BARBADIANS.
101
pleasant little island. From the intense heat of the sun, and their constant exposure to its rays, their complexions are changed from a natural white to a fiery red. The women allow their long hair to float all down their backs, and be blown about by every zephyr. This may sound very pretty in poetry, but it is anything but pretty in real life, particularly when we take into consideration the colour and state of these locks ; the fervent kisses of the " great luminary'' has changed them into the appearance of dirty flax, while their disordered and matted condition brings the idea forcibly to your mind, that they have seldom, if ever, undergone the ordeal of “ brush and comb." With respect to their persons, they are, generally, almost in a state of nudity, or their dress is put on in such a manner that it leaves you with that impression ; no shoes or stockings envelope their feet, while their meagre, attenuated forms altogether produce an effect which no pen can accurately describe. The men look even worse than the women, for to their squalid appearance they add the air of a “ Regent-street lounger." Their castors stand in great want of “ Rowland's Macassar," as well as Dr. Winn's “true anticardiam," which engages to make old articles look like new ; the original size has gradually diminished until it is almost insufficient to cover their pericranium, while the form beats in distortion those to be daily seen in the shop-windows of "Lloyd." This elegant article of dress is placed upon one side of the head, while on the other protrudes a huge mass of disordered hair. With regard to the other articles of clothing, they bear anything but the marks of taste, their coats being generally “ out at elbows," and partly devoid of collars, their trousers reaching about half down their legs, and the use of shoes and stockings dispensed with ; a short stick denominated a “ two foot two" swings from their hands, and then the costume is complete. Their houses are as dirty as their persons, and from their incurable habits of idleness, starvation is often their fate. To these poor unfortunates, the Barbadian negroes are known to step