many decades
there has been no class between. Now, the East Indians, who came here as
coolies, are beginning to follow the commercial instinct of the east,
and to open small shops or to buy land. Hence the negro, who used to
despise and look down on the coolie because he worked for even less
money, is now finding himself subordinate to an East Indian class which
has risen to be his superior. Then the East Indians have commenced
rice-growing, and now are employing negroes, oversetting the old social
basis.

"There's one thing, son, which few people realize in this color question
in the West Indies. That is that the negro has not got the instincts of
a shopkeeper. He doesn't take to trade, ever. If he gets educated, he
wants at once to be a doctor, a lawyer, or, still more, a preacher. But
this is a commercial age, and any race which shows itself unfitted for
commerce is bound to stay the under dog, you know. Trinidad shows that,
given equal conditions, the East Indian coolie will rise, the negro
will not."

The following morning, Mr. James having gone over the books of the
plantation with his manager, the two started back for Port-of-Spain.

"Why don't you live here, Mr. James?" asked the boy. "It's a lovely
spot, in that coco-nut grove, with the sea right at your doors."

"Climate, my boy," was the answer. "I told you, on the way over here,
that Trinidad is reckoned one of the most prosperous islands of the West
Indies--though it really belongs more to the coast of South America than
it does to the Antilles--but, if you stop to think for a moment, you'll
see that the prosperity of Trinidad is due to the fact that it has a
warm, moist, even climate all the year round. That's fine for cocoa and
coco-nuts, but it's not good for humans. The warm moist air of Trinidad
is deuced enervating. No, let me go back to Barbados. It may not be as
beautiful--I'll admit that it isn't--but at least there is a north-east
breeze nearly all the year round to keep me jolly cool."

The two travelers talked of various subjects, but, once more aboard the
train at Sangre Grande, the question of Trinidad's wealth recurred to
Stuart, and he sought further information.

"You spoke of the island as being prosperous, Mr. James," he said. "Has
the Pitch Lake, discovered so many centuries ago by Sir Walter Raleigh,
had anything to do with it?"

"Directly, not such a great deal, though, of course, it is a steady
source of income, especially to