1895.] ESSAYS. 41 



West Indies. It is twenty miles in length by twelve in breadth. The 

 population is very dense, there being as many inhabitants in propor- 

 tion to its size as there are in China. The blacks fairly swarm. The 

 island is sometimes visited by hurricanes. Some years ago it was 

 swept by one of these terrible storms in which thousands of the in- 

 habitants lost their lives, and a vast amount of property was destroyed. 

 Barbadoes may be called a sugar island, it being almost exclusively 

 devoted to the cultivation of that article, large quantities being an- 

 nually exported. 



We visited several fine plantations and were much interested in the 

 process of sugar-making. The cane is cut from the field with huge 

 knives as we cut corn-stalks. It is then taken to the mill, where the 

 juice is extracted and the boiling process is commenced. It is boiled 

 in large iron basins, and from the skimmings of the syrup West India 

 rum is manufactured. After being boiled sufficiently and cooled, it is 

 shovelled into hogsheads having holes bored in the bottom, through 

 which the molasses drains into an enormous cistern beneath the un- 

 boarded flooring. When the molasses is all drained, I have seen 

 half a dozen negroes going from one hogshead to another tramping 

 the sugar with their bare feet. Recently a machine for packing the 

 sugar has been invented. The natives are very fond of chewing the 

 sugar-cane before it is crushed ; you can buy it anywhere in the 

 markets. 



Sugar is one of the most unpleasant cargoes on board ship on ac- 

 count of the steam which arises in the hold. It sometimes turns the 

 white paint in the cabin a grayish color. 



Trinidad is a large island situated on the northern coast of South 

 America near the Orinoco River. It is nearly as large as Porto Rico. 

 The same animals are found here that are found on the mainland of 

 South America. We entered the Grand-boca of the Gulf of Paria, 

 where we passed an English man-of-war which returned our salute, 

 making a pretty picture as she steered between the wooded islands 

 which formed the mouth of the gulf. We beat up the gulf and an- 

 chored off Port of Spain, the capital of the island. 



Here we heard, for the first time, of the famous Asphalt Lake, which 

 is reached from the Port of LaBrea. This lake of pitch is considered 

 the greatest curiosity in the West Indies. It is unlike any other lake 

 in the world ; for you can walk upon its surface, although from a dis- 

 tance it resembles water. The atmosphere is very unpleasant and 

 people who are obliged to live near it are troubled with ague. 



We were invited to dine at the consul's home. His sons were fine 



