THE NEGRO'S SATURNALIA. 149 



Moreover, that had befallen me which might never befall 

 me again I had a chance of being alone in the forests ; and 

 into them I wonld wander, and meditate on them in silence. 



So, when all had departed, I lounged awhile in the rocking- 

 chair, watchingr two Xcotos astride on the roof of a shed, on 

 which they were nailing shingles. Their heads were bare ; 

 the sun was intense ; the roof on which they sat must have 

 been of the temperature of an average frying-pan on an 

 English fire : but the good fellows worked on, steadily and 

 carefully, though not fast, chattering and singing, evidently 

 enjoying the very act of living, and fattening in the genial 

 heat. Lucky dogs : who had probably never known hunger, 

 certainly never known cold ; never known, possibly, a single 

 animal want which they could not satisfy. I could not but 

 compare their lot with that of an average English artisan. 

 Ah, well : there is no use in fruitless comparisons ; and it is 

 no reason that one should OTude the XegTo what he has 

 because others, who deserve it certainly as much as he, have 

 it not. After all, the ancestors of these Xegros have been, 

 for centuries past, so hard-worked, ill-fed, ill-used too some- 

 times worse than ill-used that it is hard if the descendants 

 may not have a holiday, and take the world easy for a 

 generation or two. 



The perpetual Saturnalia in which the ISTegro, in Trinidad 

 at least, lives, will surely give physical strength and health 



