Whether it was birds with fins, or fishes with wings, or neither of
these that the old voyagers saw, they discovered yet enough to make them
wonder and rejoice.
"Mountains of sugar, and rivers of rum and flying-fish, was what I saw,
mother," said the son on his return from a voyage to these islands.
"John," said the enraptured mother, "you must be mistaken about the
fish; now don't lie to me, John. Mountains of sugar, no doubt you saw,
and even rivers of rum, my boy, but _flying-fish_ could never be."
And yet the _fish_ were there.
Among the islands of great interest which came in view, stretching along
the Caribbean Sea, was that of Santa Cruz, the island famous for its
brave, resolute women of days gone by, who, while their husbands were
away, successfully defended home and happiness against Christian
invaders, and for that reason were called fierce savages. I would fain
have brought away some of the earth of the island in memory of those
brave women. Small as our ship was, we could have afforded room in it
for a memento thus consecrated; but the trades hauling somewhat to the
northward so headed us off that we had to forgo the pleasure of landing
on its shores.
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