Front matter
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Chapter I. A Voyage To The Caribbees
A Sudden Start on a Sea Journey. — Incidents of the Voyage. — From January to June, Overcoats to Seersuckers, in Three Days.— The Rising of the Southern Cross. — The Course to the Caribbees. — Historical Notes. — A Landfall 7
Chapter II. An Afternoon On Deck
The Northern Caribbees. — Anguilla. — Its "Wild Irish" Settlers and Present Inhabitants. — St. Martin, a Franco-Dutch Island. — St. Bartholomew. — Saba, a Crater Shipyard.— St. Eustatius. — Arrival at St. Christopher 22
Chapter III
ST. CHRISTOPHER.
St. Kitt's Liamuiga, the Fertile. — Historical Notes.— Governors Warner and D'Esnambuc. — English and French Settlement of St. Christopher. — Final Bauishmeut of the French. — Sunrise in Basseterre Roadstead. — The Fleet of Bumboats. — Attacked by Fruit-sellers and Washerwomen. — Effecting a Landing ■> . ? 33
Vl CONTENTS.
Chapter IV
RAMBLES IN ST. KITT'S.
PAGE
Basseterre, the Capital of St. Kitt's. — Slavery and Windmills. — Free Labor and Steam-power. — A Magnificent Landscape. — Distant Views. — The Barber of Basseterre. — A Wonderful Garden. — A Host of New-found Friends. — The Voyage to Antigua 44
Chapter V. Antigua
A Tropical Sunrise. — Antigua. — The Harbor of St. John's. — General Description of the Island. — A Derelict Bark. — Scenes on Landing. — A View from an Old Church-yard. — Lizards Great and Small. — West Indian Entertainers. — A Morning Drive 56
Chapter VI. A Day At Antigua
West Indian Hospitality. — A Sugar Plantation. — Sugar-making. — An Occult Luncheon. — Turtle, and again Turtle. — The Public Library. — Historical Notes. — Under Way for Islands farther South 68
Chapter VII. Life On Shipboard
A Sudden Sunset. — A Mysterious Evening.— Sleeping on Deck. — The Ladies' Reservation. — The Doctor's Camping-ground. — Morning Ritual. — Fruit and Salt-water Baths. — Guadeloupe. — The Saints. — Marie Galante. — Dominica... 80
Chapter VIII. Sabbath Island
Dominica. — Mount Diablotin. — The Lay of the Land. — The Forests and Mountains. — Its unexplored Interior. — Dr. Imray's Description of its Soil and " Peculiarities." — Its Crops and Commerce. — The Land of Caribs. — Roseau 88
CONTEXTS. vu
Chapter IX. Mad Anina— Martinique
PAGE
A Silver Streak. — Shakespeare's Knowledge concerning the New World and the Cannibals. —Martinique, its Physical Geography, Climate, and Soil. — St. Pierre, Martinique, Colored Folks. — The Costumes, Jewellery, and Appearance of the Franco-Africaines 100
Chapter X. A Drive Through Martinique
"Not our Funeral." — A Merry Party. — Over the Hills and Far Away. — The Gendarmerie. — The Valley of the Roxelane. — The High Woods. — Martinique Scenery. — A Way-side Luncheon. — Agouti. — A Pig's Nurse. — A Chorus of Bells.— Return to the Ship 112
Chapter XI
ST. PIERRE, MARTINIQUE.
A Visit to the American Consul. — Hotel Micas. — The Carriage which never "Came to Arrive." — Strolls about Town — Des MoucJies du Vent. — A Religious Parade. — An Ancient Muldtresse. — A Street Fountain.— Birthplace of Empress Josephine. — H. M. S. Diamond Rock. . , 125
Chapter XII. Arrival At Barbados
Carlisle Bay. — A Fleet of Merchantmen. — What was not to be Seen by the Dawn's early Light. — Where are the Yankee Ships and their Yankee Crews ? — One Vast Sugar-estate. — An International Episode. — Barbadian Loyalty to Britain. — Aunt Polly. — Swizzles and Swizzle-sticks 135 viii CONTENTS.
