

BARBADOS-ANTIGUA EXPEDITION 15 
and Lord’s Castle. This method of prospecting the fauna down 
to ten fathoms was interesting and profitable, the negro divers 
being very expert, indeed the best I had ever seen. One of 
them, Albert Ashby, proved exceptionally good; one of the 
strongest, most willing, and most intelligent men that I have ever 
employed. We shall hear much more of him later. 
The day before I left, Mr. Arthur Gill, a yachtsman and ad- 
miralty official, took me in a boat to inspect some particularly 
fine reefs off the southern coast. As we were returning he called 
attention to Pelican Island, where the Quarantine Station was 
located, although it had not been necessary to use it as such for 
several years. He remarked that this would be a fine place to 
secure quarters for our party, a remark that eventually led to 
important results, as will be seen. | 
As a matter of fact, I had been most favorably impressed 
with the salubrity of Barbados, the kindly attitude of the 
officials and the luxuriant fauna about the reefs. But a serious 
difficulty presented itself in the dense population of negroes 
that occupied the entire island, the most congested population 
in the western hemisphere. The guide book put it at 196,000, 
or 1,180 to the square mile! 
Imagine the difficulties that would be encountered by a rather 
large party of strangers from the far-away United States doing 
a lot of most unusual and inexplicable things and with a lab- 
oratory equipment of mysterious instruments most alluring to 
_ the child-like mind of these natives! Without any hostile intent 
whatever, impelled solely by friendly curiosity, they would 
inevitably crowd about us at all times and the children and 
babies would be continually under foot. It therefore seemed 
hopeless to secure suitable working conditions along the shores. 
populated by this swarm of curiosity-impelled natives, where 
privacy would be out of the question. 
But if such a place as Pelican Island could be bette the 
worst of our difficulties would be solved. The buildings were 
substantial and ample to accommodate a much larger party than 
ours, and laboratory space would be much more than adequate 
for our needs. Good, thriving reefs were abundant for miles in 
the immediate neighborhood; and, best of all, beg on govern- 
