196 



TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW 



gether in the performance of our various duties ; as 

 Hamlet said of his father " He was a man, take him 

 for all in all, I shall not look upon him again. ■ ' We 

 now come to the palace of the Archbishop of Port-of- 

 Spain, erected and, I believe, designed by that elo- 

 quent, genial, witty, liberal-minded Irishman the late 

 Archbishop Flood, who to show his great love for his 

 native country imported Irish marble and red polish- 

 ed Irish granite as substantial embellishments to, an 

 otherwise unpretentious building. Next in order 

 comes that conspicuous, stately, white, Corsican 

 House, built by another of Trinidad's former mer- 

 chant princes, now the residence of a wealthy Bolivar 

 merchant. Miniature Balmoral Castle next attracts 

 our attention ; and then we pass on to the St. Clair 

 experimental and botanical station ; but principally 

 used for agricultural experiments. 



The afternoon having now advanced, and we not 

 having finished our first day's ramble, must leave our 

 lounge. We have described nearly all there is to be 

 seen from this point of view, so we will come down, 

 take the St. Clair car, and later transfer to the Coco- 

 rite and pass through Peru Village, sometimes called 

 St. James. As we pass St. James military barracks, 

 now the constabulary depot, we view the magnificent 

 rows of Saman trees on either side, arching like a 

 vast " Cathedral Aisle," over the avenue leading to 

 the squat ugly barracks, (of which Sir Andrew Halli- 

 day in his book " The West Indies 99 speaks so dis- 

 paragingly) that cost the English Government over 



