FLORIDA AND THE WEST INDIES 247 



and Martinique and Barbados have also contributed 

 in smaller degree according to their capacity. The 

 overseers know almost at a glance the origin of 

 each coolie. The Jamaica nigger talks first and 

 last ; the black from Martinique, who affects French 

 manners, talks first and hits out when he is tired of 

 talking ; the Barbadian hits first and leaves words to 

 women. Incidentally, the Barbadian is also the 

 best worker, but hard work and any kind of negro 

 are not friends. He remits the bulk of his pay 

 home and feeds miserably, declining the proper diet 

 that the Commission offers (and should enforce) at 

 a nominal charge per diem. The French paid all 

 coloured labour by piece-work, the only way of 

 getting an adequate return, but with all the labour- 

 saving machinery now in use, there seems to be 

 some insuperable difficulty about fixing a satisfactory 

 unit for the continuance of such an arrangement. 

 At any rate, the Commission has had every reason 

 to be dissatisfied with the Jamaica black as a 

 labourer. The pay is high, the result an irreducible 

 minimum. An experiment was tried with Spanish 

 labourers, but apparently without great success. 

 This drove Mr Shonts to declare that the Com- 

 mission would enlist Chinese recruits, an interesting 

 comment indeed on the attitude taken a little earlier 

 by the British electorate in respect of such labour 

 in South Africa. We may not perhaps require 

 that the Americans should teach us how to spell 

 English, but there are seemingly matters in which 

 the child can teach the parent common sense. 

 Moreover, as Mr Shonts admitted, the Tower 

 of Babel had its advantages, and a large staff of 

 divided language and sentiments may conceivably 



