3o6 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



frequent provocation must have led to the pas- 

 sage of the tantaHzing law. The cabmen are 

 insolent, the market women fly into a passion if 

 a price is questioned. In the shops, w^hen the 

 negroes crowd against one rudely, there is no 

 redress ; a complaint to a black policeman is use- 

 less. All the minor officials everywhere, in post 

 and telegraph stations, are of the same race. You 

 must accept the fact that, as in Hayti, " the 

 privileges of a white man are not numerous," and 

 bear your novel position with due philosophy. 



As I wished to study the faunal conditions in 

 other sections, we secured through friends the 

 lease of a place called Boston, at Priestman's River, 

 in the extreme northeastern point of the island. 

 The pen was an estate of eleven hundred acres. 

 Our lease gave us in addition to the furnished 

 house, linen and silver included, the use of two 

 horses and a supply of milk. We did not under- 

 take farming operations ; they were still to go on 

 under the direction of the head man, who was to 

 keep us in wood. For this estate the rental was 

 ;^io sterling a month. 



Having completed our negotiation by letter 

 early in December, we began shortly to plan for 

 our journey of some sixty miles, knowing that all 

 details must be arranged well in advance. On 

 the morning of December 22 we started. The 

 drive to Annotta Bay was through a region of 



