human
San Fernando is the name of another town, and there are, besides, two or three pretty villages. Near one of them, called La Brea, is a pitch lake composed of bituminous matter floating on fresh water.
gpt
I don't think I'd want to take a sail on it, said Elsie.
human
Trinidad is a warm place, isn't it, grandma?
gpt
Yes; the climate is hot and moist; it is said to be the hottest of the West India islands.
human
Then I'm glad it is winter now when we are going there.
gpt
Yes; I think winter is the best season for paying a visit there,
human
I suppose we are going to one of the towns, said Ned.
gpt
Aren't we, papa?
human
Yes, to the capital, called Port of Spain. I was there some years ago. Shall I tell you about it?
gpt
Oh, yes sir! please do,
human
It is a rather large place, having some thirty or forty thousand inhabitants. Outside of the town is a large park, where there are villas belonging to people in good circumstances. They are pleasant, comfortable-looking dwellings with porches and porticoes, gardens in front or lawns with many varieties of trees--bread-fruit, oranges, mangoes, pawpaws--making a pleasant shade and bearing delightful fruits; and there is a great abundance of flowers.
gpt
All that sounds very pleasant, Captain, said Mr. Lilburn,
human
Mosquitoes, for instance? queried the Captain.
gpt
Yes, I remember Froude's description of one that he says he killed and examined through a glass. Bewick, with the inspiration of genius, had drawn his exact likeness as the devil--a long black stroke for a body, a nick for a neck, horns on the head, and a beak for a mouth, spindle arms, and longer spindle legs, two pointed wings and a tail. He goes on to say that he had been warned to be on the lookout for scorpions, centipedes, jiggers, and land crabs, which would bite him if he walked slipperless over the floor in the dark. Of those he met none; but the mosquito of Trinidad was enough by himself, being, for malice, mockery, and venom of tooth and trumpet, without a match in the world.
human
Dear me, papa, how can anybody live there?
gpt
Froude speaks of seeking safety in tobacco-smoke, replied her father, with a quizzical smile.
human
You might do that; or try the only other means of safety mentioned by him--hiding behind the lace curtains with which every bed is provided.
gpt
But we can't stay in bed all the time, papa,
human
No, but most of the time when you are out of bed you keep off the mosquitoes with a fan.
gpt
And if we find them quite unendurable we can sail away from Trinidad,
human
Perhaps we are coming to the island at a better time of the year than Froude did, as regards the mosquito plague,
gpt
Ah, mother, I am afraid they are bad and troublesome all the year round in these warm regions,
human
But we can take refuge behind nets a great deal of the time while we are in the mosquito country, and hurry home when we tire of that,
gpt
Ah, that is a comfortable thought, said Mr. Lilburn.
human
And we are fortunate people in having such homes as ours to return to.
gpt
Yes, we can all say amen to that, said Chester, and Lucilla started the singing of
human
Home, Sweet Home,
gpt
Dolphin