<>RAKt's TOWN". 55 



■wilts, and from the dews and sliowers that come down from 

 heaven for their snstenance, nntil a dense and seemingly impen- 

 etrable forest, fast anchored to the rocks, and a wild tangle of 

 vines and bnshes, blnshing with flowers that perfume the air, 

 cover all the apparent sterility of nature Avith a beauty whicli 

 seems like childhood's dreams of fairy land. 



The houses of the negroes are built mostly of wood, but some 

 have limestone walls, while the roofs are covered — some witli 

 shingles and others with a thatching of palmetto leaves. It is 

 rare to see a house with glass windows — board shutters take the 

 place of sashes, and fire-places and chimneys are unknown. A 

 little fire out doors, for cooking, made of dead wood gathered in 

 the forest or thickets, which is transported in little bundles uj)on 

 the heads of women and children, is all that is required in this 

 warm climate. The walls are not sheathed or plastered, and the 

 furniture of the houses is of the rudest and most simple kind. 

 The colored people in the day time live out of doors in the open 

 air, so that in riding through these suburbs, the whole popula- 

 tion comes under review. Nobody appears to be at work. In 

 sunshine or shadow, having nothing and wanting nothing, taking 

 no thought for to-morrow, they live on like the birds from day to 

 day, not needing to take lessons of the ant nor of any other of 

 the world's greedy and grasping toilers. All are merry, light- 

 hearted and joyous; nobody frets or scolds; not achikl cries; and 

 the dogs, croucliing beside their indolent masters, are literally 

 too lazy to bark. All the thieving is of the petty kind — it would 

 be too much like work to plan and execute robbery on a largo 

 scale — and what is the use of committing burglaries and grand 

 larcenies when a little sugar-cane or a handful of fruit lills to 

 overflowing the measure of their wants! There are no trades- 

 unions, no commercial revulsions, and no sti-ikes for higher 

 wages. No heads ache from the pressing weight of the crowns 



