178 



TRINIDAD: THEN AND NOW. 



stood the buffets of time and Btorm is another 

 matter. I know that some of them did not ; tmt not- 

 withstanding thds the foundations for many profitable 

 undertakings were begun in this way. Those people 

 had seen others in higher positions make " chips,"* 

 and they naturally thought that they were equally 

 entitled to do the same— a loose morality that ought 

 to have been nipped in the bud. 



When ' ' crop season" began the roads that 

 were used for the purpose of transporting the canes, 

 sugar, rum and molasses were cut up, the grass, 

 clay and sand converted into dust six inches 

 deep, which, when the trade winds blew, made driv- 

 ing, riding or walking through it a difficult task. 

 When the " crop season " was over and before the 

 heavy rains began the same roads were hurriedly 

 round-ridged again ; the heavy rains soon levelled 

 them, drove the dirt and sand once more into the side 

 canals there to remain to be handy when the time 

 came round for it to be again utilised, and so on 

 from year to year. Is it to be wondered at that 

 these roads were, in the dry season, deserts of dust, 

 and in the wet season horrible quagmires, making 

 travelling not only difficult but sometimes im- 

 possible ? 



I have heard it asserted that the accounts for 

 the mending of the roads in those days were never 

 audited, and consequently it was never ascertained 



* For the meaning of the word "chips" in this connection the 

 reader is referred to an article in Blackwood 1 s Magazine, of July 

 1910. 



