208 TJIE COCAL. 



iiud England, and all that England lield ; and then, when 

 driven in to breakfast by the morning shower, to begin a new 

 day of seeing, and seeing, and seeing, certain that one would 

 learn more in it than in a whole week of book-readincj at 

 home. 



AVe spent the next morning in inspecting the works. We 

 watched the jSTegros splitting the coco-nuts with a single 

 blow of that all-useful cutlass, which they handle with sur- 

 prising dexterity and force, throwing the thick husk on one 

 side, the fruit on the other. We saw the husk carded out by 

 machinery into its component fibres, for coco-rope matting, 

 coir-rope, saddle-stuffing, brushes, and a dozen other uses ; 

 while the fruit was crushed dovni for the sake of its oil ; 

 and could but wish all success to an industry which 

 would be most profitable, both to the projectors and to 

 the island itself, were it not for the uncertainty, rather 

 than the scarcity, of labour. Almost everything is done, of 

 course, by piece-work. The N'egro has the price of his labour 

 almost at his own command; and w^hen, by working really, 

 hard and well for a wdiile, he has earned a little money, he 

 throws up his job and goes off, careless whether the whole 

 works stand still or not. However, all prosperity to the 

 coco- works of ]\Iessrs. Uhricli and Gerold ; and may the day 

 soon come when the English of Trinidad, like the Ceylonese 

 and the Dutch of Java, shall count by millions the coco- 



