ST. AUGUSTIN TO BAHAMA ISLANDS 301 



them from being heartily content. The so-called 

 planters work, all told, perhaps not more than two, 

 at most three months in the year. They fell some 

 wood, catch fish, sell what they raise drink up their 

 gains and dance away the time, for not even the hot- 

 test weather can keep them from this diversion. They 

 are amiable, courteous, and according to their cir- 

 cumstances hospitable but of severe work they know 

 nothing and do not want to know anything. Hence if 

 it is true that the harder and more tedious the life of 

 a country is, the less does its population increase, the 

 favorable circumstances of the Bahama islands must 

 show the opposite effect. 



Even the blacks here take part in the general con- 

 tentment. They are everywhere of a better appear- 

 ance, breathing happiness ; strong, well-fed, and of a 

 decent demeanor. Many of them are free, or if they 

 are slaves, by paying a small weekly sum they are left 

 undisturbed in the enjoyment of what they gain by 

 other work. Some of them own houses and planta- 

 tions, and others are even put in command of small 

 vessels. The slaves here never experience the inhu- 

 man and cruel treatment which draws so many sighs 

 from their brethren on the neighboring sugar-islands 

 or the rice plantations of the main-land. 



Returning from Rose Island we saw a few other 

 small islands, and found them all to consist of the rock 

 which has been often mentioned above. Here and 

 there lay great rock-plates, split but still of bed and 

 strata formation ; elsewhere in great disorder. More 

 than once, however, there were to be observed corals, 

 madrepores, and similar bodies in the substance of the 

 rocks. On Hog Island we saw, as a great curiosity, 



