38 
TEINIDAD. 
a target, and in material similar to that of which bee- 
hives are made, and withal they are serviceable. They 
extend wide, and throw a considerable circle of shade 
around the wearer, effectually shielding him from 
the sun. 
The mode in which different nations carry their bur- 
dens is curious and amusing. A London porter in- 
creases his load by a knot ; a ISTegro puts everything on 
his head ; a Coolie will carry a load on his head, but 
his child he carries in his own way upon his hip ; a 
Chinaman seems to be the wisest of burden-bearers. 
He has an elastic flattened pole of about five or six feet 
long, and at each end of this he will sling a basket 
filled with potatoes, a bucket of water, a trunk — indeed, 
almost anything — and placing the centre of the stick 
upon Ins shoulder, will start off in a kind of dog- trot, 
the spring of the stick keeping time with his step, and 
thus momently lifting off the load ; and if this does not 
relieve him sufficiently, he adroitly slews round his load, 
and without stopping or putting it down, shifts it on to 
his other shoulder. The loads they carry are A^ery heavy, 
and of such weight that it does not seem possible that 
they could be carried at all in another way. I have 
heard of some Africans boasting that they could pick 
up a barrel of flour 2001bs. weight, and put it on their 
heads and wallc away with it ; but it seems to me the 
Chinaman surpasses this in the immense load he can 
carry. 
There are in Trinidad many other peoples, but they do 
not call for particular remark. Danes and Germans, 
Spaniards and Italians, Scotch and Irish, French and 
English, are to be found in Trinidad, with their diver- 
sified manners, different languages, and opposing creeds. 
The languages spoken in Trinidad are numerous and 
diverse. 
The language of government and law is English. The 
language of tlie Creoles of the island is French, not pure 
French, but a patois, and one which is dissimilar from all 
