The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-04-14 00:00:00

TRINIDAD.

IMPORTANT EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROII TRINIDAD.
DATED 23D JANUARY, 1840.—" We have commenced
crop here, certainly under much more favourable auspices
than we did last season. Last year about (10 immigrants
i
of all descriptions arrived in this land ; which, thouzla it
would scarcely be felt in Demerary, is to us, considering our
small population, au immense relief; of these, two cargoes
were from the States, New York, and Philadelphia, and we
are now in momentary evpectation of a ship from the former
with 300 more. They are an active, intelligent, hard-work-
ing set of people, fond of saving money and acquiring lands.
In general those in our employ do two tasks per day, and af-
terwards work their provision ground. They have at once
commenced the common field work, and from being accus-
tomed to severe labour in America, LAUGH AT THE TASKS,
to which our old people have been accustomed. The pro-
prietary body are treating them liberally, giving them extra
allowances, as they have been used to much better food, than
is customary here."

FOREIGN SUGAR.
(From the Jamaica Royal Gazette.)
Some time ago, when exertion was employed for the pur-
pose of inducing the British Government do do away with
what was considered the "grave of Britons," it was strongly
urged in opposition to all that was advanced, that to do so
would be inconsistent with good faith or with the dictates of
the commonest justice and humanity, and that the great mass
of the individuals who composed the colony are Africans,
liberated by our cruizers from the holds of slave ships.
Allowing, for the sake of argument, this to be true, are not
the claims of the West India Colonies much stronger and
more just than anything which may bear in favour of Sierra
Leone? Whence were the liberated Africans exported
Were they intended to cultivate the soil of our colonies, or to
toil under the lash of the foreign sugar grower ? No man
possessing the hundredth part of a grain of common
honesty will deny the real fact of the case—that the " liber-
ated" were never shipped for the British Western Isles. If
the continuance of the support of Government be indispen-
sably necessary for bolstering up the African Golgotha, we
say that support is an act of injustice cruelly inflicted on our
West Indies, for having generously aided in accomplishing
the abolition of slavery. Were sugar, the produce of slavery,
excluded from the markets of " free" England and of the
European continent, we would ask, where would slaves he
seen, and where would be the necessity for upholding a
colony notorious for the waste of treasure, and the frightful
mortality of Britons ? Unfortunately, legislators, whether
colonial or imperial, will too often indulge, even at the ex-
pense of common sense, in political error—will indulge in a
dog-sleep injurious, indirectly to themselves, but directly to
the nation at large. We appeal even to the most prejudiced
anti-colonial man (if such there be), whether the removal of
the " protecting duties" is not a positive and substantial
encouragement—aye, a bonus given to the unprincipled and
hellish trader in inhuman blood, bones, and sinews, and to
his no less amiable co-adjutor, the foreign slave-holder ?
Let Britain's Premier, the whole host of lOrds spiritual and
temporal, with the lower house of the imperial parliament
put their hands on their hearts in the presence of the Deity
and reply in the negative ! If they cannot, why then worry
and annoy their own colonists so perpetually, and in so un-
just a manner ? Why not encourage them by every lawful
means, and with kindness assist in raising the productions
of their islands in value, at least above even the produce of
any foreign colony that may boast of possessing the great
boon of freedom ? In the language of truth we fearlessly
assert that the British nation is as firmly and interminably
pledged, and lies under as serious and solemn an obligation
to this, and her sister colonies, as it is to the payment of his
pension to its wounded and disabled soldier !
.NV e say again
it is utterly impossible that such a violation of every just
principle, of every moral obligation, which ought to guide
the conduct of nations as of individuals, can be seriously
contemplated ? Time will show.

THE REINDEER IN SUMMER.—It is only during winter
that these animals enjoy any comfort, as even moderate cold
is insufficient for their nature. The great heat of the
northern summer subjects them to much pain, and brings
with it their special plague in the form of a gadfly. Lin-
naeus, in his Flora Lapponica, describes the mode in which
this insect tortures the reindeer. About the beginning of
July the latter shed their coats, at which time the hair on
the back is erect. The oestrus flutters the whole day over
the herd, and takes the opportunity of dropping on them an
egg, scarcely the size of a mustard-seed. The state of the
coat at this season favours its admission ; and, protected by
the heat of the part, a larva is produced that finds its way
into the flesh, and continues there the winter, increasing to
the bulk of an acorn. As the warm weather comes on, it
becomes restive, and worries the poor animals almost to
madness, till it has eaten its way through the skia• Six or
eight of these tormentors, and sometimes even more, fall to
the share of each deer ; the young ones, after their first win-
ter, are most subject to their attacks ; and Linnmus adds,
that a third or fourth part of the calves fall victims to this
complaint, which is known among the inhabitants by the
name of kurbma. As soon as an oestrus is observed flutter-
ing about, the greatest confusion exhibits itself in the herd ;
they fly from the obnoxious insect, running against the wind,
and driving from them any unfortunate individual who has
received the unlucky windfall. While suffering under the
irritation of the gnawing, they rush madly into the sea, and
feel some relief while under water. On this accoant, many
of the Laplanders keep near the shores of the Icy Sea during
the summer, and only return to the interior about Septem-
ber."—Townskend's Sporting Excursions in the Rocky
Mountains.