CHAPTER XVIII.

Description of the town of St. John's, the capital of Antigua-- Situation--Arrangement of the streets--Hucksters--Houses-- Springs--Small shops--Stores of the retail dealers--Grog-shops --Merchants' stores and lumber yards--Definition of lumber-- Auction sales--Scotch Row and Scotchmen--Incongruous display of goods--Fire in 1797--Ruins--Fire in 1841--Its devastations.

St. John's, the capital of Antigua, is situated on the west side of the island, and contains about 979 houses. It is built upon a slight declivity, and commands a beautiful view of the harbour, which is one of the prettiest in the West Indies.

The town, which is well arranged, covers a space of about 150 acres of land; most of the streets are wide and well-kept, and intersect each other at right angles--the principal ones running in a straight line down to the sea. There is one peculiarity attending the construction of these streets, which is, that there are no causeways; and consequently, the pedestrian traveller has to elbow his way amid trucks and handbarrows, gigs, carriages, and horsemen, droves of cattle, or cargoes of mules, just landed from other countries, cattle-carts, or moving houses.

At the corners of the different streets are seated hucksters, (black or coloured women;)[68] some with their shallow trays, containing cakes of all descriptions, parched ground nuts, (the _arachis hypogoea_,) sugar-cakes, and other confections, and varieties of fruits and vegetables; others have piles of cottons, coloured calicoes, bright-tinted handkerchiefs, &c., placed by them, or carefully spread along the sides of the most frequented streets, to attract the eye of the passer-by. As most of the Antiguan houses are raised a few feet from the ground, which necessarily requires the use of a step or two, the hucksters are very fond of monopolizing such appurtenances; and it is no uncommon thing to be obliged to wait until they remove their different wares, before you can enter the house, or else take the chance of breaking your neck over heaps of potatoes, or come in closer contact than is advisable with bottles of ginger-drink, or pots and pans of gorgeous colours, from the well-known English potteries.

The houses are generally built of wood, painted of a white or light stone colour, with bright green _jalousies_, or glass windows and green Venetian blinds. The greater number have covered galleries running along the sides or fronts of them, in which the good people love to assemble in the cool of evening, and while away the hours in converse sweet, or scan over the island newspapers--two of which issue weekly from respective presses, to enlighten the worthy inhabitants as to what is passing in their little colony.

Some of these dwellings are very commodious, and make a good appearance, particularly when shaded by a few beautiful trees, or standing, as many of them do, in a small garden, embellished with Flora's splendid children. But as for following any of the _five orders_ in their architectural adornments, that is quite out of the question; or at least, it is an order of their own invention they prefer, and which may be called the Antiguan.

Within these last few years, a few houses have been erected, with low roofs and parapet walls; the usual plan is to have that necessary part of the dwelling raised in the fashion of an English barn, or an Egyptian pyramid. One peculiarity which strikes the eye of a stranger in these dwellings, is the absence of chimneys--the kitchens being, in most instances, detached from the house; and the heat of the climate, as a matter of course, renders all grates or stoves, and their accompanying flues, unnecessary.

Since the serious droughts in 1833, springs or wells have been dug in various parts of the town, which, although the water is brackish, are of great use for many domestic purposes, particularly to the lower classes, who do not possess a cistern. These springs have been lately modified by having water-engines attached to them, and enclosed by a low wall and wooden palisadings, painted of a bright sky-colour. Methinks, however, that Master Sol will soon spoil their flaunting beauty. It is a pity the directors of these improvements did not choose green instead of the other colour; for, from the whiteness of the streets, and the extreme glare of the sunbeams, we require something to relieve and cool the eye; and much as we admire the lovely tint of the heavens, light blue palings do not equally fascinate our gaze.

