212 DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap.XIII.— B.P. 
to lift you oyer them. In fact, the houses and their 
approaches have been built very much after the taste 
and fancy of their respective owners; and looking up 
some of the streets you are forcibly reminded of an 
awkward squad out for drill, marching on top of one 
another. 
The tout ensemble would he rather pleasing were 
it not for the ruinous condition of the houses and 
door-steps, side walks, and even roadway itself; 
all of which are going from bad to worse, owing to 
the large accession of drones whom Mr. John Bull, in 
a moment of unsuspecting good-nature, has made to 
his family. Our new brothers as by law established 
lay claim to enjoy all the sweets in the family posses¬ 
sion, hut they leave the elder children to do all the 
work, and decline to stir the tips of their fingers in 
furtherance of the general welfare ; so that the neat¬ 
ness and order which ruled before they were dragged 
into the family are now nowhere to be found. 
It is hardly possible to give a more striking in¬ 
stance of the innate sloth of the negro than the coal¬ 
ing of the royal mail steamers in Kingston harbour. 
This work, which requires a large amount of physical 
endurance, and is about the dirtiest and most dis¬ 
agreeable anywhere, but more especially in the Tro¬ 
pics, is performed entirely by women, who carry the 
coal in baskets on their heads; the payment is one 
cent for each basketful, and a dollar is commonly 
earned at a coaling, sometimes more. This will give 
some idea of the powers of endurance of negro ladies. 
The women each have their number on a tin label, 
