NOTES ON THE BUTTERFLIES


gently in the breeze. I observed with joy and
admiration the beautiful and strange butterflies
that I had never seen before, and that I did not
even know the names of.
 Here, indeed, was a new field open to me full
of great possibilities and pleasures, and I imme-
diately became all impatience to make a start
and learn something about these wonderful and
beautiful insects.
 After a stay of a few weeks in Belize I went to
Punta Gorda in the south of the Colony. The
sloop I chartered for this voyage had the mis-
fortune to be caught in a hurricane and was cast
on an uninhabited island called Snake Cay,"
and we, the occupants of the boat, barely escaped
drowning. So here I was, a regular Robinson
Crusoe, with the captain of the boat, who was a
native, and a native boy, marooned on a desert
island with no chance of getting our heavy boat
launched again without assistance, for it had been
thrown up thirty feet on the beach and could not
be moved by our united efforts.
 I suppose that this would have been a terrifying
experience to most people, and with very good
reason too, but strange to say, after I had got over
my immediate fright at the prospect of a watery
grave I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure. I had
come to the Colony in search of adventures and I
felt I was getting them.