orny
leaves; and the ferns as large as trees, and yet as beautifully cut as
those in our own country, which clothed every hillside where a fountain
flowed forth; and then the countless variety of creepers, whose
beautiful tracery crowned every rock, and hung down in graceful festoons
from the lofty trees. Now and then, as passing through a valley and
mounting a hill, we stopped and looked back, we caught sight of the blue
sparkling sea, with the brig and other vessels in the harbour; a few
white sails glancing in the sun, between it and the horizon; and nearer
to us, valleys with rich fields and streams of water, and orchards of
oranges, limes, and shaddocks; and planters' houses with gardens full of
beautiful flowers, and negro huts under the shade of the plantain-trees.
Then there were those forest-giants, the silk-cotton-trees, and various
kinds of fig-trees and pines, such as in the old world are never seen.
But the creepers I have spoken of make the woods still more curious, and
unlike anything at home. First, a creeper drops down from a branch 150
feet high, and then another falls close to it, and the wind blows and
twists them together; others grow round it till it takes root, and form
a lofty pillar which supports the immense mass of twisting and twining
stems above. As we rode along, I saw from many a lofty branch the
net-like nests of the corn-bird hanging at the end of long creepers.
Those mischievous rascals, the monkeys, are fond of eggs, and will take
great pains to get them; so the corn-bird, to outwit them, thus secures
her nest. It has an entrance at the bottom, and is shaped like a
net-bag full of balls. There the wise bird sits free from danger,
swinging backwards and forwards in the breeze.

We slept that night at the house of a friend of the captain's, who had
come out with him in the brig. It was a low building of one storey,
with steps leading up to it, and built chiefly of wood. A veranda ran
all the way round it. The rooms were very large, but not so handsomely
furnished, I thought, as the captain's cabin. People do eat curious
food in the West Indies. Among other things, there was a monkey on the
table; but if it had not been for the name of the thing, I cannot say
there was any harm in it. I got a bit of it after it was taken from the
table, and it was very like chicken. There were lizards and snakes,
which were very delicate. There was a cabbage cut from the very top of
a lofty t