Chapter XIII. Walks In Bridgetown
PAGE
A Favored People. — Statistics of Population. — Sugar, Molasses, Rum. — Street Scenes in Bridgetown. — The Ice Establishment. — War News. — New Old Friends. — Barbadian Sociability. — A Well-ordered Hostelry . 148
Chapter XVIII. The Future Of The Colored Races
PAGE
Regrets at Leaving San Fernando. — The Future of the Cooly and Negro Races. — The Heirs of the Caribbees. — The Example of Hayti. — Are the Colored Races to Retrograde in their Civilization ? — Wanted, a Constable 205
Chapter XIX. Grenada
Discovery of Grenada and Tobago. — Description of the Former. — St. George's Harbor. — A Romantic Town. — The "Yaws." — A Ride Inland. — Beasts of Burden. — Cocoa and Cocoa-planting. — Bread-fruit 222
Chapter XX. Drive Through Grenada
A Wonderful Procession. — A Curious Orchestra of Silent Reeds. — "Gib me sixpence, an I tell you." — Morne des Sauteurs. — Historical Notes. — French Conquest of Grenada. — Its Capture by the English.— A Plague of Ants 234
Chapter XXI
ST. LUCIA.
Its Settlement. — Carib Wars. — Struggle between English and French for its Possession. — The Gibraltar of the West Indies. — Warfare for a Century and a Half. — Rodney. — Sir John Moore. — Final Cession of the Island to Great Britain 246
Chapter XXII
ASHORE AT ST. LUCIA.
Geography of St. Lucia. — Port Castries. — Souf riere Bay and Town. — Diving Darkies. — Electioneering. — Creole Ponies. — The Sulphur Mountain. — A Trip along the Shore. — The Pitons. 258 x CONTENTS.
Chapter XXIII. Montserrat
PAGE
To Montserrat via Sundry other Islands — Irish Darkies. — General Description. — Plymouth. — The Swarm of Beggars. — "Glad I'se alibe, sah. " — A Heartless Flirtation. — The Author's Experience with an Unknown Fruit 270
Chapter XXIV. Nevis
St. Mary-the-Round. — Nevis. — Its Geography and General Appearance. — Charlestown, its Capital. — Its Hot Springs. — An Ancient Hotel and Ancient Guardian. — Lord Nelson's Marriage in Nevis. — Alexander Hamilton 281
Chapter XXV. The Conclusion Of The Whole Matter
Aleck and Anthony, the Crew of the Captain's Gig. — How Aleck "loss his mudder." — From Basseterre to Sandy Point. — A Historic Coach. — View from North End of St. Kitt's.— Home Again 293
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.
A Hindu Coolt Belle,
Bum-boats at Basseterre, St. Kitt's, .
An Avenue of Cocoa-palms,
Martinique Scenery,
A French Creole,
A Martinique Belle,
Street Fountain in St. Pierre,
Birthplace of the Empress Josephine,
Flying-fish Fleet off Barbados,
Main Street of Bridgetown, Barbados,
A Cooly Woman, .
Hindu Doctor and Wife,
The Pitons of St. Lucia,
"Penny fo' de Baby, please,"
Frontispiece.
FACING PAGE
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ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.
PAGE
S
Getting his Bearings, .....
Watching for the Southern Cross, .
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Map op Martin Behaim— 1492, ....
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A Caribbean Bo-peep, .....
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Tailpiece, .......
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Street Scenes, ......
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The Beach at Basseterre, ....
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An Old Gateway, ......
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A Relic of the Good Old Times,
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Old Well — St. Kitt's .....
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Fruit-seller — Antigua, .....
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Common Garden-lizard, .....
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The Salmagundian making ready to Sketch,
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Tailpiece, .......
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The Market-place, St. Pierre .
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Nelson Monument— Bridgetown,
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Park in Barbados, .....
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A Medical Recipe, .....
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Native Indian of British Guiana, . .
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
XI] i
PAGE
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Leaves of "Victoria Regia," .....
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Hindu Barber, .... ...
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View of Port of Spain, ......
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Road in Front of Governor's Palace,
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Cooly Field-hand, . ,
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A New World Hindu, ......
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Hindu Coolies cutting Cane, .....
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The Salmagundian gets a " Tip," ....
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Fort St. George, Grenada, .....
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Tailpiece, ........
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A Mount, . . ...
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Molasses, . . . . . .
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Tailpiece, ........
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Return from Soufriere, .....
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A Planter's House, ......
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Initial, ...
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Scramble for a Copper, ......
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The Seller of Cashews, .....
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A Pirogue, . . .
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Redonda,
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Church where Nelson is alleged to have been married,
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Tailpiece, ........
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Somfcrero A -*\
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W~ Bartholomew Sk Christophers
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Dominic*
Diamond RocK*^*;- 1
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Tobago
ISLANDS
DOWN THE ISLANDS.
