The People Of The West Indies

The following extracta from Jame Anthony Froude's last work "The Eng lish n the West Indians, or the Bow o Ulysses," are yery remarkable descrip tions of tlie people as he found tliem o the Barbadocs: Cocktail over, and walking n the hea being a thiug not thought of, I gat fo two hours in the balcony watchlng th people, who were as thick as bees ii swarming time. Nlne-tenths of them were pure black; you rarely saw a white face, luit stilt le.ss would you lind a dia contentedone, imperturbable good humo and self-satlsfaction being wri'.ten on the features of e very one. The women strucl me especially. They were smartly dress ed in wliite cauco ícrupulously clean and iricked outwith ribauds and feathera but thelr figures were so good and the; carried themselves so well and gracefulh that, ultliough Uwy might make tlicin selves absurd they could not look vulgar Like the Oreek and Ktruscan wouien they are trained from childhood to carry heavy weights on their heads. They are thus perfectly upright, and plant their feet lirmly and uaturally on the ground. They m íílit serve for seulptor's modela, and are well aware of it. There were no signs of poverty. Old and young sjemed well led. Some had brought ii baskets of truit bananas, oranges, pineapples and sticks ol sugar-caue; others hait yams and sweet potatoes froin their bits of garden in the country. The men were active enough driving carts, whecling barrows and selling tlying fïIi, which are cauglit olt' the island in shoals anil are cheaper than herringa in Yarmouth. They chattered like a band ofjackdaws, but Uure was noquarreling; not adruuken man was to be seen, and all was merliment and good humor. My poordowntrodden black brothers and sisters, so far as I could judge froni thil tirst lntroduction, looked to me a very fortúnate class of fellow creatures. He still farther describes their custoras: In the Antilles general'y, Barbadoes being the only exception, negro families liave each their own cabin, their own gardeu ground, their grazing for a cow. rhey live surrounded by most of the f ruits which grew in Adam's paradisc - oranjes uní plantaina, bread-fruit and cocoanuts, thougli liot apples. Their yams and cussava grow without effort, for the soil is easily worked and inexhaustibly fertile. The curse is taken off ot' nature, and like Adam again they are uuder the covenant of inuocence. Moráis in the ;echnical sense tliey have none, but licy oannot be said to sin, because they ïave DO IcBÓwledge of a luw, and thereoru tliuy eau commit no breach ot' the aw. Tliey are naked and not asiiamed. The are uiariied aa they cali it, but not jarsoned. The woman prefers a looser tie bat sbe may be uble to leave lilm it lie ie treats liur lüiaudiy. Yet they are not ii-entious. 1 never faw an inimodest ook in one ot' thiir faces, and never leard of any venitl profligacy. The sysi in isstrangebiil it answers. A missionary tolil me that a counection rarely urna out well which licgins with legal oarrlage. The children scramble up inyhow, and sbifi for Iheir.selves like hickens as soon as tliey are able to peck. Many dit' in tliis way bj eating unwholeome food, but also many live, and those ivho do live grow up exactly like thelr parents. It is a very peculiar state of hing?, not to be understood, as priest ind mlssiouary agree, without a long lequaintunce. There is evil but there is lot the demoralizing ellect of evil. They in, but they sin only as animaU, without hanic. because there is no senseof doing vrong. They eat the forbiddeu fruit, )ut it brin;s With it no knowledgeof the üfference between good and evil. They teal, but if detected they f all back upon he Lord. It was de will of de Iiord that bey should do this or that. üe Lord orbid that they should go against His loly pleasnre. In f act tluse poor childen of darkness have escaped the conseuences of the fall, and must come of nother stook after all.