making discontented, would altogether amply repay the
trouble and expense of a voyage to those who have leisure or money
enough to enable them to visit the tropical islands.

The delightful, and, indeed, indispensable amusement of bathing, is
particularly dangerous in these countries. In the shallows you are
liable to be struck by the sting-ray, a species of skate, with a sharp
barb about the middle of its tail; and the effect of the wound is so
serious, that I have known a person to be in a state of frenzy from it
for nearly forty-eight hours. In deeper water, the sharks are not only
numerous but ravenous; and I sometimes gratified their appetites, and my
own love of excitement, by purchasing the carcass of a dead cow, or
horse. This I towed off, and anchored with a thick rope and a large
stone; then, from my boat, with a harpoon, I amused myself in striking
these devils as they crowded round for their meal. My readers will, I
fear, think I am much too fond of relating adventures among these marine
undertakers; but the following incident will not be found without
interest.

In company with Charles, one beautiful afternoon, rambling over the
rocky cliffs at the back of the island, we came to a spot where the
stillness and the clear transparency of the water invited us to bathe.
It was not deep. As we stood above, on the promontory, we could see the
bottom in every part. Under the little headland which formed the
opposite side of the cove, there was a cavern, to which as the shore was
steep, there was no access but by swimming, and we resolved to explore
it. We soon reached its mouth, and were enchanted with its romantic
grandeur and wild beauty. It extended, we found, a long way back, and
had several natural baths, into all of which we successively threw
ourselves, each, as they receded further from the mouth of the cavern,
being colder than the last. The tide, it was evident, had free ingress,
and renewed the water every twelve hours. Here we thoughtlessly amused
ourselves for some time, quoting Acis and Galatea, Diana and her nymphs,
and every classic story applicable to the scene.

At length, the declining sun warned us that it was time to take our
departure from the cave, when, at no great distance from us, we saw the
back, or dorsal fin, of a monstrous shark above the surface of the
water, and his whole length visible beneath it. We looked at him and at
each other with dismay, hoping that he would soo