a widow, and would probably have 
felt quite justified in accepting the first eligible offer 
made to her. 
The Queen Dowager and her daughters live at 
Blewfields for the greater part of the year. They 
have another residence two days’ journey up the river, 
which is, however, seldom inhabited, as the ladies 
prefer living in town. 
The house at Blewfields was constructed of native 
material, and did not differ in its outward appearance 
from the houses of the Indians at the time when Co¬ 
lumbus sailed along the coast in 1502, except in so 
far that it possessed window-shutters and a door. The 
roof was high-pitched, and neatly thatched with palm; 
the walls very light and elegant, being simply split 
bamboo, interwoven between the uprights. The floor 
was neatly boarded, and raised some feet off the ground, 
being supported on timbers dovetailed into the up¬ 
rights, so that the building had the appearance of 
being raised on a number of stilts. The door was 
approached by a flight of wooden steps. Altogether, 
for adaptability to the nature of the climate, no better 
residence could be desired. 
Inside, we found the furniture of the simplest kind; 
consisting merely of a few chairs and a table, without 
even the hammock, which, from universal adoption 
and constant use by the descendants of the conquerors, 
has come, very justly, to be called the Spanish ham¬ 
mock, although in truth an Indian invention. 
The King told us to walk into the outer room, Avhile 