In different parts of the town are numbers of small shops, of about six or eight feet square, in which varieties of trades are carried on. In one may be seen a cobbler--no! I beg their pardon --a _cordwainer_; himself shoeless, busily employed in forming, from his not very fragrant materials, a pair of creaking high-heeled boots, for the use of some black exquisite. A bunch of human hair attached to the end of a long stick, and moving with every breeze, bespeaks the abode of a barber and hair-dresser; while a multiplicity of shreds of cloth, half-finished vests, a goose, and other _et ceteras_, with a group of mortals seated _à la Turque_, proves beyond doubt that the inmates are of that particular class of beings, nine individuals of which are required to form one ordinary man. Others, again, of the receptacles of trade, are stocked with provisions, such as small quantities of salt pork, corn, flour, candles, butter, (of the consistence of honey,) a few dried peas, or horse-beans, and any other little matters; while some contain _dry goods_, as it is customary, in this island, to term all articles of drapery. Small as these tenements are, many of them are divided by a lathed partition, forming on one side a butcher's shamble, where an array of sheep's heads, miserable specimens of legs of mutton, and saffron-coloured pork, may be met with, which, carnivorous as it must be allowed we all are, few like their eyes to dwell upon; while, on the other side, gown-pieces, and "blue checks," with other "odds and ends," claim the frequenters' attention.

Next to these small shops, come the stores of the retail provision dealers, which are upon a larger scale, and of course better supplied with goods. Then there are the _grog shops_, as they are termed, where to the heterogeneous mass of eatables, crockery, and tin-ware, is added the more exciting articles of brandy, rum, gin, porter, wine, &c.; and where of an evening, amid fumes of every description, (from Yanky cheese to Virginia tobacco,) and dim smoky oil lamps, parties of soldiers, sailors, dingy-looking blacks, and unfortunate females--ay! and men of better rank of life, who ought to blush to be found in such places--love to congregate, and barter health and money, for dirty goblets of those fiery liquids.

When passing, in an evening, these _store-houses for crime_, they forcibly bring to my mind thoughts of Pandemonium. The dusky lamps, at one moment sending forth their long flaming tongues, the next, only serving to make darkness visible; the crowds of negroes, with their gleaming eyes and glittering teeth, presenting the appearance of so many attending demons; the groups of white soldiers or sailors, looking more pallid in the flickering lamp-light, and greedily quaffing the deleterious fluid, which, sooner or later, preys upon their very vitals--and then the various sounds of cursing and quarrelling, idiotic laughter, discordant singing, and incoherent talking, as the miserable frequenters arrive at the different stages of intoxication,--conspire to render it more like a council-chamber of tormented spirits, than the self-chosen place of amusement of rational creatures.

The next grade of these places of merchandise are, the merchants' stores or warehouses, with their attached lumber-yards. These are, in most instances, large, dismal-looking buildings, whose unwashed rafters afford safe protection to innumerable spiders of every size, or present a desirable spot for the freemasons (the ichneumon bee) to erect their clayey dwellings upon. One corner of these vast emporiums is latticed off, forming a counting-house, decorated with a coat of white, green, or yellow paint, and shewing its chequers of red tape, for the purpose of sticking orders, letters, or bank-notices for payments, due at the Colonial or West India Bank. Here, on a high-legged stool, of dingy look, sits the merchant, dressed in his round, white jacket, snowy pantaloons, Panama or Paget hat; and, with pen in hand, and a pinch of _Lundy-foot_ between his fingers, (to assist his ideas, I suppose,) calculates the probabilities of his _'specs_, which in other days afforded such golden harvests as to give rise to the belief, that the streets in the West Indies were paved with doubloons and dollars.

But let it not be imagined that this worthy and numerous class employ all their business-hours in calculating their gains and losses, poring over the leaves of a dusty ledger, or puzzling their brains over their "bank accounts." Oh! no, no--the Antiguan merchants are far too wise for that--many a bowl of "pepper-punch" is brewed; many a long cork of approved brand is drawn, and the "rosy red" _Vin de Bordeaux_ is poured into the tendered crystal; and many a bottle of champagne, or "Tennent's pale ale," is unwired, uncorked, and its creamy excellence effused for them. Nor is the tongue idle; well-seasoned jests and brilliant repartees abound; news is discussed, wit flies like arrows, and many a rosy face grows more roseate, and many a laughing eye becomes dewy before they part.

