Page:The Naval Officer (1829), vol. 2.djvu/257

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE NAVAL OFFICER.
251

into her paroxysm of jealousy, I should be able to detect any farther attempt on my life. Of this, however, I had no fears, haying by degrees discontinued my visits to the young lady who had been the cause of our fracas; and I never afterwards, while on the island, gave Carlotta the slightest reason to suspect my constancy. I was much censured for my conduct to the young lady, as the attentions I had shewn her, and her marked preference for me, had driven away suitors who really were in earnest, and they never returned to her again.

In these islands, the naturalist would find a vast store to reward investigation; they abound with a variety of plants, birds, fish, shells, and minerals. It was here that Columbus made his first landing, but in which of the islands I am not exactly certain; though I am very sure he did not find them quite so agreeable as I did, for he very soon quitted them, and steered away for St. Domingo.

It is not, perhaps, generally known, that New