138 REVIEWS, TRANSLATIONS, AND SELECTED ARTICLES. 



consists of pineapples and oranyes ; but there is another source of 

 trade which will astonish most of our readers — that is ' wrecks^ 

 which in the very words of the report are described as ' the great and 

 constant element of our trade and revemue.' Neither agriculture 

 nor manufactures offer any profit compared to that derived from the 

 wrecker's vocation. But this subject is so curiously infamous that 

 we shall transfer to our columns the language of the report : — * This 

 calling, which distributes prizes among blacks and whites alike, puts on 

 a level and gives to both the opportunities of easy self-indulgence. 

 As I often had to remark, it involves crime and the connivance at 

 crime. But I doubt whether the treacherous plots which are bo 

 successfully laid for the destruction of vessels are generally known 

 to any but the commanders of the wrecking vessels and the masters 

 of the wrecked ships. The crews, I imagine, have a general rather 

 than a special knowledge of the schemes which bring the merchant 

 vessel and the parasitic wrecker close together near a reef. The 

 general demoralization which the system engenders throughout every 

 class in the colony will increase until American shipowners set the 

 example of greater honesty, and American underwriters are more 

 anxious to suppress the crimes which they condemn than to make 

 their remonstrances against the English Grovernment the vehicle of 

 puffing their own resources and touting for fresh customers.' The 

 negro in the Bahamas is not so favourably spoken of as the negro in 

 Jamaica. The negro creole in the Bahamas is not devoid of ambition, 

 but lacks persistent will and energy, both physical and mental. He 

 is happier with his hominy and plot of ground than he would be if 

 assured of a handsome independence on the condition of eight or ten 

 years' hard work. He is a grumbler and a gossip. Such are the 

 descendants of the ancient slaves ; but the case is very different with 

 those fresh from Africa and just rescued from Spanish slave ships. 

 These are generally useful and energetic, and they perform the rougher 

 work of the colony. The mulatto and his varied species are the best 

 of this race ; they have pride, ambition, and energy, and, when edu- 

 cated, are capable of the success to which they aspire. Such are the 

 distinctions pointed out by Grovernor Bayley. There is little industry 

 in the Bahamas group. The islands of Bleuthera and St. Salvador 

 raise fruit for the English and American markets, but in the whole 

 colony the culture of corn is trifling, and that of cotton is wholly 

 neglected, while the Nassau market is supplied with meat from the 