Introduction
SAT down to my breakfast on the morning of the second day of April, 188-, with no more notion that I should find myself at dinner-time that day at sea, bound on a voyage the story of which I now propose to write, than I have, seeing that I am come in safety home again, of setting out before to-morrow to seek my fortune in the uttermost part of the mysterious country known as the Back of Beyond. On the morning in question, having slept in, as my Scotch forebears would put it, I was not surprised, on entering the dining-room, to discover that the other members of my family had already gone their several ways into the work-a-day world ; all except my father, who was standing by the window, whence, from time to time, he cast weatherwise glances aloft, blinking and frowning at as angry a sky as had ever scowled back at him on any morning all winter long between Thanksgiving and the dreary April day whereof I am writing.
According to calendars and date-lines of daily newspapers the second month of spring was two days old ; the weather, to the contrary, bore testimony of midwinter — midwinter at its worst — with never a suggestion of springtide nor prophecy of summer ; if summer there was ever again to be. The temperature was of January. A bitter wind chased dark masses of clouds relentlessly before it ; occasional flurries of snow, mingled with dust set free by March thaws and subsequent dry spells, choked and blinded the few, the very few, venturesome folk who hurried along the almost deserted thoroughfares of New York City. Rheumatism and lumbago claimed their victims at the street-corners; coughs and colds lurked privily, lying wait at every open door and window. Heaped in the gutters and piled high within the iron railings in front of the houses there yet remained unmelted patches and remnants of grimy snow, the cast-off rags and tatters of winter. Strange noises were to be heard overhead, where revolving chimney-tops groaned and grumbled as they turned every which way on stiffened joints ; shutters moaned on rusty hinges ; window-blinds banging away like batteries of artillery, threatened to fly from their fastenings to dash themselves into kindling on the icy pavements below.
There was a cheerful fire of soft coal burning in the dining-room grate. As I settled myself at table my father left his place at the window, and, approaching the fireplace, laid a fair, round hickory-stick on the glowing embers, where it presently began to sing as merrily as the Perrybingle family tea-kettle. "When the flames had licked the wood all over, with much hissing and smacking of lips they proceeded leisurely to devour the fragrant morsel, roaring up the chimney meanwhile in brave defiance of the tempest as it whistled the sparks upward to lead them a merry dance out into the cold and gloom of winter. Once more stationing himself at his point of observation my father remarked, in the confident tone of a man who had weighed well his words:
" The Doctor will catch it this afternoon when he gets outside of Sandy Hook ! »
Hardly were the words spoken when an unusually violent gust, the cause of renewed groanings and sounds of woe among the chimney-tops, swooping down from the roofs of the dwellings to windward of our home dashed like invisible driving spray against the window-panes. The blast roared lustily, but, failing to frighten the observer from his
INTRODUCTION. 5
coign of vantage or to enter the cosey room by main force, in rage of disappointment the southeaster slammed my father's iron shutters in his face and so put an end to his meteorological observations, for that morning at least. The good man turned from the darkened window and left the room, adding, as he bade me good-morning :
" What a day to go to sea ! "
What a day, indeed ! What a day to go anywhere under the sky ; worst of all, to go to sea. It was bad enough to be compelled to stir out-of-doors on such a day, or, for that matter even, to move about in-doors beyond the comfortable influence of a blazing hearth.
Without pretending to be weatherwise, although I can make good my claim to be considered the son of a weather-prophet of acknowledged accuracy in making predictions, by aid of a meteorological shoulder and well-tested weather-glass, I could see with half an eye that the Doctor would inevitably " catch it," whatever it was or from whichever way it blew, long before he came half-way to Sandy Hook, or by whatever other course he might make bold to venture seaward that April day.
In due time, having satisfied my appetite, leisurely looking over the morning papers meanwhile, I rose from the breakfast-table, entertaining even at that late hour, no more idea of going to sea than I have, as I sit writing these words, of taking my departure forthwith, ere this ink be dry, to the land which lies east of the moon and west of the sun, indeed, I may say — and with no intent to exaggerate — to the Cannibal Islands themselves.
Shortly before noon the Doctor, who had prescribed for himself that most agreeable of all remedies, to wit, rest and a sea-voyage, whose preparations to follow his own advice, " to take what he would give," I was watching with envious interest, suddenly, without pausing in the operation of packing his trunk, startled me by asking the question :
" How would you like to go to the Caribbean Islands % "
The inquiry smacked of suggestion and contained a pleasant flavor of invitation. What wonder, then, that I eagerly confessed my willingness, not to say longing, to set out at once, not only to the archipelago in question, but to any other part of the navigable sea or habitable land to which he might be good enough to ask me to bear him company.
