Narrative of Bahama Expedition. 195 



if 1 am informed coiTectlv, have never seen a horse or a cow or 

 a wheeled vehicle; whose personal knowledge of the Mammalia 

 is confined to man, pigs, dogs, cats, and rats: to whom not 

 only the locomotive, electric light, telegraph, and phonograph 

 are matters of hearsay, but also the threshing machine, self- 

 binder, and even the common plough. Here are people who 

 never saw a river, mountain, two-storv house, or tield of 

 grain, and. until recenth", were guiltless of a practical knowl- 

 edge of a pane of glass, a lamp, or an iron stove. 



It is hard to imagine the effect of such a life upon naturally 

 intelligent people, but intercourse with them will show strange 

 and unexpected glimpses of the results of this einironment. 

 For instance, I remember that while talking to a bright young 

 man, who was head scholar and assistant teacher in the school, 

 we got onto the subject of panthers. He seemed to have 

 a good idea of the size, agility, and ferocity of this animal, 

 but upon being asked for a more particularized description, 

 replied that he thought it was like a large lizard.' Now. as a 

 matter of fact, the largest wild animal that this vouth had ever 

 seen was the iguana, a large lizard, and his mental picture of 

 the panther was simply a greatly exaggerated and particu- 

 larly ferocious lizard, a perfectly natural result of his circum- 

 scribed experiences. 



Physically, many of the men are up to the average in most 

 respects, except in an appearance which would indicate an 

 insufficiency of food. Thev are tall, well-formed, straight- 

 limbed, with bright, kindlv faces, indicative of a clean moral 

 and physical habit, but their ^'outh departs altogether too 

 soon, and a really well-fed man or woman is a raritv. The^" 

 have enough to eat to satisfv hunger, probabh'. but thev 

 appear as if physiologically starved for all that: and no wonder! 

 Except in the pine-apple season thev have verv little fruit ' 

 indeed. Their principal vegetables are vams and a scant sup- 

 ply of bananas and plantains. The flour that thev have is 

 poor in qualit^^ and they can afford to buv but little of that. 

 Fresh meat is rarely obtained, and then usuallv in the shape 

 of green turtle. Salt beef and pork they greatly prize, but do 



