TRINIDAD: THEN AND NOW. 



157 



hundred ; adding to this another hundred as repre- 

 senting those employed as secretaries, etc. and those 

 in the smaller stores I computed that in Port-of-Spain 

 there are not less than 600. Embodying with this 

 number those employed in San Fernando, Arima, 

 Princestown, Sangre Grande, Couva and other cen- 

 tres of rural districts I think I may safely add another 

 200 or in all 800. On every hand their employers 

 sounded their praise. Is this not another great con- 

 trast, and a healthy one between the Trinidad of 

 Then and the Trinidad of Now. 



It may, and no doubt will, be said that the des- 

 cription of the inhabitants as here given is an 

 exaggeration. To some it may appear so, to me it is 

 not. I have simply recorded the impression made 

 upon me by what I have for nearly 38 years been 

 closely observing. Are all the women beautiful f 

 No, they are not. Are all the men athletic and well- 

 formed ? No, they are not, but both compare favour- 

 ably with — and often excel— many of their own class 

 whom I have seen elsewhere, which sufficiently justi- 

 fies me in writing what I have written. 



An impression was, to a certain extent, sought 

 to be made on me before I came here that I was going 

 to be associated with people very little removed from 

 savages — and indeed many who come still try to live 

 up to that idea ; but the sooner such an impression is 

 removed from their minds the better it will be for all. 

 This being so I was agreeably surprised to find a 

 people the majority of whom were such as I have 

 described. 