Nevertheless, as I made my confession it did not enter my brain to conceive that there was any probability of my going with him on a trip for which he had nearly completed all his preparations and I had made no preparation at all. In a word, I had as soon thought of setting out with him then and there as he of leaving me in charge of his patients during his proposed absence.
It is the unexpected that happens.
So it fell out that I sat down to dinner at four — bells, that day, having the Doctor for my vis-a-vis at the Captain's table in the cabin of the steamship Barracouta, bound, not, indeed, to the Back of Beyond but, in very truth, to the Cannibal Islands — the original and, mark you ! the first so-called Cannibal Islands which, as everybody ought to know, were discovered in the year 1493 by no less famous a navigator than Christoval Colon himself.
It may well be imagined, I did not make haste slowly in my efforts to catch the steamer, which was to sail that day promptly at 2 p.m. Indeed ! so great was my hurry and excitement that I was half-way to Sandy Hook before I began to realize how I had set out on a voyage which, as it turned out, was to last five weeks to a day. In hot haste, therefore, I took my departure from home and from among my people, not in the manner of a man who was minded to go a-pleasuring, but after the fashion of one who meditates a flight into foreign parts conveniently beyond the ken of extradition treaties.
Chapter I. A Voyage To The Caribbees
A Sudden Start on a Sea Journey — Incidents of the Voyage — From January to June, Overcoats to Seersuckers, in Three Days— The Rising of the Southern Cross — The Course to the Caribbees — Historical Notes — A Landfall.
A nipping southeaster hurtled over the East River, as the Barracouta swung out of her dock at the foot of Market Street, and gradually headed oceanward. The gale driving counter to the ebbing tide caught the crests of the waves, -curled them backward, whipping them into foam and icy spray ; it whistled through the rigging of the ships, swept across the cables of the great bridge, until they droned like the chords of a titanic ^Eolian harp. The clouds fled away headlong before the pitiless storm, that whisked the steam from the vent of the Barracouta's whistle, which gave a prolonged shriek as the steamer gathered headway. A parting salute was fired, and the squall snatched the smoke from the cannon's mouth, tearing it into tatters and whirling it out of sight before the report of the discharge had startled the echoes of Washington Heights.
The air became colder and colder as the steamer kept steadfastly on her way down the harbor, the storm increased in violence until it was impossible to escape from its onset in the shelter of any nook or corner on deck. The captain and pilot paced to and fro on the bridge, stamping their feet, beating their hands, blinking and winking ahead into the eye of the wind, from time to time turning their backs to the gale to catch breath as they rubbed their noses, already as red as the port side-light of the steamer. The man at the steering gear, standing exposed to the weather forward of the deck-house, looked pinched and utterly woe-begone, clinging desperately as if frozen fast to the spokes of the wheel which, in its oscillations, seemed to move, not to be moved or controlled by, him. On deck a few passengers stuck it out obstinately, cowering in the lee of the smoke-stack. Two able-bodied sea travellers, the Doctor and the companion of his travels, tramped valiantly up and down, taking exercise for to-morrow and trying their sea-legs.
As the steamer passed through the Narrows, Staten Island and the Bay llidge shore showed chill and desolate, all the trees gaunt and leafless, the meadows sere and frost-bound ; moreover, there was a broad fringe of ice all round the sea-wall of Fort Lafayette. On Coney Island and all along the New Jersey strand great waves flung themselves high up on the beach, and long before the Barracouta passed the Hook great billows charged in from the warring sea to meet her. Out on the open it was dreary and bitterly cold. I thought of the store of summer clothing in my trunks below, and shivered miserably, although crowded close to the warm side of the smoke-stack. Three days later the mere mention or remembrance of winter wraps brought the perspiration to my brow as I sat in the shade of the deck-awning.
Night came on, and a dirty night it proved to be, but the ship struggled bravely summerward, leaving winter, knot by knot, astern. Far away beneath the Southern Cross lay our desired haven, beyond the blue waters where it is always spring or summer, where there is no ice nor snow, chill winds nor frosty weather.
