Two Years in the French West Indies

ly dark-blue sea. There are lands in sight,-hig

ns and smoky blues. They rise very sharply from the sea to great heights,-the highest point always with a cloud upon it;-they thrust out singular long spurs, push up mountain shapes that have an odd scooped-out look. Some, extremely far away, seem, as they catch the sun, to be made of gold vapor; o

n fly, but at least five times larger. His body is a beautiful shining black; his wings seem r

till hangs in it. Lilac tones show through the water. In the south there are a few straggling small white clou

e is still vapory, varying in coloring from purplish to bright gray; but wherever peaks and spurs fully catch

ds. And just as the lustrous colors of these birds shift according to changes of light, so the island shifts colors here and there,-from emerald to blue, and blue to gray.... But now we are near: it shows us a lovely heaping of high bright hills in front

re bathing on the beach;-they swim well, but will not venture out far because of the sharks. A boat puts off to bring colored girls on board. They are tall, and not uncomely, althoug