Independent she is, for good and evil; and independent she takes care to remain; and no schemes for civilising the Negro will have any deep or permanent good effect which do not take note of, and legislate for, this singular fact.
Meanwhile, it was a comfort to one fresh from the cities of the Old World, and the short and stunted figures, the mesquin and scrofulous visages, which crowd our alleys and back wynds, to see everywhere health, strength, and goodly stature, especially among women.

Nowhere in the West Indies are to be seen those haggard down-trodden mothers, grown old before their time, too common in England, and commoner still in France.

Health, 'rude' in every sense of the word, is the mark of the negro woman, and of the negro man likewise.

Their faces shine with fatness; they seem to enjoy, they do enjoy, the mere act of living, like the lizard on the wall.

It may be said--it must be said--that, if they be human beings (as they are), they are meant for something more than mere enjoyment of life.