314
HOUSES.
The town of Falmouth is noted for being the first part of the island settled upon by the English, who, under the command of Mr. Warner, son of Sir Thomas Warner, emigrated from St. Christopher's in 1632, and laid out the surrounding country in fields of tobacco, cotton, and ginger, which were for some years after the staple commodities of Antigua. Humble as might have been the architectural ornaments of this town in those early days, it seems almost an impossibility to suppose them less then than they are at present ; for if strangers (from some of our bustling maritime cities in Europe, for instance) were suddenly and unconsciously landed in the streets of Falmouth, they would to all certainty believe them to be so many pathways to the " castle of indolence ;" and the irregular and dismal-looking buildings to be the habitations of some lawless, vagrant tribe. A few fourcornered houses, in shape like a pigeon-coop, and of dimensions to suit a dweller of Lilliput, are elevated a short distance from the ground by being placed upon empty boxes or barrels, or four pillars of rudely-piled stones, which arrangement forms a snug retreat for the pigs or poultry of the inmate, or serves as a reservoir for sundry discarded pots and pans, or other " household gods." These habitations are as variously placed as the taste of their owners may chance to dictate. Some present an acute angle, others a broadside to the eye of passengers. Some stand in what I suppose is intended to represent a garden, whose rank weeds and straggling vegetables are guarded from the steps of the unwelcome marauder only by a gate, made from empty candle-boxes or barrel-heads, flanked by a thinly sprinkled row of some dwarf shrub, over which the gallant "Xit" (whom Mr. Ainsworth has so cleverly called into existence in his admirable " Tower of London") could have stepped with the greatest ease; letting alone the frequent lapses in the enclosure, through which a bulky man might readily pass. To make all secure, however, these rustic gates are generally garnished with a huge padlock, which is of course carefully locked whenever the owner is absent ;