ABSTRACT
As the new owners took possession, estates were put back into production, no doubt encouraged by an increase in the price of sugar in 1857. In the annual report of 1861, Lieutenant-Governor Musgrave declared that the initial experiment has been more successful, and attended with fewer difficulties than might have been expected. As had happened so many times before, in adverse economic conditions planters sought to cut costs. Over 90 per cent of the Indians who came to St. Vincent were Hindus. There were two events which further contributed to the decimation and dispersion of the Indians in St. Vincent. Cultural and religious practices inherited from India underwent fundamental changes very early in the indenture experience mainly due to competition amongst the churches to convert the Indians; attempts by estates to break ties with India to make Indians feel at home in their environment and the absence of special schools for Indian children who were educationally marginalized.