But I must say something more about the stores--what a scene of confusion they present to the unaccustomed eye!--what varied and multiplied articles do they display! In one part are hogsheads of salt cod, herrings, and other salted fish; bins of Indian corn, rice, peas, and salt; flour, tobacco, barrels of blacking, and kegs of lard. In another part may be found barrels of beef and mess-pork; hogsheads of prime Cumberland hams, kits of ox tongues, and barrels of biscuits; sparkling Moselle, hock, seltzer-water, and lamp-oil; preserved meats and soups, and kegs of crackers; pitch, tar, rosin, and oats; block-tin tureens, spirits of turpentine, and Cognac brandy; crates of earthenware, rose nails, and hogsheads of tin-ware; with London pickles, agricultural implements, and hair-brooms. On another side of the store lie huddled together hogsheads of Barclay's brown stout, boxes of soap, bundles of wood-hoops, and cases of gilded cornices; boxes of raisins and currants, paving flags, and masts and oars; firkins of Cork butter, hogsheads of lime, and patent corkscrews; Hyson teas, Durham mustard, loaf-sugar, and Havannah cigars; potatoes, onions, Bologna sausage, and blacksmiths' coals; artificers' tools, anti-corrosion paint, currycombs, and _gold watches_; the whole wound up with Rowland's Macassar oil, floating soap, and quack medicines, consisting of Morrison's pills, and Swain's Panacea, which, if we believe the labels, are to cure every ill "that flesh is heir to;" while from the ceiling dangle in graceful negligence, coils of rope, and horses' halters.

To prove to any of my readers who may be sceptical of the truth of such a _various_ assemblage of goods, as I have stated the merchant's stores contain, I will give a _correct copy_ of a cargo handed about to the different merchants, as brought by an American vessel arrived to-day:--

CARGO ON BOARD BRIG "RANDOLPH," FROM PHILADELPHIA.

12 barrels pitch 1 box fine beaver hats 118 covered hams 100 boxes cheese 2 casks of shoulders 3 doz. Windsor chairs 30 barrels pilot bread 16 nurses' rocking chairs 10 do. navy do. 8 ladies' cane do. 30-3 do. sugar biscuits 1 doz. children's do. 20-3 do. soda 49 barrels potatoes 20-3 crackers 18¼ gross lucifer matches 50 kegs lard 1 mahogany spring-seat sofa 30 blls. mess pork 1 do. wash-stand, marble top 100 kegs butter 3 boxes stationery 13 boxes lump tobacco 4 backgammon boards 20 do. champagne cider 12 bridles 20 doz. buckets 22½ doz. black ink in boxes 50 boxes soap, 24 lbs. 1 mahogany spring-seat, rocking chair 700 do. 16 lbs. 2 wooden arm chairs 50 do. mould candles 17 do. do.

Offers in cash, or negotiable notes, 1 o'clock.

From the store we will take a walk into the lumber yard. But before I proceed to describe it, it will be necessary for me to make another digression, and let those of my readers who may be yet ignorant of the real meaning of the term know what "lumber" is. Upon my first acquaintance with West Indians, I was particularly surprised to hear them talk so much about _lumber_, and of Mr. This and Mr. That dealing in such commodity. As my mind has ever been apt to roam far and wide, I no sooner heard the merits of this peculiar article (if I may so call it) discussed, than my schooldays' tasks presented themselves to my recollection, and I mentally murmured with Dr. Johnson, "lum-ber, lumber, old useless furniture."

Having arrived at this definition, again I fancied myself amid broken chairs and tables, sofas minus a leg, shattered looking-glasses, musty, dusty, rusty, grates, antique bottles, and similar chattels, where in one of my hoyden days I had scrambled to look for a bird-cage in which to imprison a poor half-fledged skylark, captured for me by a little ragged _protégé_ of mine, known by the true English name of "Bill."

