All doors and windows are closed before sunset and not opened until the moon is well up. Then large fires are lighted around the house to drive the mosquitoes away. This is for our benefit, for the natives do not mind these insects as much as we do. But we have other midnight visitors.
Large fireflies fly in at the open windows and light up the room with their fairy lamps. And such wonderful fireflies, over an inch long!
The people, the children especially, are very fond of these fireflies and frequently keep little cages of them for pets. They feed them on sugar-cane juice and bathe them as if they were birds.
[Illustration: COUNTRY HOME OF THE BETTER CLASS.]
Little crabs rattle gaily over the floor and sometimes crawl into our shoes, where we find them in the morning; friendly but ugly lizards croak from the walls and roof, where they pass the night hours in catching insects.
These lizards are found in and about most of the houses and are harmless, useful little fellows. They are six or seven inches long, of a pale, yellowish color, mottled with brown.
Instead of taking a morning bath in our rooms, we take a dip in the warm sea water. We find it hot, even very early in the morning; and as we walk to the shore in our bathing suits, we make a large palm leaf do duty as a sunshade.
When we dress for breakfast we examine our clothes very closely, for the centipedes have a disagreeable way of taking strolls over one's clothing and the bedding.
Our breakfast consists of turtle eggs, bread fruit, plantain and cocoanut milk. Our meals are served on the veranda, and there we spend the most of the day. Hammocks are swung from the beams, and, lying in them, we drink in the cool sea air and feast our eyes upon the beautiful surroundings.
In the shallow water near the shore we find great pink conch shells. The fish in them we have made into soup for our dinner, and very good soup we find it.