598 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 



such towns as Nassau, Governors Harbor and Georgetown the inhabitants 

 represent probably the most influential classes in the Islands. The people 

 are, as a whole, well housed and well clothed. In many of the Out-islands 

 the inhabitants live in cabins built of limestone and covered with plaster. 

 This is the condition of many of the people who are employed in the sponging 

 industry (Plate XCII, Fig. 1). In the larger towns limestone blocks are 

 cut from quarries by means of common log-saws and wood axes. These are 

 trimmed to the desired shape and constitute the only building stone in the 

 archipelago. Plate LXXXIX shqwS~one of these limestone quarries in opera- 

 tion, and a building in process of erection. Although the majority of the 

 colored people and a great many of the white inhabitants are able to provide 

 themselves with few of the ordinary comforts of life, yet there is no occasion 

 for an able-bodied man or woman to be without the necessities. In the Out- 

 islands, where medical attendance is wanting, there is frequently much misery 

 on account of the neglect of ordinary sanitary precautions. Taken as a 

 whole, it may be said that the people are contented but not prosperous. 



CRIMINALITY. 



In regard to criminality, the following statistics for the year 1902 are 

 of interest. During this period there were committed to jail 254 people, of 

 whom 156 were men, 86 women, and 12 juveniles. 



The following table gives the criminal statistics for the years 1899, 1900 

 and 1902 : 



TABLE SHOWING CRIMINAL STATISTICS FOR YEARS 1899, 1900 AND 1903. 



EELIGIOUS CONDITIONS. 



Nassau is the seat of a bishopric, and the Bahamas are well supplied with 

 churches of Episcopal, Presbyterian, Wesleyan and Baptist denominations. 



