out safely where a fall or a twisted ankle would be
the probable consequence of attempting to go on foot. Meanwhile, Roseau
itself was to be seen and the immediate neighbourhood, and this I could
manage for myself.

My first night was disturbed by unfamiliar noises and strange
imaginations. I escaped mosquitoes through the care of the black
fairies. But mosquito curtains will not keep out sounds, and when the
fireflies had put out their lights there began the singular chorus of
tropical midnight. Frogs, lizards, bats, croaked, sang, and whistled
with no intermission, careless whether they were in discord or harmony.
The palm branches outside my window swayed in the land breeze, and the
dry branches rustled crisply, as if they were plates of silver. At
intervals came cataracts of rain, and above all the rest the deep boom
of the cathedral bell tolling out the hours like a note of the Old
World. The Catholic clergy had brought the bells with them as they had
brought their faith into these new lands. It was pathetic, it was
ominous music; for what had we done and what were we doing to set beside
it in the century for which the island had been ours? Towards morning I
heard the tinkle of the bell of the convent adjoining the garden calling
the nuns to matins. Happily in the tropics hot nights do not imply an
early dawn. The darkness lingers late, sleep comes at last and drowns
our fancies in forgetfulness.

The swimming bath was immediately under my room. I ventured into it with
some trepidation. The basement story in most West Indian houses is open,
to allow the air free passage under them. The space thus left vacant is
used for lumber and rubbish, and, if scorpions or snakes are in the
neighbourhood, is the place where one would look for them. There the
bath was. I had been advised to be careful, and as it was dark this was
not easy. The fear, however, was worse than the reality. Awkward
encounters do happen if one is long in these countries; but they are
rare, and seldom befall the accidental visitor; and the plunge into
fresh water is so delicious that one is willing to risk the chance.

I wandered out as soon as the sun was over the horizon. The cool of the
morning is the time to see the people. The market girls were streaming
into the town with their baskets of vegetables on their heads. The
fishing boats were out again on the bay. Our Anglican church had its
bell too as well as the cathedral. The door was open, and