“The town encouraged Mathieu. There were no truly offensive smells, just the honest scent of road dust mingled with a manageable level of sweat and horse dung. The buildings were not so tall they blotted out the sun, and not of suffocating brick and stone. Most of them were of wood, and had an airiness that made the heat less oppressive.”

Saint Nicholas is the capital town of the Isle of Touperdu. Most visitors and immigrants get their first glimpse of it from Sanctuary Bay, as a line of buildings and roofs behind a seawall atop a high bank . The shallowness of the bay means ships must anchor further out, with goods and people brought in on the fleet little crafts that islanders call “Finnegan Lighters.” Even after the completion of Long Pier in 1883, only Finnegan Lighters can safely zig-zag across the rocky bay to berth on the pier.