372 TRINIDAD. 



in succession, and in May, 1848, 5,162 coolies had been landed 

 in the island. The two or three first imported drafts answered 

 the expectations which had been formed, but the others did not, 

 and for the following reasons : they had not been judiciously 

 selected, their introduction was a mere experiment, and as such 

 surrounded with many difficulties ; also, the coolies were perfect 

 strangers in the island, and the relations in which they were 

 placed with the emancipated blacks, quite novel. But no class of 

 labourers has given more satisfaction than those subsequently sent 

 by Mr. White, the agent of immigration for Demerara and Trini- 

 dad. True, the manner of dealing with them is now regulated by 

 law, and far different from what it was at the commencement ; 

 added to which, their own country people are here to advise and 

 to initiate them in the customs and occupations of the colony ; in 

 fact, they are less hampered in their own peculiar ideas and 

 habits, and in consequence, work more successfully, because they 

 fully understand their duties and their rights. A coolie magis- 

 trate, Major Fagan, who was acquainted with their language and 

 customs, had been appointed for their special protection. When 

 the major arrived in Trinidad, only a few inoperative regulations 

 existed concerning emigrants of all classes ; and, it was conse- 

 quent to that want of proper regulations that so much suffering 

 was undergone "by these unfortunate people in the shape of 

 disease, starvation, and ultimate death." 



Many of the Africans liberated from slavers, and who had 

 been apportioned to the planters under certain conditions, viz., 

 that they should work for a stated number of hours, every day, 

 on being provided with lodging, food, clothing, and medical 

 attendance, but who could not have understood what was meant, 

 and considered themselves as no party to the contract deter- 

 minedly refused to work, and absconded into the woods, prowling 

 about in the neighbourhood of plantations on which they ventured 

 at night for plunder. Others attempted to retrace their steps to 

 their country, as they imagined, by travelling eastward ; not only did 

 they carefully avoid inhabited localities, but when they did encounter 

 any of the inhabitants, being ignorant of the language spoken in 

 the island, they could neither understand, nor make themselves 

 understood. 



The coolies who had arrived in the interval, soon availed them- 

 selves of the bad example set to them, and of the laxity of the 



