A Midsummer Trip to the Tropics.
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Indian peoples, seems almost unnatural. Pressure of
numbers has largely contributed to this characteristic;
but Barbadoes would be in any event, by reason of posi-
tion alone, a busy colony. As the most windward of the
West Indies it has naturally become not only the chief
port, but also the chief emporium of the Antilles. It
has railroads, telephones, street-cars, fire and life in-
surance companies, good hotels, libraries and reading-
rooms, and excellent public schools. Its annual export
trade figures for nearly $6,000,000.
The fact which seems most curious to the stranger, on
his first acquaintance with the city, is that most of this
business activity is represented by black men—black
merchants, shopkeepers, clerks. Indeed, the Barbadian
population, as a mass, strikes one as the darkest in the
West Indies. Black regiments march through the street
to the sound of English music,—uniformed as Zouaves ;
black police, in white helmets and white duck uniforms,
maintain order ; black postmen distribute the mails ;
black cabmen wait for customers at a shilling an hour.
It is by no means an attractive population, physically,—
rather the reverse, and frankly brutal as well—different
as possible from the colored race of Martinique ; but it
has immense energy, and speaks excellent English. One
is almost startled on hearing Barbadian negroes speaking
English with a strong Old Country accent. Without see-
ing the speaker, you could scarcely believe such English
uttered by black lips ; and the commonest negro laborer
about the port pronounces as well as a Londoner. The
purity of Barbadian English is partly due, no doubt, to
the fact that, unlike most of the other islands, Barbadoes
has always remained in the possession of Great Britain.
Even as far back as 1676 Barbadoes was in a very dif-
ferent condition of prosperity from that of the other col-
onies, and offered a totally different social aspect—hav-
ing a white population of 50,000.   At that time the island