TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



123 



we never laid eyes on him. He, was too much afraid 

 of the " wild Irishmen," as he called us, to desire to 

 see any more of us. 



At Barbados we transhipped to the old paddle 

 steamer Tyne, then nearly fit for the scrap heap ; the 

 passengers for St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada 

 travelled by the same vessel. She had been, and still 

 was, a very comfortable, steady ship. She required to 

 be very steady, for it will scarcely be believed when I 

 assert that in many places above water-mark she was 

 like a sieve ; you could see daylight through her 

 plates. I know it will be trespassing on the credulity 

 of my readers to ask them to believe that I could and 

 did shove my finger through one of the plates. 



A different class of ship soon replaced the Tyne 

 and her like on these routes ; the EsJc, the Eden and 

 the Solent replaced them and did service between the 

 islands for many years. They have also been later 

 replaced by a more superior and up-to-date kind in 

 the Berbice and the Balantia — quite up to all modern 

 requirements — and passengers who tranship to them 

 for Demerara, and the other places of their route 

 find themselves quite as comfortable as on the ocean 

 boats. 



This inter-colonial service forms an amazing con- 

 trast to that which existed in my early days : a con- 

 trast which reflects the greatest credit on the march 

 of progress made by the Royal Mail Company in 

 catering for the comfort of their passengers. It also 

 serves to illustrate the great strides made in the pros- 

 perity of Trinidad when now it can afford to contri- 



