POPULATION OF BARBADOES. 



name implies, used as a sand-box. But if left until 

 the seeds are mature, the whole capsule bursts open 

 with a loud report, scattering the seeds to a distance. 

 Thinking- that a small young fruit, if dried very 

 gradually, might escape this result, I carried one 

 away, which, after my return to Europe, I placed in 

 a small wooden box in my herbarium. Some nine 

 months after it had been collected it must have 

 exploded in my absence, for, unlocking the room one 

 day, I found the box broken to pieces, and the valves | 

 of the fruit and the seeds scattered in all directions j 

 about the room. 



Next to the vegetable inhabitants, I was interested 

 in the black population of the island. The first 

 impression on finding one's self amid fellow-creatures 

 so markedly different in physical characters is one of 

 strangeness, and one is tempted to ask whether, after 

 all, there can be any pith in the arguments once con- 

 fidently urged to establish a specific difference between 

 the negro and the white man. But this very quickly 

 wears away, and a contrary impression arises. The 

 second thought is that, considering what we know of 

 the conditions under which the native races of Equa- 

 torial Africa have been developed during an unre- 

 corded series of ages, and of the subsequent conditions 

 during several generations of slavery, the surprising 

 thing is that the differences should not be far greater 

 than they are. 



It would be very rash to draw positive conclusions 

 from what could be seen in a visit of a few hours, but, 

 undoubtedly, the general effect was pleasing, and 

 tended to confirm the assertion that the difficult 



