el at which he had, on invitation, partaken of the
refreshing beverage mentioned in the citation:--

"Cocktail over, and walking in the heat of the sun being a thing not to
be thought of, I sat for two hours in the balcony, watching the people,
who were as thick as bees in swarming time. Nine-tenths of them were
pure black. You rarely saw a white face, but still less would you see
a discontented one, imperturbable good humour and self-satisfaction
being written on the features of every one. The women struck me
especially. They were smartly dressed in white calico, scrupulously
clean, and tricked out with ribands and feathers; but their figures
were so good, and they carried themselves so [43] well and gracefully,
that although they might make themselves absurd, they could not look
vulgar. Like the Greek and Etruscan women, they are trained from
childhood to carry weights on their heads. They are thus perfectly
upright, and plant their feet firmly and naturally on the ground. They
might serve for sculptors' models, and are well aware of it."

Regarding the other sex, Mr. Froude says:--

"The men were active enough, driving carts, wheeling barrows, and
selling flying-fish," &c.

He also speaks with candour of the entire absence of drunkenness and
quarrelling and the agreeable prevalence of good humour and
light-heartedness among them. Some critic might, on reading the above
extract from our author's account of the men, be tempted to ask--"But
what is the meaning of that little word 'enough' occurring therein?" We
should be disposed to hazard a suggestion that Mr. Froude, being
fair-minded and loyal to truth, as far as is compatible with his
sympathy for his hapless "Anglo-West Indians," could not give an
entirely ungrudging testimony in favour of the possible, nay probable,
voters by whose suffrages the supremacy of the Dark [44] Parliament
will be ensured, and the relapse into obeahism, devil-worship, and
children-eating be inaugurated. Nevertheless, Si sic omnia
dixisset--if he had said all things thus! Yes, if Mr. Froude had,
throughout his volume, spoken in this strain, his occasional want of
patience and fairness with regard to our male kindred might have found
condonation in his even more than chivalrous appreciation of our
womankind. But it has been otherwise. So we are forced to try
conclusions with him in the arena of his own selection--unreflecting
spokesman that he is of British colonialism, whi