246 THE OCEAN RIVER 



When Portuguese first opened up trade along the African 

 coasts, before the discovery of America, they had intermarried 

 with the negroes, and mulattos had attained positions of im- 

 portance under the Portuguese rule. This habit of freedom 

 prevailed, at least among the ruling class. The European na- 

 tions, neither by force of arms nor by efforts of penetration 

 through conversions to the Church, ever got beyond the slim 

 foothold in Africa first established by the Portuguese. Traders 

 had to obey local kings, wait on their pleasure, and pay ade- 

 quate port duties. Africa saw to it that the path of empire, at 

 least in the early days, turned down the Atlantic current to the 

 west and away from themselves. 



The Negro, coming to the West Indies as a slave, has today, 

 by his adjustability and by sheer weight of numbers, virtually 

 taken over the islands. To quote Wyndham in his study of the 

 slavery question: ''As a result of his slavery, the Negro acquired 

 a position in the world to which he would not have attained 

 had he remained free. He was of tougher fibre than the Indian. 

 His capacity for survival was greater. He was more independ- 

 ent of circumstance, less vulnerable to misfortune. His inex- 

 haustible vivacity was his strength ... it was an outward and 

 often audible sign of resiliency which was the fulcrum of his 

 self-defense, and the point of vantage from which he invaded 

 the cultural and economic territories of the whites. His revolts 

 did not serve him so well as his unchangeableness, coupled as 

 it was with a degree of adaptability, which, while not sub- 

 merging his special characteristics, increased his power of 

 influencing his new environment." 



The contemporary white settlers felt this pressure, but nat- 

 urally did not analyze it in any such dispassionate way as 

 Wyndham has. Their contemporary reactions explain the eco- 

 nomic and social basis of troubles of adjustment not only in 

 the islands, but also in North America. The prototype of all 

 such complaints was well put by Cervantes in the mouth of 