Shortly before dark we heard a great alarum high overhead, the " honking " of a flock of wild geese winging their way to the ice-bound North from which we were hastening. The apparition of the steamer with its long plume of inky smoke startled them ; for a few moments the long line of their flight was broken — their rank, falling into confusion, swerved from its direct course like a file of soldiers thrown out of step. Then the swiftest and, presumably, the wisest, members of the company went quickly to the front, with loud trumpeting, to marshal and re-form the column. Away it sped, lessening to view, until it appeared like a mysterious flying serpent, such as ancient mariners are said often to have seen hovering in mid-air ; it dwindled in the distance, for a moment floated over the horizon like a film of cloud ; then the jaws of darkness devoured it up.
At dark Long Branch was on our starboard quarter, distant eight or ten miles in the west. At bedtime Barnegat Light, just abeam, winked slyly at us, as if up to our little game (and entirely approving of it, by the way) of sailing away in quest of summer long before the time of the singing of birds had come to our Northern homes.
The next morning we were crossing the river in the ocean, as Maury calls the Gulf Stream in his delightful book (" The Physical Geography of the Sea "), a book that deserves to be well-thumbed by all sea-going people, whether they be shipped as sailor-men before, or passengers behind the mast. The air was mild and spring-like, the sky, however, still threatened storm ; frequent rain-squalls drove us to seek shelter, but not for long at a time, in the deck-cabin, or those who found favor in the sight of our captain, into his snug official quarters under the pilot-bridge.
All day the gulls that had followed us throughout the previous night hovered in our wake, uttering shrill, complaining cries. These restless beings bore us company until we came to quieter waters, where we found warmer weather and fairer skies ; then, like the evil voices that haunted Bunyan's Pilgrim, they went back and came no farther. "When the stormy birds forsook us we were taken under the protection of other seafowl, called by sailors " bo'suns," for the reason their long tail-feathers bear a fancied resemblance to marlin-spikes. Landsmen know these as man-o'-war birds, of all winged creatures the most graceful, flying so easily, wafted with so little effort from wave to cloud that one is never tired of watching them, forever circling and poising in mid-air. These attendant spirits accompanied us for days, until we reached the Caribbean Islands, and thence, when we were northward bound, escorted us back again to that place between the sea and sky where they had first taken us under their care and keeping.
On the second day of the voyage spring came joyously to meet us, bringing sunshine and warm weather. We threw aside our wraps, and turned down the collars of our overcoats, which we had worn constantly since leaving home. Later in the morning we discarded topcoats and reefers altogether; presently there was no need to pace the decks to keep ourselves warm. By mid-day, stowed away in snug places on the deck or lounging comfortably in easy-chairs, talking or reading, smoking, dozing, each according to his humor, we all rejoiced greatly in the sunshine.
The delightful change in the weather had a pleasant effect upon the spirits of the ship's company ; the passengers, gradually yielding to its genial influence, became more and more affable, in a surprisingly short time made themselves at home, striking up acquaintance with, and confiding in one another, in the manner of jovial sea-going folk. First, it was unanimously agreed that the weather was all that could be desired or we deserved. Second, that the Barracouta was a sea-worthy and comfortable vessel. A further meeting of minds developed the fact that the companionship of our captain was agreeable to all on board. His cheery presence was as welcome as the flowers in May. Before many days, indeed from that day forth, we looked upon him as the owner of the steam-yacht Barracouta, on which we were cruising, by invitation of our friend, at his sole expense (a mere trifle to him, by the way, of three or four hundred dollars per diem), having nothing to do but enjoy ourselves and partake of the kindly hospitality of our host.
On the third day out from JSTew York we donned summer apparel, and were glad of the shade of an awning stretched over the deck. The thermometer had mounted from the thirties into the seventies. In seventy-two hours we had given winter the slip, leaving leaden skies and howling gales behind us, to sail under a cloudless heaven over a sea glistening in the sunlight of midsummer. It was almost
A VOYAGE TO THE UABIBBEES.
impossible to realize that in so short a time we had been transported from January to June. The magic of the change may thus be formulated :
Day before yesterday, late in the evening, we bade good-by to
winter ; yesterday morning we fell in with early spring; in the afternoon ethereal mildness itself extended to us a genial greeting, and to-day we drank in, or, like Joey Ladle, took in through the pores, all the delights of one of the rarest days of a New England June. Had Mark Twain's collector-of-weathers been of our company, within three days of setting sail from the foot of Market Street, New York, he might have added to his meteorological museum specimens of every known variety of climate to
be found in the latitude and longitude of the Island of Manhattan between Christmas and Fourth of July.
