Narrative ok Bahama Eximcditiox. 199 



gave to this colon v a certain amount of land on the mainland 

 of Eleuthera to hold in common. Each person could claim 

 as much land as he cultivated, and keep possession so long as 

 the land was under cultivation. I'his S}'stem of land tenure, 

 although it would seem almost ideal, was, as a matter of fact, 

 about the most unsatisfactory that could have been de\ised. 

 and gave rise to innumerable cjuarrels and lawsuits. The 

 main point of diiliculty was the delniilion of terms used in 

 the grant. Some indolent or tricky indi\iduals claimed that 

 land once held bv them remained theirs so long as even a 

 single banana stalk ov pine ■•tree" was growing on it. while 

 others claimed that all of the area must be in bona tide culti- 

 vation before the terms of the grant could be held as com- 

 plied with. And so this quarrel has become a tiaditional one. 

 and is a pregnant source of strife among the colonists. When 

 one comes to look at their '• farms." his chief wonder is what 

 there is to quarrel over. There is not a spot on the whole 

 plantation where a plow could be run for a single yard. The 

 whole surface is not onlv rock\'. but is solid coral rock, \\ ith 

 here and there a little accumulation of earth in the hollows. 

 Wherever a little soil has lodged, a pine-cutting is sjt. In 

 spite of the hopeless appearance of things to a man from the 

 Iowa prairies, they do manage to raise considerable cjuan- 

 tities of pine-apples on just such land as this. Most of the 

 fruit is bouuht bv Baltimore Hrms and shipped to Baltimore oi" 

 Key West to be canned. The amount of money realized by 

 an individual w'orker in the Spanish Wells plantation must be 

 pitiably small. Indeed I imagine that not many of these men 

 see more than twent\-live dollars in cash in a year. So far 

 as I know, the school-master receives the highest regular sal- 

 ary of any one on the island. His pay is lifty pounds, or two 

 hundred and lifty dollars per year, and with this he lives 

 better, and dresses better, and supports a family in better 

 style than most of his fellows even in fortunate America. In 

 spite of their poverty, the people are almost without excep- 

 tion thoroughly self-respecting, God-fearing and honest, and 

 among them are some of the best tvpes of sterling Christian 

 manhood that I have ever known. 



