Narrative of Bahama Expedition. 197 



or three livino- children, and many of these are ill-formed, 

 delicate, rachitic, or scrofulous. The girls told sad stories of 

 their sufferings, and the married women of protracted and 

 painful maternity. The }'oung ladies were trained to the 

 idea that it was a hazardous undertaking to marr\' any young 

 man not a native of this particular island. In this village I 

 met three little ••midgets," all women and cousins, but of 

 what degree I am unable to say, as they seemed to have little 

 idea of degrees of relationship. The smallest of these is a 

 woman thirty-four 3'ears old, twenty-seven inches high, and 

 weighs forty-five pounds. A male dwarf that we saw in 

 Key West is a cousin of these Spanish Wells midgets, mak- 

 ing four in one family."^ 



In spite of all these drawbacks, the citizens of Spanish Wells 

 are by no means an unhappy people. , Indeed as I look back 

 to my residence among them, they seem to have found con- 

 siderable enjoyment in life. The young men and women 

 were as light-hearted as the most fortunate of their cousins 

 across the water. They have their social gatherings and 

 games. I well remember being an interested spectator one 

 moonlight night, when they assembled down on the pure 

 Avhite coral beach and played the old-fashioned "kissing 

 games" to the tune of ''King WiUiam was King George's 

 son, and he the royal race did run," each verse ending up in a 

 manner which was evidently much to the satisfaction of the 

 parties immediately concerned. The Spanish Wells young 

 folks are celebrated throughout the islands for their excellent 

 singing. The grand old hymns of John Wesley are sung by 

 the sabbath congregation with a volume and swing that is 

 refreshing to hear after much of the emasculated congrega- 

 tional singing in the North. The time is perfect and the parts 

 well sustained, and there is a quaintness in the lining out of 

 the leader, followed by the ready volume of response that 

 makes the coral structure fairly quiver. One evening the 

 school-teacher brought his pupils on board the schooner to 



U)r. Leora Johnson. 



