A Queer Race: The Story of a Strange People — page 117: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

114 A QUEER RACE. ward she and Fane were made one by the Reverend Rob- ert Hare. If the commander had left a wife in England (and such things have happened), his reluctance to return thither would be accounted for. But, though his con- duct may have been questionable, and his motives ob- scure, there can be no question that Denzil Fane was a mun of resolute will and strong character—a born Jeader of men, Ishould say. If his people thought they were going to lead idle lives, they were very much mistaken. So soon as the decision was taken to remain on the isiand, he assigned to every one his task, organized a govern- ment, and promulgated a code of laws. Opposition (if the idea of it was ever conceived) would have been out of the question; the Caribs simply idolized their ‘“‘ White Chief,” and rendered him the most implicit cbedience. Roads were made, houses built, gardens laid out, trees eut down, and the country opened out. Sailors are al- ways handy fellows, and among so many there were nat- urally some with a turn for mechanics and engineering, and great improvements were effected in the native methods of manufacture, and several new industries set on foot. Into this work Fane threw so much energy that I am disposed to think he wanted to justify himseli to his own conscience by civilizing his Carib subjects, and making the island the home of a happy and thriving community. ‘This may possibly have been his ruling mo- tive from the first; and if so, there can be no doubt that with the materials at his command he succeeded better than might have been expected. | Some of the rules he laid down are worth mention. | Although he acquired the Carib tongue, he made English the official language, and insisted on the Caribs Jearning it. ‘The process was probably slow and painful in the be- ginning, but in the end the desired result was attained. At the time of my arrival on the island there were nota hundred men who could hold a conversation in the Carib tongue. Healso made them Christians—after a fashion— which was all the more easy, as their own primitive -re- ligion seems to have sat very lightly on them, and they were ready to believe pretty nearly everything tne Great White Chief told them. In his own family Denzil Fane made the practice of (E(0) mm 0) ool) KS Eom