n the planter had strained himself to the
utmost to put things straight, another tornado would put him in a worse
plight than before.

Yet with all this the planter struggled on, generally doing his best to
carry the traditions and fashions of the mother country into his new
home. We have already noticed Barbados, and how it was affected by the
"great rebellion." Many other examples might be noted had we sufficient
space. The planter was nearly always a gentleman, even if he had begun
his career as a transported rebel. Some were gallants, and dressed in
the extreme of London fashion, often living beyond their means. Others
were merchants, trading with their own vessels, and selling their
surplus goods for produce to make up cargoes. With their own sugar, and
as much as they could procure from others, they filled their ships for
the homeward voyage, and in return got enough merchandise for trading.
These were the fortune-hunters, who were always looking forward to that
happy time when, with money in their pouches, they could once more
settle down in Merry England. The old country was always "home," as it
is still for the West Indian, although perhaps neither himself nor his
parents ever saw it--then it was the will-o'-the-wisp that drove him to
endure all the discomforts of a life in the tropics, often to die of
fever before his work was hardly begun.

While Jamaica was under the dominion of Spain little was done to develop
the island. The Indians were exterminated, as in Hispaniola, to be
replaced by wild cattle and horses, and fifteen hundred negroes were
introduced to cultivate provision grounds. From these, passing vessels,
which called in on their way to Mexico, got their supplies. As yet it
was not a rendezvous for buccaneers, and taken altogether it was quite
insignificant. Thousands of white men and tens of thousands of negroes
were required before it became the important island which ultimately
rivalled Hispaniola. However, although the Spaniard was driven out he
left his sting behind in the shape of his slaves, who took to the
mountains, to be afterwards known as Maroons, and to worry the English
colonists for over a century.

And here, as we are dealing with the planter and his labour supply, we
must say something of the negro slaves, to whom the West Indies were
indebted for their very existence as European colonies. Unlike the
American, the African had known slavery for ages. Prisoners taken in war
were k