Yet still I was not satisfied; for what, thought I, can West Indian merchants find so particularly valuable in all these divers specimens of mutilation, as to induce them to deal so largely in them? I could only answer mine own query by exclaiming "'tis strange! 'tis passing strange!" Time wore on, however, and I arrived at Antigua; then my wonder soon ceased, and I found out that in fact a _lumber merchant_ signifies nothing less than a dealer in _timber_.

Having endeavoured to give the Antiguan definition of lumber, I will now proceed to describe "the yard." It is generally entered by passing through the store, at the hazard of putting your foot into pools of rosin or varnish, slipping over stray peas, or half-breaking your neck over heaps of brickbats. At length the yard is gained, and drawing a long breath, as much from heat as exercise, I look around. On each side of the door are huge stacks of staves, piled up in a very uniform manner, used for making hogsheads or tierces for packing sugar, or puncheons for the conveyance of rum. In other parts of the yard are bundles of cypress or cedar shingles,[69] white and pitch pine boards, planks and scantlings, all packed in appropriate order; that is, when they are not landing cargoes, and the master has an eye to tidy appearances; but if this is not the case, the different species of lumber are tumbling about in all directions.

Then there are large sheds erected in various parts of the yard, for the purpose of securing "hard-wood" (as mahogany, mill-timber, &c.) from the effects of the weather. There is also very generally a pigeon-house or two to be met with, and their pretty inmates may be seen gliding about, picking up the scattered grain, or, perched upon one of the lumber stacks, watch your every movement with their bright round eyes, while their variegated breasts glitter in the sun-beams like so many gems. At the bottom of the yard large gates open to the sea, furnished with a huge crane; and here it is that all those incongruous articles which fill their stores, and bring wealth to their coffers, are landed.

When the merchants are visited by certain fears and twitchings, relative to the fact of their not being able to dispose of their diversified merchandise, they "call an auction;" and under the auspices of the red flag,[70] and with the assistance of the auctioneer's lungs and hammer, instead of harlequin's magic wand, turn all these "creature's comforts" into pounds, shillings, and pence.

In some parts of the town are auction rooms, where, with the same laudable zeal for "charming variety," things as distinct from each other as the nadir is from the zenith, are put up, the mysterious words "going, going, _gone_" uttered, and finally knocked down to the attendants--whites, blacks, and coloured.

Having mentioned the stores of those philanthropists, who, for the mere consideration of a little dirty _pelf_, undertake to provide so liberally for the inner man, it will be necessary to take a look at those temples of fashion, fancy, and fascination, commonly known in this island as "Scotch shops," or in other words, Antiguan haberdashery stores.

In a particular part of St. John's, running north and south, lies a well-made broad street, which, from being inhabited principally by Scotchmen, is known by the appropriated name of "Scotch Row." Capital stores (when I _am_ at Rome, I like to do as Rome does, and give everything its approved title) flank each side of the street, and display their glittering wares to the admiration of passers-by; and from whence (with but few exceptions) emanate those dresses and ribbons of a thousand dyes, with which the _fair sex_ of _every colour_ delight to enrobe their lovely forms.

Here, as in the merchants' stores, may be found articles of the most opposite natures. In one part lies a delicate white satin bonnet, with its bunches of "orange flowers," to grace the head of some blushing bride, or decorated with the snowy plumes torn by the swarthy African from some swift-footed ostrich; while by its side reposes a broken ewer, or an iron pot.

You may, in truth, buy anything and everything in these "Scotch shops," from three farthings' worth of tape to the most costly articles. Dresses of all kinds; ribbons, laces, flowers, and bonnets; coats, vests, pantaloons, umbrellas, and shoes; blondes, scarfs, mantelets, perfumery, and _tenpenny nails_; paint, frying-pans, and carpets; jewellery of every description, dripping-pans, and Seidlitz powders; Epsom salts, ginger-beer, and white lead; horses' halters, cherry-tree chairs, and preserved fruits; children's dresses, lanterns, horse-whips, and coffee; sugar-loaves, saddles, bonnet-shapes, and white-handled knives; ladies' corsets, Valenciennes edging, and Westphalia hams; pigs' tongues, truckle cheese, and bird-seed; dish-covers, bottle-baskets, hooks-and-eyes, and brimstone; harness, cattle medicines, and lozenges; "Mechian" razor strops, and Metcalf's toothbrushes; with brandy, champagne, Madeira, sherry, port, sauterne, Rhenish wines, bottled stout, pale ale, glasses to drink all these good articles out of, and I know not what besides. Loaves of sugar dangling by the side of zephyr scarfs, or candle-boxes _vis-à-vis_ with ostrich feathers.

