350 



TltlNlDAD. 



v^ 





^ 



people for the introduction of whom such heavy sacrifices have 

 been made, and whose labour we urgently require. This is an 

 evil to which we must submit. 



The only reasonable pledge the colony should be expected to 

 take is this : whenever a sufficient number of immigrants are 

 found willing and ready to return home, to procure for them a 

 vessel and a passage on the same terms as those on which they 

 were introduced. We have tried to remedy this evil to a certain 

 extent, by granting to the immigrants, instead of a free return 

 passage, £5 in cash and five acres of land. Many have already 

 availed themselves of the offer, and have thus become permanent 

 settlers. At first they were granted 10 acres of land, worth £10, 

 considered as equivalent to the passage-money. As a rule, a locality 

 is selected, surveyed in lots of five acres, and a settlement is thus 

 formed of Indian immigrants only ; and an Indian name is given 

 to the settlement. Thus we have the Calcutta, the Madras, the 

 Barrackpoor, and the Fyzabad settlements. The immigrants are 

 thus encouraged to form small communities, speaking the same 

 language, and having the same habits and ways. Of course 

 such arrangements must be received with favour by the Coolies ; 

 but this system is not without its inconveniences — the Coolies 

 being more or less excluded from intimate intercourse with the 

 Creoles will be more apt to retain their ways and superstitions, 

 and less inclined to initiate themselves into our habits and civili- 

 sation. 



I must add that, as a class, the Coolies have not proved very 

 intelligent tillers of the soil. Generally they are satisfied with 

 cultivating provisions — corn, rice, and tanias being the favourite 

 articles. Corn and rice are exhaustive plants, and whenever 

 they have been cultivated on the same spot for successive years, 

 the land becomes impoverished, and remains unprofitable for 

 some time ; it must then be allowed to remain fallow for several 

 years. The Coolie generally prefers to sell off, instead of waiting, 

 with the object of buying new land somewhere else ; or betakes 

 himself to other pursuits. Of course our schools are open to 

 Coolie children ; but very few only attend, either because they 

 reluctantly mix with the Creole children, or because their parents 

 do not seem to appreciate the advantages of primary instructs 

 An American Missionary Society has, nevertheless, established 

 estates, and on several Coolie blocks, special schools for th< 



