ance from the house--perhaps three hundred yards. In the
days of the old privateers this house played an important part, for it
was fitted as a blacksmith's and carpenter's shop, and was probably a
very handy place for slight repairs to be carried out at very short
notice.

Leaving the Store, a beautiful velvety path, broad enough for a cart
road, leads up a slight ascent skirting the beach to the house and
cottage, which I naturally call by a word very dear to me in my
solitude--_home_.

I will ask the reader to glance at the accompanying plan to aid him in
getting a clearer idea of this homestead than my pen, unaided by
pictorial effort, would convey.

A, then, is a comfortable and picturesque four-roomed cottage. B is the
stable for my noble steed, Edward. C is the store-house, with loft over
for straw, etc., for said noble quadruped. In the store I keep my
utensils and implements for farm work, potatoes, flour, coals, and other
heavy goods. D, sheltered garden for winter crops; F, the vegetable and
fruit garden, in the midst of which stands an immense and very prolific
mulberry tree; it spreads its branches fifty-four feet from north to
south, and fifty-one feet from east to west. The garden contains fruit
trees of all kinds. E, the Seignieurie or Government House--my
palace--or, in plain words, a solid stone-built four-roomed house that
might stand a siege. The front windows look out over the lawn, G, to the
sea beyond, and those at the back command the well-walled-in fruit
garden, F. H is devoted to shrubs and medicinal herbs. J is the
flower-garden with a summer-house in the corner. K, the well of
excellent water. L, flight of stone steps to the lower path leading
round the island. M, pigeon-tower and fowl-house amidst walnut trees. N,
Plantation and forest trees. O, watch house, once used as a strong room
or prison. P, an old iron gun (mounted on a stone platform, which would
probably fall to pieces at the first discharge) for summoning aid in
case of sickness or distress. Q, road to fishing-store and boathouse. R,
path up the hill to the piggery.

I think the reader may, from the foregoing, form some idea of the island
and homestead, as I have taken him all round the former, and pointed
out, although very briefly, the various portions of the latter. I have
wasted no time nor ink in so doing, as he like myself, will doubtless
find more pleasure in the narrative which commences in the succeeding
chapter. A f