ion of gunpowder. The whole of Bay Street was soon
in flames, and like troops of fiends the negroes went dancing round the
fires, in some places pouring on them cans of petroleum if the houses
did not blaze up fast enough. Then the rum casks began to burst, and
streams of burning spirit ran down the gutters, adding to the horror of
the scene. The women were always the most reckless--they danced and
howled with mingled joy and rage. The men added to the din by clashing
their sticks together or against the burning stores, some blowing shells
as a sort of rallying signal. "Our side!" was the watchword, and all who
could not or would not repeat it were severely beaten. Most of the
whites, however, had fled, leaving them entirely unchecked in their
destructive work.

Meanwhile the police-master had sent to Christiansted for assistance,
and while he waited the mob again assailed the fort and again without
success. All through the night the disturbance continued, and it was not
until six o'clock in the morning that a small band of twenty soldiers
arrived. At their first volley the mob dispersed, flying precipitately
from the town to carry the riot all over the island. Two soldiers left
in charge of a waggon were killed; and on learning this the soldiers
were roused to a state of fury almost as great as that of the rioters.
They hunted them from one plantation to another, invaded their huts,
stabbed through the mattresses, and killed every negro who came in their
way, without taking the trouble to inquire whether they had been
concerned in the affair or not. Three hundred prisoners were taken, and
on the 5th of October a proclamation was issued calling on all the
negroes to return to their houses or be treated as rebels, after which
the disturbance was quelled. Twelve hundred were sentenced to death, and
a Commission of Inquiry was sent out from Denmark, the result of their
report being that the obnoxious labour law was repealed.

We have been thus particular in our account of this riot, because it
exemplifies the character of the negro and is a type of such
disturbances in other colonies. There is generally some ill-feeling at
the bottom, but as a rule no conspiracy beforehand. When the
dissatisfaction reaches a certain point, little is required to raise the
passions of the black man, and that little thing is almost sure to
occur. Unlike the European, he does not proclaim his grievances, except
in a general way, among his own