Oh! ye tradesmen of Regent-street, so polite and perfumed, and such _calibre_, who stand behind your glossy counters with the air of "my lord duke," or glide with noiseless steps and mincing airs over your Persian carpeted floor,--what, _what_ would you think of our Antiguan shops? Or how would those over-fashionable gentlemen at Storr and Mortimer's be astounded, when tendering for approval to "beauty bright" those costly gems which carry us back to the days of the Arabian nights, if they came in contact with a brass kettle or an iron pot!

I often wonder how the pale-faced, straight-haired clerks (for they are not termed _shopmen_ in this part of the world) manage to get on among such a multiplicity of dissimilar articles; or that from being asked for so many contrary goods during the day, they do not make many and greater mistakes. A lady drives up in her carriage to the door of one of these labyrinthan _depôts_ of vanity, and in that "low soft voice so sweet in woman," asks to be shewn some orange flower chaplets, and essence of _Frangipanier_. The poor clerk, his brains turning round like a revolving light, flies to obey her commands; but lo! in his hurry and confusion, he catches up a _frying-pan_, and with streaming brow, presents the inelegant article to the lady's astounded and horrified gaze, instead of the delicate perfume.

The master of these gay and changeful stores, is as diversiformed as his goods are various. In the morning he stands behind his counter, and "bows to" and "ma'am's" any black member of the _canaille_ that condescends to purchase a few yards of "half-a-bit" (2d. sterling) ribbon to sandal her mill-post ankle; while in the evening, in all the glories of white pantaloons, new coat, smart buttons and embroidered stock, he figures away at an aristocratic dinner party.

Times are indeed altered with these Scotchmen. In former years, when Sawney left his mountain home, his trouty lochs, and oaten bannocks, for the hot suns and debilitating climate of these "Isles of the West;" he did it for the sake alone of _siller_. As to ambition--faugh! he hated the very name, or else, like the cock in Esop's fable, he spurned the glittering bauble, of which he knew not the worth. They plodded on from year to year, increased their stock of goods, and added many a round dollar to their worldly wealth, and then sat down contentedly to enjoy the smoky flavour of their usquebaugh, forming no greater acquaintance with the governor, than as they saw him proceed to the court-house in discharge of his high office, or knowing no more of government-house than the outer appearance.

But the Scotchmen of the present day scorn the lowly ideas of their predecessors. They ape the man of fashion, call their haberdashery store a merchant's warehouse, and foregoing the vulgar title of draper, take to themselves the loftier name of _merchant_. Nor is this all. They attend the governor's _levees_, play the amiable at a quadrille party, frequent the billiard table, or perchance take wine with his excellency, and grin and bow with approved precision. Their shops prove an agreeable morning lounge for the superiors of the island, and in a glass of _sangaree_, or a flowing bowl of _pepper-punch_, the difference of grade between the entertainer and the entertained is overlooked.

That "there is no rule without an exception," is a true apophthegm; and among the many emigrants from the "land o' cakes," some very respectable individuals are to be met with.

I believe it a correct statement to assert, that "Scotch Row" begins with one of this superior class, and ends with him who has been called "The father of the Scotchmen," not from his age, but from his high conduct.

Mr. H------ is a man in whom great urbanity is blended with strong determination of character. He possesses varied talents, and is no mean disciple of St. Cecilia's; and although, perhaps, not altogether ranking among the _literati_ in the fuller sense of that term, yet he

"----laughing can instruct Much has he read, Much more has seen: he studied from the life, And in the original perused mankind."

