PREFACE.
During a trip to the Lesser Antilles in the summer of 1887, the
writer of the following pages, landing at Martinique, fell under
the influence of that singular spell which the island has always
exercised upon strangers, and by which it has earned its poetic
name,—Le Pays des Revenants. Even as many another before him, he
left its charmed shores only to know himself haunted by that
irresistible regret,—unlike any other,—which is the
enchantment of the land upon all who wander away from it. So he
returned, intending to remain some months; but the bewitchment
prevailed, and he remained two years.
Some of the literary results of that sojourn form the bulk of
the present volume. Several, or portions of several, papers
have been published in HARPER'S MAGAZINE; but the majority of the
sketches now appear in print for the first time.
The introductory paper, entitled "A Midsummer Trip to the
Tropics," consists for the most part of
notes taken upon a
voyage of nearly three thousand miles, accomplished in less than
two months. During such hasty journeying it is scarcely possible
for a writer to attempt anything more serious than a mere
reflection of the personal experiences undergone; and, in spite
of sundry justifiable departures from simple note-making, this
paper is offered only as an effort to record the visual and
emotional impressions of the moment.
My thanks are due to Mr. William Lawless, British Consul at St.
Pierre, for several beautiful photographs, taken by himself,
which have been used in the preparation of the illustrations.
L. H.
Philadelphia, 1889.
