Colonel Picton was left in charge, and had to use
severe measures to put down anarchy and secure
submission, and by the treaty of Amiens Trinidad
was ceded to Great Britain in perpetuity. The only
stirring incident in its history after that occurred
when Lord Nelson came down in 1805 on his chase
for a French fleet that had gone the other way. It
is reported that a solitary soldier in charge of the
defences of the north coast, thinking it was an
enemy, pitched his only gun over the cliffs, blew up
his watch-tower, and went with all haste to warn the
people of their danger.
T he English occupation began a new era for
Trinidad, and pretty nearly all its growth and progress
is a matter of the present century. The population
was nearly 40,000 in 1838, and in 1885 it was
I7 I>9 I4 . ° f which about 100,000 consisted of negroes
and 50,000 of coolies, chiefly from India. Sugar
planting was first introduced in 1787, and extended
rapidly, but, the slave trade being abolished early in
this century, Chinese coolies were imported in order
to keep up with the demand for labour. The first
Hindus were brought over in 1839, after the abolition
of slavery, under contract to labour seven and
a half hours a day, six days in the week, for five
years, at thirteen cents a day. Contracts could be
renewed for one year or five years, and those who
remained ten years in all were entitled to be returned
to their own country at the charge of the contractor.
The system of coolie contract-labour has been under
government regulation and supervision, and is said
to have worked well. The Hindus live in communities
by themselves, and preserve their habits, customs,
and traditions, and are undoubtedly better off
than they ever were in India. T hey are an intelligent,
frugal, and self-respecting people, and a large
proportion of them remain as a permanent part of
the population. Their women are especially fond
of adorning themselves with jewelry, and the customary
way of investing surplus savings is by turning
them into gold and silver ornaments, with which
the persons of the female members of the family are
richly decorated.
A large part of the area of the island is still covered
with forests and uncultivated plains, hardly
more than one eighth of the land being under cultivation,
and that mostly near the west coast, where
the only seaports and nearly all the towns are situated.
This part of the island is a rolling country,
with many sugar plantations, palm groves, cacao
and fruit gardens, and provision grounds. The
sugar industry has suffered here as in the other
islands, but, while it was prosperous, the cotton,
coffee, and tobacco for which the soil and climate
were equally well adapted fell into neglect. L a t terly
the cultivation of cacao, which affords a specially
fine chocolate, has been on the increase, and
coffee, tobacco, and fruits have received more attention.
It is only a question of adaptation to produce
almost anything that belongs to a tropical land with
an exceptionally rich soil and genial c limate ; but the
whites constitute barely one tenth of a population
now estimated at 200,000, or more, and the coloured
labour force is not altogether tractable in its freedom.