When we had left Sandy Hook seven or eight hundred miles behind us, patches of bright-yellow gulf-weed floating on the ocean bore witness that we had reached the outlying regions of the Sargasso Sea.
DOWN THE ISLANDS.
Schools of dolphins numbering many scores played about the ship ; innumerable flying-fish, frightened at our sudden approach, leaped unexpectedly from the sea, to scatter in all directions, like bevies of quail flushed by an over-eager dog. We enjoyed from this time on a climate that varied but little in temperature, being always, day and night, delicious and mild. In the evenings glorious sunsets promised well for the morrow, and at night the stars shone with unusual lustre. Night by night, as we neared the tropics, we watched to see the
Southern Cross rise above the horizon ahead of us. Some of the ship's company really seemed to yearn for it with sentimental anticipations of delight, having prepared themselves by meditation (and fasting, during rough w r eather) to gaze upon the mysterious symbol in solemn wonderment or with ecstatic admiration as the occasion might seem to demand. At last, one glorious evening, we were summoned from the dinner-table out on to the deck, into the pale light of the stars, there to behold the much-talked of constellation, some of us for the first time in our lives. "When it was pointed out to us as we stood in the moonlight, leaning over the taffrail, there was a short but embarrassing silence, which was shattered (broken would be altogether too mild a term) almost immediately by somebody, I think it was one of the ladies, who remarked, in an injured tone :
" I don't think that's much ! "
Alas ! she voiced the sentiment of a majority of her fellow-passengers.
It required a determined effort of the imagination to make out the cruciform outline of the Southern Cross, so imperfectly indicated as it is when seen north of the equator, by four irregularly placed stars — heavenly bodies that certainly did not, on that evening at least, shine with the rare effulgence we had been led to expect they would shed. Therefore we hastily concluded we had been imposed upon, and were wroth, as Naaman the Syrian was wroth when bidden by the master of Gehazi —
" Go and wash in Jordan seven times."
" Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel ? "
Were not Pleiades and Orion more glorious than the constellation we had sailed so far to see ?
In honest truth, we had not sailed far, nor even turned aside from our course, but being, man and woman-like, unreasonable in our disappointment, we would have chimed in with Sidney Smith's irreverent friend who had been heard on occasion to speak " disrespectfully of the equator " itself, had he been of our company and seen fit to express utter disapprobation with the appearance of the Southern Cross. We watched it evening after evening and through the silent watches of the night ; as we approached the equator it rose higher and higher above the horizon, brightened and glowed in greater glory, but we never entirely recovered from the rude shock to our sensibilities occasioned by our disappointment over its entirely unsatisfactory first revelation.
By the time I had been four or five days at sea I ceased to wonder at the breathless haste of my departure from my father's house, and began to have some idea of where I was going ; for I confess, when I set out on the voyage, 1 was wof ully ignorant of everything concerning the Caribbean Islands, almost of their whereabouts. And I here venture to remark — not ill-humoredly nor in extenuation of my own lack of knowledge concerning the geography of these islands that dot the chart of the Caribbean Sea like stepping-stones between the shores of ]STorth and South America — it is an undoubted fact, a fact to be marvelled at, that nine out of ten of my countrymen are no better informed on the subject than was I when I set sail for the Windward Islands. I am convinced this is true, for, on my return home, I had what journalists call " a beat " on nearly all my acquaintances, to whom I had much that was strange and wonderful to tell concerning my travels. I made the pleasing discovery that whatever I had to say about the foreign parts I had visited was good fresh news to such of my friends and neighbors as were compelled, for the sake of politeness or the kindly interest they take in whatever concerns me, to hear me patiently, remaining dumb before me, until I had sailed my voyage to the Caribbees over again.
A mono- other things I discovered how, before the time of Columbus, some geographers imagined the existence of a continent lying to the west of the Azores, basing their statements concerning its location and extent on the stories told by adventurous mariners who had journeyed far into the terror-inspiring expanse of the Western Ocean. By giving heed to yarns spun for their delectation, by sailor-men newly returned from cruises in the direction of fabled Cipango and far Cathay, the scientific gentlemen who composed the royal or imperial geographical societies of the fifteenth century became cunning to design maps of the world which they offered in evidence, in support of theories on which they founded a system of physical geography that set at naught the established order of creation. These learned people not only said unto continents " Be ye removed and be ye cast into the sea," but, aided by their imaginations, raised from unfathomable depths populous archipelagoes or deserted islands with less mental labor and
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