slaves whom one sees in pictures of Eastern palaces. They
flitted about silent on their shoeless feet, never stumbled, or upset
chairs or plates or dishes, but waited noiselessly like a pair of elves,
and were always in their place when wanted. One had heard much of the
idleness and carelessness of negro servants. In no part of the globe
have I ever seen household work done so well by two pairs of hands. Of
their morals I know nothing. It is usually said that negro girls have
none. They appeared to me to be perfectly modest and innocent. I asked
in wonder what wages were paid to these black fairies, believing that at
no price at all could the match of them be found in England. I was
informed that they had three shillings a week each, and 'found
themselves,' i.e. found their own food and clothes. And this was above
the usual rate, as Government House was expected to be liberal. The
scale of wages may have something to do with the difficulty of obtaining
labour in the West Indies. I could easily believe the truth of what I
had been often told, that free labour is more economical to the employer
than slave labour.

The views from the drawing room windows were enchantingly beautiful. It
is not the form only in these West Indian landscapes, or the colour
only, but form and colour seen through an atmosphere of very peculiar
transparency. On one side we looked up a mountain gorge, the slopes
covered with forest; a bold lofty crag jutting out from them brown and
bare, and the mountain ridge behind half buried in mist. From the other
window we had the Botanical Gardens, the bay beyond them sparkling in
the sunshine, and on the farther side of it, a few miles off, an island
fortress which the Marquis de Bouille, of Revolution notoriety, took
from the English in 1778. The sea stretched out blue and lovely under
the fringe of sand, box trees, and almonds which grew along the edge of
the cliff. The air was perfumed by white acacia flowers sweeter than
orange blossom.

Captain C. limped down with me into the gardens for a fuller look at the
scene. Dusky fishermen were busy with their nets catching things like
herrings, which come in daily to the shore to escape the monsters which
prey upon them. Canoes on the old Carib pattern were slipping along
outside, trailing lines for kingfish and bonitos. Others were setting
baskets, like enormous lobster pots or hoop nets--such as we use to
catch tench in English ponds--these, too, a legacy