"None of them have got any labour," said B.
"They can't make returns," said A.
"Just look at their clearances," said B; "and then look at ours."
"Jamaica sugar is paying now," I remarked.
"Jamaica, sir, has been destroyed root and branch," said A, well pleased; for they delight to talk of Jamaica. "And no one can lament it more than I do," said B. "Jamaica is a fine island, only utterly ruined."
"Magnificent! such scenery!" I replied.
"But it can't make sugar," said B.
"What of Trinidad?" I asked.
"Trinidad, sir, is a fine wild island; and perhaps some day we may get our coal there."
"But Demerara makes a little sugar," I ventured to remark.