remarkable thing in the island is a very fine lake, a considerable height above the level of the sea. There are a few hot springs in the country, and the whole soil appears more or less volcanic; indeed there are many remains of ancient craters to be found, in which there are vast quantities of burning sand. Among the live animals there are snakes, crabs, and crapauds in myriads, but the former are not venomous, and the two latter, when nicely dressed, are not unworthy to be called luxuries.

Author. Did you ride much about the country during your stay in the island?

Lieut. S. No, I did not, the roads are not very good; besides which, you know I hate exertion.

Author. Then, I suppose, there are not many carriages in the town.

Lieut. S. No, there are very few; and indeed there is not much society. There was some lack of ladies, and after living in Barbados I could not bear that. If the worthy inhabitants had not been very hospitable, I should soon have been tired of the place: as it was I was not sorry when I left; and when I embarked again on board T's schooner, I welcomed the balmy breeze that sprung up in our favor, and carried us at the rate of six knots an hour toward the island of Montserrat.

Author. Well, I do not think your account will tempt me to Dominica. I prefer taking my bath in the morning, and my ride in the evening, in a more healthy island. Mat, take away the dinner.

Mat. Yes, massa.

Lieut. S. And now, Bayley, you must not forget your promise to excuse me as soon as we had dined. Your dinner was excellent; and, I have no doubt, your dessert will be as good: I should be glad to share it with you; but you know I must keep my engagement with the colonel.

Author. With the colonel! very good, ha! say rather with some fair creole in the neighbourhood of thy comfortable quarters on the hill. However, if you must go, you must; and so farewell. Only promise me a peep at the memorandums you made of your trip to Montserrat and Martinique.

Lieut. S. You shall have them to-morrow, and may keep them as long as you like. I hope you will be able to turn them to account. And now, Adieu jusqu'au revoir.

Exit Lieut. S followed by Mat; the Author leaves the dinner table, and throwing himself on the sofa, falls into a sound sleep when the scene closes, and the curtain drops.

CHAPTER XXXII.

MARTINIQUE.

"We were enabled to go on shore for an hour or two, and were much pleased with what we saw of this really beautiful "town."-Sketches and Recollections of the West Indies.

My friend kept his word. On the following day, shortly after I had breakfasted, Mat brought a brownpaper parcel from Lieutenant S. I have the greatest objection to open a brown-paper parcel, because it was in such a one that I, some time back, received the melancholy intelligence of the death of a very old uncle, who had lived and died what is called a rich gentleman farmer: yet, reader, do not mistake the purity of my grief. I would not have you infer that I was inconsolable at his death; on the contrary, I consider it quite natural for old uncles to die. It was the poor man's legacy that stung me to the soul. Would you believe it, he left me, instead of the thousand and one sterling, which I expected at his decease, five water-spaniels, a young greyhound and terrier, a fowling-piece, a fishing-rod, Walton's Angler,' knowing I was fond of books, and two years' file of the Sporting Calendar.' Hence arose my objection to a brown-paper parcel.

On opening the package of my friend Lieut. S S— I was therefore agreeably surprised to find a very neat journal of his late trip to Martinique and Montserrat, accompanied by very lively and witty remarks on the several scenes he had visited.

I did not forget his permission to turn them to some account and after considerable trouble (observe I never grudge trouble to benefit my readers), I managed, by extracting some passages and altering others, to complete something like an account of one of these islands.

It appears, from my friend's journal, that T's schooner made Martinique before she sailed for Dominica and Montserrat. As an engineer it is not surprising that he should have given a description of so remarkable a fortress as the Diamond Rock.

Martinique was not always in possession of the French; and the memorable capture and defence of the Diamond, when under the charge of Captain Maurice of the navy, ought never to be forgotten by his countrymen.

This rock is some distance from the mainland, and several hundred feet above the sea. It has many cavities, and here and there a ridge towards the summit, on which the English succeeded in mounting several large pieces of cannon.

Their defence of the rock, in the month of June, 1805, was conducted with the usual gallantry of British sailors. Their firing did great execution among the enemy; and it was not until reduced to the utmost extremity, from want of water and amu

nition, that the little garrison could be brought to surrender to the whole French squadron, besieging them, consisting of two seventy-fours, a forty-gun frigate, a brig, a schooner, and eleven gun-boats; and there is no doubt but that they would have held out even against this force, could any means have been found of supplying them with water and provisions. As it was, their terms of capitulation were most honorable, and reflect the highest honor on the character and conduct of Captain Maurice.

Martinique is, perhaps, one of the finest colonies in the West Indies. So says Lieutenant S—; and I will give the rest of his description in his own words:

"The scenery of this little island is beautiful, "and the town by no means unworthy of it. The "great houses of the estates, as we cruised along the "coast, appeared to me more like the country seats "of our English gentlemen than any others I had

seen in the West Indies. I was much disappointed "at not getting a peep at Fort Royale Harbour, “which I had heard so much of. We passed it in "the night; and it was with great difficulty that "I could distinguish La Ramire through a night telescope, and one or two large vessels, that ap"peared like men of war.

"About ten o'clock, A. M. on the following day, our little schooner made the capital, and glided gently into the harbour of St. Pierre. She was "immediately visited by sundry people from the shore, and a boat from the frigate that was lying in "the Bay. There was also a little armed schooner,