THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 513 



of punishment/'" The substitutes that were most satisfactory were hard labor 

 in the work house and extensions of time. Fines were employed to some extent 

 and were redeemable by hard labor/"' The efficacy of hard labor as a means of 

 punishment was early demonstrated by its employment in the work house at 

 Nassau. Colebrooke soon recommended it in other places, as a means of 

 building the much needed gaols.*"" Stocks were used in some places with good 

 effect. The usual labor for women was grinding corn or picking cotton."" To- 

 wards the close of the apprenticeship period the reports showed marked improve- 

 ment, by the great reduction in the number of penalties imposed. The magis- 

 trates had taken things in hand, and the results of their labors are shown in the 

 reports they made for the district of ISTew Providence, during the last month 

 of the application of the regulations of apprenticeship, viz. : July, 1838, Special 

 Justice Winder gave the report that there was not one case requiring the inflic- 

 tion of a penalty on either employer or apprentice,"' a report that was unpre- 

 cedented for that- populous district. 



Colonel Colebrooke was careful to make known in all parts of the Colony 

 what was occurring in the more peaceful communities. For a time the ignor- 

 ance as to this, prevailing even at the capital, worked unfavorably to improve- 

 ment. The liead of tlie government was on the alert on every occasion to 

 make known the favorable condition of affairs. The Nassau people were for 

 a time not disposed to believe that such success, as was reported, was being met 

 with in the Out-islands. The reports were almost uniformly favorable. The 

 dissemination of this intelligence excited the people to emulate the example of 



^"^ Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 95. 



"« Sess. P., r836, 49, p. 531, return for the period July 31, 1834, to October 1, 

 1835. Total number of apprentices, 10,400; punishments by authority of S. Js., 

 768; employers' fines, amount £124 8 s. 6d.; male apprentices whipped, 169; female 

 punishments, 286. Two hundred and seventy-two of these punishments were in- 

 flicted at New Providence, and 246 at the Turks Island, hoc. cit., end.. No. 3. 

 The greater number of punishments at New Providence and the Turks Islands was 

 explained by the fact that fishermen and others resorted to these places from other 

 parts, and many offenders were brought to them to be punished. In some islands 

 the offices were open every day to settle disputes, and punishments were fewer in 

 them on that account. 



"" Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 532, and pp. 543-5. 



"" The most extreme penalty reported was that of a male apprentice named 

 Sam, bound to one Durham, at the Bluff Settlement on Eleuthera. He ran away. 

 A magistrate and three constables advised him to return to service. He refused to 

 return, set the law at defiance, worked on the King's land, and lived with another 

 runaway named Tulip. He was absent for ten months. He admitted all charges 

 and begged for mercy. His penalty was one month's hard labor, thirty lashes and 

 ten months' extension of his term. Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 537. 



"^Sess. P., 1839, 37, p. 487 (12). 

 33 



