Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-03-19
BERMUDA.
The Inhabitants of an Isolated Is
land

Ane knhADltauts on ah ASOiAteo Is
land
ST. Louis Republican
The population is about fifteen
thousand, two thirds black ana one
third white. Both colors are Eng
hsh, the blacks quite as pronouncedly
SO as the whites. The Bermuda dar-
key SAYS cawn't with an emphatic
and marked q broadnesS of pronunci
alton as a cockney, and all his man
ners and department are based on the
most approved model. a tAorough>
bred Bostonian is not more accurate,
successful. and diverting limitations
than a Bermuda negro. They are
well treated, pretty generally wellto
do, and, | aust do them the credit OF
saying, well behaved. About one-half
OF their number are Episcopalians,
and sturdy supporters of the estab>
lishment. | attended a children's
service at the Cathedral church last
Sunday afternoon and regular Len
ten service III the same place at night.
The worship was earnest and animal
ed, the discourses of admirable spirit
and pertinence, and the bearing of
the people attentive and devout-aad
there was as mary negroes ia attend
ance as whites on each occasion and
/ must confess that with all my efforts
to limit my attention to the very in
tereshng services, they were some
what marred by the novel sight Of
whites, blacks, and mulattoes mixed
together as promiscuously as the
varied colors in the Bermuda flower
garden. 1t is complained that the
negro men will not work any more
than absolute necessity compels them
to, and, when they do, it takes three
to do the task of one. One of my
daily recreations is sitting on the
piazza of the Princess hotel and
watching the unloading of cargo of
ice from brigantine from Bath, Me-
The work is in charge Of negroes.
The vessel lies alongside the ice house
on shore, and her deck is about on
level with the ice'house door, but this
does not prevent them from rigging
up a complicated arrangement by
which every block of ice of ore hun
dred pounds must be handled by eight
men and horse. As rule, however,
the habit of the colored people here
leave little to find fault with. They
are usually intelligent, respectful, and
polite to strangers, orderly and tenn
perate. Very few Of them possess the
requisite property qualifications for
voting for members of the local coun-
$300-but none are poor enough
to suffer. There is an utter absence
of the sq1alor and filth that We are
are accustomed to associate with
poverty. The humblest negro habi-
tation in Bermuda is an abode of
neatness and comfort-a whitewashed
coral cottage with little yard en-
bsllished with roses and banana-stalks,
or, if in the country, a similar cot
tage in the midst of onion beds and
potato patches. Negroes, almost eX-
clusively, are the watermen; they own
the boats and catch the fish, The
regulation sailboat here is a light,
buoyant, cedar built craft with q
large leg-of-mutton sail and jib-far
more graceful and jaunty than the
business-like boom and gaff sail that
prevails sn our Atlantic coast. The
negro boatman manages his craft
with GOODNESS and deXterity he knows
every passage, nook, headland, and
rock in the island be knows the
shaded holes where angel-fsh, hog
fish, and groapers abound, and the
little reefs and beaches where shells
are to be picked up after storm, and,
if you hunt up one OF these African
owners of a smart, trim little boat
and tell him you want to go fishing,
you may trust all the rest to MIN; he
Will take you on spanking little sail
through a wilderness of charming
inlets and along wave'worn coral
coasts to a secluded fishing ground,
where yeu are sure of days sport,
with something to show for it; and
in the interval Of the pastime he viii
entertain you by telling you all he
knows and great deal he doesn't
know.