370 CUBA AND rORTO RICO 



ply their scanty meals. They are bound by law to work 

 nine hours a day for two hundred and eighty days in the 

 year, and receive a regular rate of wages, usually less than 

 sixpence a day. The law concerning this apprenticed 

 labor is very strongly enforced both upon the coolie and 

 his employer. Each estate employing coolies is obliged to 

 provide hospitals under the inspection of medical visitors, 

 and all the labor arrangements are subject to the inspec- 

 tion of government agents, who visit the estates constantly 

 and report each week to the agent-general of immigrants ; 

 he in turn reports to the governor, who has absolute au- 

 thority to cancel the contract and remove any and all the 

 coolies from an estate. When the time of indenture is 

 ended the coolie is entitled to transportation back to his 

 native land. In lieu thereof he can make a new contract 

 for a year, or he can remain and work wherever he chooses, 

 and receive the amount of his return passage in cash. He 

 is also allowed the option of a government grant of ten 

 acres of land instead of return passage-money. Low as 

 their wages are, most of them accumulate considerable 

 sums, which are often converted into silver bracelets and 

 bangles for the arms and ankles of their women, who thus 

 preserve the family treasure. Some have settled perma- 

 nently on the island, and others have returned for a second 

 term of service, bringing friends and relatives with them. 

 The system is a good one for the country, and it may be 

 remarked that it is similar to that which prevailed in Vir- 

 ginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Jamaica before the 

 American Revolution, when the poor people of England 

 were similarly apprenticed to Southern planters. 



There is a steady flow of negro population from the other 

 British "West Indies to Trinidad, especially from St. Vin- 

 cent and Barbados. 



Tobago, about seventy miles to the southeast of Grenada, 

 is the most eastern island of the South American group. 

 Its area is one hundred and fourteen square miles, and 

 it is diversified with hills and vales, and is equal in rich- 



