Islands are now United States territory, and the constellations _may_
recommend the temporary transfer of our poor friend to American
soil. Thank you; I thought that we should agree. It only remains for
me to instruct my agents, Messrs. Ap Wang & Son, to draw up an
agreement in the ordinary form on the royalty basis I have indicated,
for our joint signature. The returns will, I presume, be made up as
usual, to March 31 and September 30. As I am far too upset by the loss
of our friend to be able to talk business, I will now, with your
permission, withdraw."

Had I been born a citizen of Canton, I should unquestionably have
articled my son to an astrologer, convinced that I was securing for
him an assured and lucrative future.




CHAPTER IV

The glamour of the West Indies--Captain Marryat and Michael
Scott--Deadly climate of the islands in the eighteenth century--The
West Indian planters--Difference between East and West Indies--"Let us
eat and drink, for to-morrow we die"--Training-school for British
Navy--A fruitless voyage--Quarantine--Distant view of Barbados--Father
Labat--The last of the Emperors of Byzantium--Delightful little Lady
Nugent and her diary of 1802--Her impressions of Jamaica--Wealthy
planters--Their hideous gormandising--A simple morning meal--An
aldermanic dinner--How the little Nugents were gorged--Haiti--Attempts
of General Le Clerc to secure British intervention in Haiti--Presents
to Lady Nugent--Her Paris dresses described--Our arrival in