The Argosy — page 161: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Nee In a West India Hurricane. 147 beauties, who affirmed that Julia’s colour was not real; but this was, I am sure, a libel, as no woman would venture on rouge in the tropics; they are too often in a melting mood for anything but natural colours to stand. At any rate, Julia Walkingshaw was a solitary rose among a bevy of lilies, and was, of course, a subject of envy. But, apart from this, like all Creoles, she was a most charming creature. There was some- thing so deliciously languidin the glance of her eye, and her manner was so cordial and winning, that I felt as though I was under a spell; but her chief charm lay in her figure, which had all the voluptuous roundness of tropical girlhood. ‘With a host and hostess bent on making my visit a round of plea- sure, and a sweet girl, who seemed never better pleased than when she was exercising her fuscinations upon me, you may imagine that the time passed very pleasantly. “T arrived at Barbadoes on the fifth of July, and on that day five weeks we were all assembled, after tea, in the piazza of Mount St. Eliza- beth. The mansion was situated on msing ground, and commanded a fine view of Bridge Town and the roadstead, which was crowded with small craft, together with a number of larger vessels waiting to complete their cargoes. “The evening was superbly beautiful ; the bay lay before us in pano- ramic splendour ; the sea was as smooth as glass; and, if an occasional air was wafted across it, the ripple only served to show the effect of the sunlight to greater perfection. “Those who have not passed an evening in the piazza of a West India house have missed one of the most exquisite pleasures I know of. A tropical sunset is at all times a gorgeous scene, and this one was eminently so. “The sea, like a lake of molten sapphire and beryl, lay hushed in the deepest repose, while overhead, the sky expanded into an arch of the purest blue, which, as the sun sank lower and lower, became suffused with a soft amethystine brightness, spreading like the glow on beauty’s cheek ; growing deeper and deeper as the sun touched the horizon, till both sea and sky were steeped in a flood of prismatic colours. Then, as if to cradle the departing luminary, a bank of soft clouds sprang up around him ; and he, fascinated by the crimson glory by which he was surrounded, lingered for a while on the horizon, and then sank languidly into his ruby bed. “The short twilight verged into night; the stars came out large‘and luminous, appearing as though they were surrounded by a halo, and then the full-orbed moon rose, and flung a silvery sheen over the whole scene. “ How strangely beautiful it was to sit in that verandah, and look out upon the night, so radiant in its calm, still beauty! Everything seemed to lull the senses into repose ; the night-wind fanned my cheek ; comicaooks GO)