86 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to a half dozen of these "suckers" clinging to them. When a 

 barbed spine became imbedded in the flesh it produced a sore 

 unless removed at once, and it was usually necessary to cut it out 

 in order to remove it. The phosphatic soil and hot sun seemed 

 peculiarly fitted to its growth, and it formed the principal vegeta- 

 tion of the eastern slope. Ordinary domesticated plants of the tem- 

 perate zone rushed to a speedy maturity under the same conditions. 



The remainder of our stay was spent in collecting and pre- 

 paring specimens of the phosphate, and also of the plants and 

 animals. The negroes brought us many lizards and some big land 

 crabs, and were especially requested to procure us some centipeds 

 and an iguana which were said to be occasionally seen among the 

 rocks. They failed, however, to bring us any during our stay, 

 though subsequently an iguana was sent to Prof. Hitchcock by 

 Captain H . 



The glorious Fourth came while we were there, and Captain 



H favored us in the evening with a display of signal fires and 



rockets. The compliment was highly appreciated by us, and also 

 by the workmen, who sent up a vigorous shout from their quar- 

 ters below as each rocket went ofi^. 



On Sunday morning, after breakfast, the workmen were sum- 

 moned by the bell to meet in front of the house and answer to 

 their names. In order to have better control over his men. Cap- 

 tain H had devised the arrangement of dividing a man^s 



weekly wages into seven portions instead of six, and obliging 

 him to rex)ort at roll call on Sunday or forfeit his weekly earn- 

 ings. . This method put them on their good behavior during this 

 day as well as the others, whereas they had previously claimed 

 Sunday as their own in which to do as they pleased. It was an 

 interesting sight to see the line of black faces, varying in intelli- 

 gence from refinement to brutishness. The foremen and skilled 

 workmen were dressed in neat white shirts and trousers, serge or 

 linen coats, and polished shoes, and had bright, strong features. 

 Nearly all the men had changed their working garb of shirt and 

 overalls for clean shirts and trousers, and had their usually bare 

 feet covered with shoes, to which they seemed painfully unac- 

 customed. 



As the roll was called I was astonished to hear the names 

 Michael and Patrick coupled with Sweeny and Burke, names very 

 familiar to my ears, but there responded to by men with shining, 

 ebony faces. On inquiry I learned that these men belonged in 

 Montserrat, which was settled over a century ago by Irish refu- 

 gees, whose family names had descended through their slaves to 

 these miners. 



The men were mostly procured from Montserrat and St. Mar- 

 tin's, and were engaged for a term of three months, at the expira- 



