A
COOLIE
VILLAGE
75
CHAPTER VII. A coolie village — Negro freeholds — Waterworks — Pythons — SlaveryEvidence of Lord Rodney —Future of the negroes — Necessity of English rule — The Blue Basin — Black boy and crayfish.
THE second morning after my arrival, my host took me to a coolie village three miles beyond the town. The drive was between spreading cane fields, beneath the shade of bamboos, or under rows of cocoa-nut palms, between the stems of which the sun was gleaming. Human dwelling places are rarely interesting in the tropics. A roof which will keep the rain out is all that is needed. The more free the passage given to the air under the floor and through the side, the more healthy the habi tation ; and the houses, when we came among them, seemed merely enlarged packing cases loosely nailed together and raised on stones a foot or two from the ground. The rest of the scene was picturesque enough. The Indian jewellers were sitting cross-legged before their charcoal pans, making silver bracelets and earrings. Brilliant garments, crimson and blue and orange, were hanging to dry on clothes lines. Men were going out to their work, women cooking, children (not many) playing or munching sugar cane, while great mango trees and ceibas spread a cool green roof over all. Like Rachel, the coolies had brought their gods to their new home. In the centre of the village was a Hindoo temple, made up rudely out of boards with a verandah running round it. The doors were locked. An old man who had charge told us we could not enter ; a crowd, suspicious and sullen, gathered about us as we tried to prevail upon him. So we