230 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
Now if these people were induced to be married by some 
well meaning adviser, the situation, according to this gentle- 
man, became worse. The man, feeling that the woman is bound 
irrevocably to him, becomes less considerate and in fact often 
‘‘beats her up’’ when displeased in any way, which seems to be 
a rather common custom of the country. The woman on her 
part demands more of the income of her lord and master, being 
now raised to the status of a legal wife. The result is often 
continual bickering and less real happiness than during their 
former unmarried state. 
We found these people courteous and obliging. They always 
greeted us when passing with a smiling ‘‘good mornin’ ’”’ or 
‘‘good evenin’.’’ The children almost always ran out and begged 
contributions for their missionary boxes, but there was less 
general begging in the country districts than in St. John’s. 
There is much that is picturesque in the small hamlets along 
the highways and little clusters of thatched houses among the 
palms. Some of the more out-of-the-way villages were really 
beautiful, being tucked away in little valleys surrounded by 
flowers and graceful tropical plants and flowering trees. In 
some of these places one might easily imagine himself in cen- 
tral Africa or the Philippines, so foreign is the whole environ- 
ment. 
Several of the black men that we met impressed us as far 
superior to the ordinary negro of our southern states. They 
had been well educated and spoke the purest kind of English 
with a remarkable fluency and good choice of words. One very 
striking fact is the almost entire absence of profanity or even 
slang, not only on the part of the well educated negroes but 
even with ordinary country folk. Indeed I know of no loeal- 
ity in the United States where the common people use better 
English than do those of Antigua. Of course their inflection 
and accent often seemed strange to us and words were employed 
that are not in vogue in America; but nevertheless they were 
usually good English and well chosen. 
One man that we met out in a boat after turtles, was, I be- 
heve, not at all inferior to the most highly educated of our 
party in his excellent use of the mother tongue and choice of 
vocabulary. 
