on; 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 had to content ourselves with the
outside, which was gaudily and not unskilfully painted in Indian
fashion. There were gods and goddesses in various attitudes; Vishnu
fighting with the monkey god, Vishnu with cutlass and shield, the monkey
with his tail round one tree while he brandished two others, one in each
hand, as clubs. I suppose that we smiled, for our curiosity was
resented, and we found it prudent to withdraw.

The Coolies are useful creatures. Without them sugar cultivation in
Trinidad and Demerara would cease altogether. They are useful and they
are singularly ornamental. Unfortunately they have not the best
character with the police. There is little crime among the negroes, who
quarrel furiously with their tongues only. The Coolies have the fiercer
passions of their Eastern blood. Their women being few are tempted
occasionally into infidelities, and would be tempted more often but that
a lapse in virtue is so fearfully avenged. A Coolie regards his wife as
his property, and if she is unfaithful to him he kills her without the
least hesitation. One of the judges told me that he had tried a case of
this kind, and could not make the man understand that he had done
anything wrong. It is a pity that a closer intermixture between them and
the negroes seems so hopeless, for it would solve many difficulties.
There is no jealousy. The negro does not regard the Coolie as a
competitor and interloper who has come to lower his wages. The Coolie
comes to work. The negro does not want to work, and both are satisfied.
B