172 TYPES OF THE BLACK RACE, Book I. 
dressed in a tunic of white muslin ; a blue handkerchief 
was tied round her head in the turban-like fashion of the 
West Indies ; and a string of white beads fell around her 
bronze-coloured neck. Her features, though not denying 
her near connexion with the negro race, were very fine, 
and left a most favourable impression. Life and intellect 
flashed from her eyes, while her teeth were as white and 
well set as those of the most perfect coloured beauty 
can possibly be imagined. No wonder that one of our 
young travelling companions, born on the cold banks of 
the Elbe, fell in love with this attractive daughter of a 
fiery clime, who, however, received his addresses with a 
sublime mixture of dignity and good-humoured satire. 
While speaking favourably of the free negroes of this 
territory, I cannot omit mentioning the excellent qualities 
of our two boatmen. If our Preciosa was a happy repre- 
sentation of the natural graces that can be expected in a 
black woman, Mr. Barnard, one of the two negroes, was 
a type of manliness in the best sense of the word. Un- 
commonly tall, and of herculean frame, but perfectly well 
proportioned ; used to all the hardships of a sailor and 
woodsman, and still easy in his movements : he was as 
good-natured as he was naturally intelligent, and as polite 
as he was dignified in his entire deportment. He tried to 
comply with our wishes as soon as he knew them, and to 
the comforts of my family he paid an attention which left 
almost nothing to me to take care of. When, with a few 
strokes of his machete, he opened a cocoa-nut which he 
held between his fingers, or when he split it in two while 
it rested freely upon the palm of his left hand, and then 
offered it to one of our company, a more easy, and at the 
same time striking, display of physical power and natural 
politeness could not possibly be conceived. 
