, 1873-08-06
No. z

'QlSCG9CUaIaQ, as (le 1dlK3:S say anu
though the marks of his blood are com
mon enough among all classes Of society,
the thoroughbred African himse.t has become
rare On the Atlantic coast, indeed, are
found a few small colonies of emigrdnts,
creole blacks from st. Thomas ana Jamai-
ca aud here and there is a settlement of
that curious and interesting race, the Ca
rib, OF which people | am bound to declare
that its males rival the Chinese in industry,
and in honesty surpass all the world
while its females are so Invariably chaste
as to have given a proverb to The diSsoIute
population, which their good example can
not shame into d~acency or GOOD conduct.
Whatever was the blood OF these Catibs
when deported, in 1896, 10 the Island of
ST. Vincent, by the English governor of
Belize, they are now Wdisti09uishable i'm
any way from the pure negro stock. and
the name of 'Carib' sill c~lIaging to them
is obviously a false description. Never
theIess, there are not likely 70 surrenderit
for that name now carries dignity and re-
pute more valuable than passports or tes-
timonials. L Carib man, sih!' says a
black fellow who comes for employment,
standing upright before you, with a con
scious pride OF race and good name in his
eyes and if, on inquiry, his boast is found
to be the truth, it only remains to settle
wages and terms. A Carib's honesty and
skill are among the self-evident varities of
nature. But l must not dwell Oh this peo-
pile, most interesting though it be, for not
among such does one find a savage.
But Joe, or Joe'm as he called himself,
was undoubtedly a savage. Perhaps |
ought to say something Of my hero's birth
and parentage, and l would with pleasure
ifIonIy knew anything. 1t is possible
poor Joe had vague recoIIections OF where
his rude hut by the Niger lay but nobody
seemed to care much about the matter, nor
about any other sentimental feelings of Joe;
indeed, summOnjng my memory to account,
| am almost ashamed to lind how very lit
tie / knew of the honest fellow in his p
city of individual. Joe was to me a reaIi-
an embodiment Of the wOod-spilit;
he was more like to Man, the King OF Ami
mails, than any shikari | ever met. To
Joe stalking through the dim aisles of
his 1.-The figure, clad IN flannel rags
with far, bending and sWaying as
though twisted with collie his great feet
treading noiseIessly among rotten sticks
and dry leaves his eyes rolling round and
round beneath ferocious br0wS his thick
lips twisting and twining all the while
to see Joe thus was to behold q somewhat
startling apparition. But yet more i'm
pressiye was my guide when his quick
thought to catch the 'chump,
chump, chumpina' of wild boar's tusks
against a tree-trunk, half q mile away.
When that sound reached him, he paused
suddenly, and his great shapeless ears lite
rally erected themselves like those ofa dog.
He always leaned against a tree to listen,
closed his eyes, opened his mouth, and, as
one could see, concentrated every faculty
of his strange mind on the one sense of
hearing. His ears really moved. Then, if
the distant sound proved to be no fancy,
it was grand to watch Joe's stealthy action
no wild beast could move more silently,
with a keener instinct of the best APP
proach. I was never tired of contempla-
ting my guide, and to this intence admira-
ton Of Joe in his business capacity, it is,
[ think, to be attributed that | inquired so