o make myself as comfortable as circumstances would allow.

The treatment I met with among the planters, during my whole residence
in the island, was that of unvarying kindness; many of them were well
educated and cultivated a literary taste; had well-furnished libraries,
which were not kept for show; and the history and writings of Ramsay,
Ferguson, Burns, Beattie, Robertson, Blair, and other distinguished
Scottish authors, were as familiar with some of the planters in Grenada
"as household words." The early novels of the "Wizard of the North" were
then exciting much interest, which was shared by the inhabitants of the
English West India Islands.

The mildness of the climate seemed to have a tendency to melt away that
frigidity which is a characteristic of people of the north, and the
residents of the island were as frank, free, and hospitable as if
they had never been out of the tropics. I soon formed many pleasant
acquaintances and acquired many friends. And this, with the aid of
books in abundance, enabled me to pass my leisure hours agreeably.
Notwithstanding the heat of the climate, and the prevalence of the
erroneous idea that violent physical exercise in the tropics is
injurious to the health of strangers, I indulged often in recreations of
a kind which excited the surprise and called forth the remonstrances of
my friends.

From my earliest recollection, I was a devoted disciple of good old
Izaak Walton, and the rivers on the north side of the island, rushing
down from the mountains, with deep pools, and rocky channels, and
whirling eddies, being well stocked with finny inhabitants, furnished me
with fine opportunities to indulge in the exciting sport of angling.
My efforts were chiefly confined to the capture of the "mullet," a fish
resembling the brook trout in New England in size and habits, although
not in appearance. It is taken with the artificial fly or live
grasshopper for bait; and to capture it, as much skill, perseverance,
and athletic motion is required as to capture trout in the mountain
gorges of New Hampshire.

I also occasionally indulged my taste for rambling in the mountains.
In these excursions, which, although exceedingly interesting, were
solitary, for I never could persuade anyone to accompany me, I always
took a gun, making the ostensible object of my rambles the shooting
of RAMEES birds of the pigeon species, of beautiful plumage, nearly as
large as a barnyard fowl, and of delicate fl