from the Caribs, made
of strong tough cane. At the foot of the cliff were the smart American
schooners which I had seen on landing--broad-beamed, shallow, low in the
water with heavy spars, which bring Yankee 'notions' to the islands and
carry back to New York bananas and limes and pineapples. There they
were, models of Tom Cringle's 'Wave,' airy as English yachts, and equal
to anything from a smuggling cruise to a race for a cup. I could have
gazed for ever, so beautiful, so new, so like a dream it was, had I not
been brought back swiftly to prose and reality. Suddenly out of a clear
sky, without notice, and without provocation, first a few drops of rain
fell, and then a deluge which set the gutters running. We had to scuttle
home under our umbrellas. I was told, and I discovered afterwards by
fuller experience, that this was the way in Dominica, and that if I went
out anywhere I must be prepared for it. In our retreat we encountered a
distinguished-looking abbe with a collar and a gold cross, who bowed to
my companion. I would gladly have been introduced to him, but neither he
nor we had leisure for courtesies in the torrent which was falling upon
us.

FOOTNOTES:

[10] Not to be confounded with St. Domingo, which is called after St.
Domenic, where the Spaniards first settled, and is now divided into the
two black republics of St. Domingo and Hayti. Dominica lies in the chain
of the Antilles between Martinique and Guadaloupe, and was so named by
Columbus because he discovered it on a Sunday.

CHAPTER XI.

Curiosities in Dominica--Nights in the tropics--English and Catholic
churches--The market place at Roseau--Fishing extraordinary--A
storm--Dominican boatmen--Morning walks--Effects of the Leeward
Islands Confederation--An estate cultivated as it ought to be--A
mountain ride--Leave the island--Reflections.

There was much to be seen in Dominica of the sort which travellers go in
search of. There was the hot sulphur spring in the mountains; there was
the hot lake; there was another volcanic crater, a hollow in the centre
of the island now filled with water and surrounded with forest; there
were the Caribs, some thirty families of them living among thickets,
through which paths must be cut before we could reach them. We could
undertake nothing till Captain C. could ride again. Distant expeditions
can only be attempted on horses. They are bred to the work. They climb
like cats, and step