STRENGTH OF NEGROES.
147
convey a cup or a bottle, it is placed in the same exalted situation. The very little children, of perhaps not more than three or four years old, will also place a calabash of water, or a bottle of rum, upon their heads, and trip along without holding it in the slightest manner.
CHAPTER
XLIII.
Negroes : exterior appearance—Difference of expression—White negroes ( Albinos)—Description of one—Black and white negroes— Negroes' " bulls and blunders"—Exchange is no robbery, or the lost specimens—Negro politeness — Negro tongue — Inebriation—Concluding remarks.
is now necessary to make some mention of the exterior appearance of this large bulk of the population of Antigua, the blacks. As most persons are aware, the distinguishing features of the negro tribe are thick lips and flat noses, to which peculiarities may be added, their black and woolly hair ; but that there are no exceptions to be met with is an incorrect statement. Even among the Africans themselves, me intelligent countenances and expressive features are to e found, while many of the Antiguan Creole negroes are what may be termed very good-looking. High and wellformed foreheads, black and sparkling eyes, aquiline noses, and lips with only a slight pout, are not uncommon. I would not, however, presume to assert that these pleasing outlines predominate ; on the contrary, a great many of the negroes are very ill-favoured, approximating to what may be called hideous; and this is heightened when, in contrast to their ebon skins, is presented the snowy hair of old age, or when suffering from that dreadful disease, the elephantiasis. Many, again, .are exactly like an ape, only, perhaps, they have not so much animation in their countenances ; while others, from their thick, sullen-looking features, their overIT
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