120 TlMEHRI. 
plished by Europeans in whole centuries before the 
Reformation. 
And what is the outcome of Mr. Froude's seven 
weeks' pic-nic in the British West Indies? This : that, 
after taking "drives about" during his tour, and spend- 
ing some time in gossiping with persons whom he does 
not name, but who were evidently men of but limited 
views and strong prejudices, he writes a book 
intended to create a sensation.* In his book, he describes 
the condition of things West Indian from the point of 
view of a despondent person. Yet, notwithstanding that 
the value of their great staple has of recent years been 
painfully low, never were the Islands more productive. 
There has been a shrinkage in value, but an increase 
in quantity of sugar and other products. So far, too, 
from the English interest in the islands suffering, where 
the negro is prosperous, as in Grenada, it is a fact that 
English merchants doing business with that Island clear 
more profit from their commissions now, than they got 
when they owned and worked Sugar Estates there for 
some years previously. So ignorant is Mr. FROUDE of 
what is going on in the West Indies, that he says the 
Whites will not intermarry with their fellow-colonists of 
Mixed Race. As a fact, such intermarriages are in- 
* In his bright little book The Chinese painted by Themselves, Colonel 
Tcheng-ki-Tong fitly describes the manner of writing a modern Book 
of Travels. He says (p. 3) : — 
The fact is, that the book is often written before the travels are tinder- 
taken, for the simple reason that the aim of the journey is the book to be 
published. The object is to obtain three hundred pages of print ; what 
does it matter about the truth ? On the contrary, if the book is to sell, it 
must be spiced with the singular, the horrible, social evils, scandals , or 
disgusting details. 
