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CHAPTER VII.
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MARTINIQUE—ST. PIERRE—MUSCULAR FEMALES—FEVER—GRANDE RUE—TAMARIND AVENUE—SAVANNA—SKETCHING FROM NATURE—BOTANICAL GARDENS—MOUNTAIN CABBAGE PALM—THE GREAT TROPICAL FALLACY—WATERFALL—THE LAKE—MUSEUM—A FORSAKEN GARDEN—TO MORNE ROUGE—COUNTRY LIFE—THE CALVARY.
“Here the pilgrim may behold
How the bended cocoa waves
When at eve and morn a breeze
Blows to and from the Carib seas,
How the lush banana leaves
From their braided trunk unfold;
How the mango wears its gold,
And the sceptred aloe’s bloom
Glorifies it for the tomb.”
The above lines, appropriate enough for any West India isle, yet for me associate themselves with Martinique more than with any other. It may be because I lingered long enough to know that island better than the rest, or it may be because the remembrance of a certain ride across the rich country—a ride ever memorable as the most beautiful I had ever enjoyed, and which must be described later on—abides with me as a practical lesson in botany by nature herself.