a chance to satisfy his love of the soil, and he paints de- lightful pictures of tropic scenes and things and people. Here again the more elaborate specimens are to be found in the books, especially in the earlier one on Mexico ; but I prefer the piquant freshness of little touches jotted down,' under the immediate impression, in the diary of the day. How graceful, for instance, is this description of Fernando de Noronha : " The island in the season at which we visited it was a gem of picturesque beauty, ex- ceedingly broken and diversified with dells and rocks and small streams, etc. It was the middle of the rainy season. The little mountain paths as we returned became little brooks, that hummed and purled on their rapid course." ^s Or this, again, of Martinique : " In the afternoon strolled on the heights in the rear of the town, and was charmed with the picturesque scenery on every hand. The little valleys and nooks in which nestle the country houses are perfect pictures, and the abrupt and broken country pre- sents delightful changes at every turn." 26 While the following passage adds a personal note which is as at- tractive as it is evidently sincere : ** Visited the Savan- nah [Fort St. Louis] to hear the music, which is given every Sunday evening. It was a gay and beautiful scene, the moon, the shade trees, the statue of Josephine, the throng of well-dressed men and women, the large band and the fine music, the ripple of the sea, and last, though not least, the katydids, so fraught with memories of
�� �
