ch tradition, Edgar Poe built
up the wonderful tale of the Gold Bug; how the planters of certain
Southern States, and even the Governor of North Carolina, paid him
blackmail, and received blackmail from him likewise; and lastly, how
he met a man as brave as he, but with a clear conscience and a clear
sense of duty, in the person of Mr. Robert Maynard, first lieutenant
of the Pearl, who found him after endless difficulties, and fought
him hand-to-hand in Oberecock River, in Virginia, 'the lieutenant
and twelve men against Blackbeard and fourteen, till the sea was
tinctured with blood around the vessel'; and how Maynard sailed into
Bathtown with the gory head, black beard and all, hung at his
jibboom end; all this is written--in the books in which it is
written; which need not be read now, however sensational, by the
British public.

The next important event which I find recorded in the annals of
Trinidad is, that in 1725 the cacao crop failed. Some perhaps would
have attributed the phenomenon to a comet, like that Sir William
Beeston who, writing in 1664, says--'About this time appeared first
the comet, which was the forerunner of the blasting of the cacao-
trees, when they generally failed in Jamaica, Cuba, and Hispaniola.'
But no comet seems to have appeared in 1725 whereon to lay the
blame; and therefore Father Gumilla, the Jesuit, may have been
excused for saying that the failure of the trees was owing to the
planters not paying their tithes; and for fortifying his statement
by the fact that one planter alone, named Rabelo, who paid his
tithes duly, saved his trees and his crop.

The wicked (according to Dauxion Lavaysse, a Frenchman inoculated
somewhat with scientific and revolutionary notions, who wrote a very
clever book, unfortunately very rare now) said that the Trinidad
cacao was then, as now, very excellent; that therefore it was sold
before it was gathered; and that thus the planters were able to
evade the payment of tithes. But Senor Rabelo had planted another
variety, called Forestero, from the Brazils, which was at once of
hardier habit, inferior quality, and slower ripening. Hence his
trees withstood the blight: but, en revanche, hence also, merchants
would not buy his crop before it was picked: thus his duty became
his necessity, and he could not help paying his tithes.

Be that as it may, the good folk of Trinidad (and, to judge from
their descendants, there m