the sunlight, at least, their skins took on a golden bronze hue, the like of which I have never seen among any other of the copper-coloured races.

But as they drew nearer, doubtless seeing us tranquilly engaged in bartering with their King man for limes and for several of the wonderfully woven baskets for which these Caribs are famous, the fishing braves put their boats about and went back again, singing as they went to the warm sun banks, where the great sea fish they sought love to warm themselves. As they rowed they sang a song we did not understand, but certainly the cadence was exceedingly mournful. Our negro guide, however, who did not seek to conceal the disdain in which he held the shiftless Caribs, natural, perhaps, in a man who had served his King in the West India regiment, and hoped to become an insular constable some day, translated it as follows:

"In olden times we were men and ate our enemies, Now we are women and only eat Cassava cakes."

Our barter with the King for baskets proved the entering-wedge of commercialism. The monarch relaxed, and there were symptoms of approaching talk about old shoes and other worn-out baubles of our artificial civilisation. So, as the sun began to climb towards its zenith, and flood the dark mountain paths with its light and warmth, we left the Carib reservation.

It was an interesting experience, and one which I am not likely to forget, and can only recommend the little journey as being worth the trouble to those who come this way. We certainly had the feeling, or illu

sion, if you will, that we had seen the aboriginal West Indians much as Columbus presented them to the astonished gaze of the Catholic Kings. The Caribs of Dominica may not be absolutely pure in blood, though this virtue is claimed for many of them by several distinguished authorities living on the island. Even to the untrained eye of the unscientific observer these men, or the majority of them, show a cranial formation and a colour of skin that betrays a to us new ethnological type. The resplendent colour of their skins, especially when wet from their morning swim, and standing in the sunlight, is the impression that will always remain with me. Altogether, they were in their ways and in their appearance of their own kind, and that is a kind quite different from their cousins, the black Caribs of Ruatan, off the Central American coast, from the Arawaks of Guiana, or the numberless tribes of copper-coloured men who disport themselves in and out of the waters of Malaysia.

CHAPTER XIII

ORPHANS OF THE CONQUEST (continued)

IN grouping the larger and more civilised islands of the British West Indies* with the other orphans of the conquest, as I have found it convenient to do, I feel called upon to say that, while the economic conditions in all the islands are much the same, the political and educational standards are as far apart as the poles. There can be no comparison between the average Guadeloupian, the Saint Thomas "boys" of the King of Denmark, and the loyal black subjects of the British Crown resident in the West Indies. The British blacks show in their way of living and their general deportment and intelligence that the efforts which have been made for generations to improve their social efficiency have not been made in vain. For many years past an education of a high order has been within the reach of the Jamaican and Barbadian blacks, and many thousands of them have availed themselves to the fullest extent of their opportunities. If there are anywhere in the world coloured men ripe for self-government, they are to be found in Barbados and Jamaica. For generations past high offices in these islands have been open to the deserving, irrespective of colour, and during this period at least one negro rose to be Chief

*Trade returns and other statistics concerning the British islands are given in Appendix G, Notes I and II, pages 447–448.

Justice of Barbados, and left behind him an enviable

name.

The colour question is not dormant in the British islands, however, and those who think so are simply deceiving themselves. The race antagonism is rising, and there are signs here, too, of a coming conflict, though they are not so emphatic and unmistakable as in the other islands. I was impressed wherever I went in the British islands with the even-handed justice which the Blacks receive at the hands of the authorities, with the efforts which are constantly being made to increase the number and the accessibility of the primary schools, and, above all, to assist the peasant and landless class to secure small holdings of their own. In the British islands, at least, the negro is given a chance to escape the toils of the demagogue and the race-war preacher, and in many instances they have taken the chance and stood by it. The achievements of the great British administrators in India and in Egypt have challenged the admiration of the civilised world, and in the West Indies they deserve in equal measure our praise and thanks.

Barbados, the easternmost of the Caribbees, only has an area of one hundred and sixty-six square miles, upon which over two hundred thousand people have to be supported. The little island is consequently the most densely populated country on the globe, outside of China. Barbados is very long on history, and long on health, and somewhat bumptiously proud of both these favours of fortune. On account of the island's historical record as a faithful loyal colony of England since its discovery in 1605, the inhabitants feel entitled to call it a "Little England," and, as for

health, when a few cases of smallpox occurred a few years ago, the Barbadians concluded that the end of the world was very near, that nothing else could have disturbed the continuance of the fine bill-of-health the island has always enjoyed. Certainly Barbados is very healthy; it contains no swamps, and lying, as it does, far out at sea, it is continually swept by seabreezes day and night. The sun and the wind have created a climatic condition which is extremely favourable to longevity, as the statistics show, and for many hundred years the island has served as a health resort and a recruiting station for those whose pursuits led them into the malarial districts of the mainland. In no country in the world have I been so impressed by the teeming population of negroes; negro babies sprawl everywhere. After one or two narrow escapes from crushing a hopeful olive branch under foot, the tourist is possessed with a panic, and at times grows afraid to put his raised foot to the ground. Around the capital, the chief wealth seems to be goats. Fencing is not indulged in, but every goat is herded by a little piccaninny to whom the animal is tethered.

Bridgetown, the only port and commercial city of the island, is also its capital, and it dates back to the year 1627. Practically, the port is merely an open roadstead, but a great deal of shipping is concentrated here, and a great business transacted without much delay. Like Ireland and Russia, Barbados has a land question which is at times discussed in anything but a judicial manner. There are no crown lands here, as in the other islands, and as yet no abandoned estates which can be squatted upon; practically all the holdings are in the hands of planters who, while they are