Philosophy to him, however, is no gloomy subject; no solemn stalking about wrapt up in his own stately ideas, and scorning, with cynic's eye, any harmless mirth. In the words of one of Britain's poets, I may say of him--

"----nor purpose gay, Amusement, dance or song, he sternly scorns."

Nature seems to have intended him for a higher occupation, than to stand behind a counter and sell a few yards of tape, or a paper of pins.

The streets of the capital have all their proper appellations, although no painted board announces such a fact to the traveller. The east and west streets, beginning southerly, are-- South-street, Tanner, Nevis, Ratcliff, St. Mary's, High, Long, Church, Newgate, Wapping, North, Bishopsgate, St. John's, St. George's; north and south streets, beginning easterly, are-- East-street, Cross, Church-lane, Temple, Steeple-street, Corn, Market, Friendly-alley, Gutter-lane, Newgate-lane, Popeshead, Thames, Coney-Warren-lane, Subscription-alley, Craw-lane, Wilkinson's-street, and Mariner's-lane. Some of these lanes and alleys are famous for their _grog-shops_, particularly that establishment known by the appropriate name of "The Hole-in-the-Wall," for the only entrance is a low arched door-way scooped out of its massy walls.

One part of the town bears the somewhat lofty title of "The Parade." In former years it answered as a kind of exchange, where the merchants congregated together during "'Change hours," and discussed the business of the commercial world. Cargoes of all descriptions were here disposed of; dollars and doubloons in one moment changed owners, and human flesh and blood was openly bartered. For a long period, however, the Parade visibly declined in importance, and became but the shadow of itself; but within these last few years, it has, phoenix like, sprung up with renewed vigour, and presents to the passenger's eye many good and bustling stores.

St. John's has, at various times, suffered severely from conflagrations--a circumstance not to be wondered at, when we consider the great number of wooden buildings, and the carelessness of persons in throwing about particles of fire. In 1769, an accident of this nature occurred, which was most direful in its consequence. It arose from the negligence of a woman who was employed in ironing, and who omitted to extinguish the fire in a coal-pot, after finishing her labours.

It may be necessary, perhaps, for the comprehension of some of my readers who may not be conversant with West Indian domestic subjects, to mention more fully the construction of a coal-pot. In some of the islands these utensils are composed of clay, moulded into the form of buckets, and baked in a moderate fire; but the Antiguan coal-pot is nothing more nor less than a deal box, clamped with iron or tin, and lined with bricks plastered over. A few pieces of old iron hoop are placed horizontally across the box at stated intervals about halfway from the bottom, and upon these is placed a layer of charcoal. The irons are arranged upon the top, and the coals ignited; no bellows are used, except what Nature has afforded in the owners' own lungs; or when their breath fails, and the fuel still proves refractory, their large straw hat is displaced from their heads, and brandished before the mouths of their little stoves, with sundry ejaculations of "Eh! eh! war do de co-als to-day, me b'lieve dem no want to burney."

But to return to the fire in 1769; it burnt with fearful rapidity. The gaol, custom-house, indeed nearly the whole town, fell a prey to the destructive element, 260 houses being levelled with the ground, and some of the finest stores and richest merchandise destroyed. Government granted 1000l. for the relief of the sufferers; and their kind friends in Liverpool collected, during the following year, the sum of 346l. 2s. 6d., which was thankfully and gratefully received.

Many other fires have occurred since then, the vestiges of which remain to this day; one in particular, known by the appropriate name of the burnt wall, is still pointed out to the notice of the stranger. Part of this land has been lately purchased by the Wesleyans, who have erected a small chapel upon it, which answers also for a school-room, and where preaching is held on Friday evenings.

But the conflagration which happened on the 2nd April, 1841, has effaced the memory of all other events of the same nature. It broke out in the house of a person carrying on the business of a straw bonnet-maker, after the family had retired to rest, and it was only discovered in time for the inmates to make their escape by jumping from the upper windows.

