St. Pierre, June.
The whole of May, and the early part of the present month were dry and
fine at Martinique; although, last year, at Demarara, we observed that
the rainy period set in as early as the middle of April. Here, scarcely
any rain fell until the 11th inst. when the clouds poured forth their
heavy streams. It is now considered to be the wet season; yet, so slight
are the marks of it, between the showers; and so very different was the
whole face of the country, in Guiana, during the rains of this part of
the year, that, upon comparison, we might still imagine it to be the dry
season.
For several months past I have been free from the annoyance of the
prickly heat; but, upon this return of the rainy weather, my surface is
again covered with it. We have great comfort in perceiving that the
insects are fewer here than in Guiana, where the tribes of flying and
creeping things constitute as great a plague as formerly in the land of
Egypt. The musquitoes, in particular, are far less troublesome than we
found them last year. They do not seem to like us so well, nor is the
effect of their bitings half so severe. Upon our arrival at Demarara,
soon after we came from Europe, these little buzzing tormentors almost
devoured us. If we were not well protected against them, during the
night, we rose in the morning with our faces so bitten and swollen, that
we were scarcely able to see. Now, we sleep upon open beds, without the
protection of gauze curtains, or any other defence; and if a chance
musquito happen to fix upon us, the wounded part neither inflames nor
rises into an itching tumour, as was the case in Guiana.
Perhaps, from this fact, an argument might be adduced in proof of the
inflammatory nature of that sad malady of climate, called yellow fever;
which, like the musquitoes, assails new-comers in violent and continued
attack; but when they have become acclimated, annoys them only in
weakened and intermitted seizures. While the European strength and
firmness of fibre remain, the bites of musquitoes produce inflammation
and painful hardness; but when the frame has become relaxed and
enfeebled by long exposure to heat, the same effect does not follow: so
of fever—when it afflicts persons recently arrived, and still possessing
the rigid fibre, and strong arterial resistance of a milder temperature,
it assumes a continued and inflammatory form; but when it invades the
languid relaxed creoles, or creolised, a lower degree of diseased action
is induced, and the disorder appears under a remittent or an
intermittent type.
The eleventh instant was observed at St. Pierre as a day of high
religious festival, being what is termed La Fête de Dieu. A splendid
procession took place on the occasion, which afforded us a favorable
opportunity of witnessing the gaudy parade of Catholic ceremonies. The
long and pompous train moved in deep solemnity through the streets,
making occasional pauses, for the twofold purpose of giving rest to the
attendants, and being viewed by the wondering populace.
A grand altar was raised, in La rue Precipice, at only a short distance
from the house where I reside, so that I could observe, from my window,
every part of the procession. I noted the order in which it moved, at
the moment it was passing before me; and now send you a fair copy, that
you may judge of the stateliness and splendour which mark the religious
observances of this little island.
The procession moved through the streets in the following order: first
appeared