A few moments after it was first perceived, the walls fell, and the flames burst forth with a fearful rapidity, curling and twisting themselves in all directions; seizing upon every thing within their reach, and illuminating the heavens with their awfully grand lustre. The church bell tolled forth its solemn warning; drums beat an alarm; and, in the words of an old writer, when describing the fire in London in 1666, "dreadful screams disturbed the midnight quiet, and raised the affrighted people from their beds, who, scarce awake, all seemed to be a dream. Each one appeared but as a moving statue, as once Lot's wife, viewing her flaming Sodom, was transformed into a pillar."

So saith "Samuel Wiseman," and his graphic description answers equally for the fire of Antigua, as it did in yore, for that of London.

House after house, store after store, fell beneath the raging element; or, when built of stone, only their bare and blackened walls were left standing. No sooner was one house on fire, than the flames were pouring into the windows of the next; scathing the trees as they passed, dismantling them of their verdure, and leaving them only a seared and withered trunk. Again the Custom House fell a victim, and to this cause many deficiencies in the statistical part of this work may be attributed; for, from the suddenness and violence of the fire, many valuable records were lost.

Still the fiery deluge rolled on,--at one moment the sky was almost hidden by the dense masses of smoke; at another, bright spiral lines of flame shot up into the air, and cast a lurid light on all around. I am sorry to record it, but the negro-men behaved very ill, refusing to lend assistance, (in most instances,) but employing their time in plundering from the sufferers. To the glory of the women, be it spoken, _they_ did not follow the example of their kinsmen, but cheerfully and firmly laboured through that awful night. The crew of two French ships of war, which chanced to be lying in the harbour, also assisted, aided by the sailors from the English and island vessels; and the gentlemen of the town, headed by the lieutenant-governor, Major McPhail, (who flew to the scene of danger stockingless and almost slipperless,) worked with undaunted courage and good-will; and by dint of energy, and pulling down several small houses, so as to make room for the flames in their gyral evolutions, at length succeeded in gaining the mastery over their formidable enemy.

But, alas! when morning came, and threw a steady light upon the picture, what a melancholy sight was presented to the view. A long line of building, including the best and finest houses, entirely destroyed; lumber-yards and warehouses despoiled of their goods, and the very streets strewed ankle-deep with burnt salt-fish, peas, rice, flour, and similar articles! In some parts might be seen groups of negroes carousing around some gutted dwelling, tearing out the burning provisions, and, amid all this desolation and the mournful feelings of men, who, in one short night, had lost that for which they had toiled for years, shouting forth from their stentorian lungs snatches of some bacchanalian song, or allowing their vacant heartless laugh to vibrate painfully upon the silent morning air.

Ever and anon, the smouldering fire sent up some fitful glare; or a brilliant coruscation of sparks, shot forth from some still burning log of pitch-pine, gilded the surrounding scene with their beautiful but dangerous showers. The fire burnt down to the sea-side; seizing upon the very timber of the wharfs and cranes, and destroying them to the water's edge. The amount of damage has been estimated at 250,000l. sterling; but the loss is more than can be calculated, for it has despoiled and depopulated one of the finest and busiest streets in the town, and which, from the depressed state of trade, will be long, very long, before it is again rebuilt.

More than eight months have silently rolled by since that awful cry of "Fire" awoke the Antiguans from their tranquil slumbers, and sent a thrill of dismay through the hearts of all. And there stand the ruins, blackened and cracked by the intense heat which caused the very glass to pour down in streams, which, when congealed, appeared like icicles; or else, only shewing by the open space, where the ill-fated dwellings stood--where the voice of happy infancy once uttered many a jocund shout--or where the soft full tone of riper years carolled many a light and gladsome lay. Long grass and luxuriant weeds have already grown up in the spot once dedicated to business or pleasure, and the bat and the lizard have made it their own.

------

[68] The whites, or Buckra's, as they are called in the West Indies, however indigent in circumstances, pride prohibits them from engaging in such industrious pursuits.

[69] Used for covering the tops of houses, as tiles or slates are in England.

[70] A flag is always hoisted upon places where a sale is held.