mode of their labor. As to the time of it, they begin, as before said, at daylight, and continue, with two intermissions, (one for half an hour in the morning, and the other for two hours at noon,) till sun-set.

The above description, however, does not include the whole of their operations for the day, for it is expected that they shall range about and pick grass for the cattle. It is clear, from the different evidences, that the custom of grass-picking varies, as to the time in which it is to be done, on different estates, for on some it is to be done within the intervals of rest said to be allowed at noon, and on others after the labor of the day. It is complained of, however, in either case, as a great grievance, as it lengthens the time of work; as also, because, particularly in droughts, it is very difficult to find grass at all, and because, if they do not bring it in sufficient quantities, they are punished. Grass-picking, says Captain Smith, is one of the most frequent causes of punishment. He has seen some flogged for not getting so great a quantity of it as others, and that at a time when he has thought it impossible they could have gotten half the quantity, having been upon the spot.

It is impossible to pass over in silence the almost total want of indulgence which the women slaves frequently experience during the operations in the field. It is asserted by Dalrymple, that the drivers, in using their whip, never distinguish sex.

The above accounts of the mode and duration of the labor of the field slaves, are confined to that season of the year which is termed "out of crop," or the time in which they are preparing the lands for the crop. In the crop season, however, the labor is of much longer duration. Weakly handed estates, says Mr. Fitzmaarice, which are far the most numerous, form their negroes in crop into two spells, which generally change at twelve at noon, and twelve at night. The boilers and others about the works, relieved at twelve at noon, cut canes from shell blow (half-past one) till dark, when they carry cane-tops or grass to the cattle pens, and then they may rest till twelve at night, when they relieve the spell in the boiling-house, by which they themselves had been relieved at twelve in the day. On all the estates the boiling goes on night and day without intermission; but full-handed estates have three spells, and intermissions accordingly.

4

Mr. Dalrymple, speaking also of their labor in time of crop, says they are obliged to work as long as they can, which is as long as they can keep awake or stand on their legs. Sometimes they fall asleep, through excess of fatigue, when their arms are caught in the mill and torn off. He saw several who had lost their arms in that way. Mr. Cook states, on the same subject, that`in crop time they work in general 'about eighteen hours out of the twenty-four, and are often hurt through mere fatigue and want of sleep. He knew a girl lose her hand by the mill, while feeding it, for being overcome by sleep, she dropped against the rollers. He has heard of several instances of this kind.

To this account of the labor of the slaves, both in and out of crop, it ap pears by the evidence they have Sunday and Saturday afternoon out of crop, to themselves, that is, to cultivate their own grounds for their support; on

others, Sunday only; and on others, Sunday only in part, for some people, says the Dean of Middleham, required grass for the cattle on Sundays to be gathered twice in the day; and Lieutenant Davison says he has known them. forced to work on Sundays for their masters. It appears again, that in crop, on no estates, have they more than Sunday for the cultivation of their lands. The Dean of Middleham has known them continue boiling the sugar till late on Saturday night, and in one instance remembers it to have been protracted till sun-rise on Sunday morning: and the care afterwards of setting up the sugar-jars must have required several hours.

The point which may be considered next, is that of the slaves' food. This appears by the evidence to be subject to no rule. On some estates they are allowed land, which they cultivate for themselves at the times mentioned above, but they have no provisions allowed them, except perhaps a small present of salt fish or beef, or salt pork, at Christmas. On others they are allowed provisions, but no land: on others again, they are allowed land and provisions jointly. Without enumerating the different rations mentioned to be allowed them by the different witnesses, it may be sufficient to take the highest. The best allowance is evidently at Barbadoes, and the following is the account of it. The slaves in general, says General Tottenham, appeared to be ill-fed; each slave had a pint of grain for twenty-four hours, and sometimes half a rotten herring, when to be had. When the herrings were unfit for the whites, they were bought up by the planters for the slaves. Mr. Davis says that on those estates in Barbadoes, where he has seen the slaves' allowance dealt out, à grown negro had nine pints of corn, and about one pound of salt fish a week, but the grain of the West Indies is much lighter than wheat. He is of opinion that in general they were too sparingly fed. The Dean of Middleham also mentions nine pints per week as the quantity given, but that he has known masters abridge it in the time of crop. This is the greatest allowance mentioned throughout the whole of the evidence, and this is one of the cases in which the slaves had provisions but no land. Where, on the other hand, they have land and no provisions, all the witnesses agree that it is quite ample for their support, but that they have not sufficient time to cultivate it. Their lands, too, are often at the distance of three miles from their houses, and Mr. Giles thinks the slaves were often so fatigued by the labor of the week, as scarcely to be capable of working on them on Sunday for their own use. It is also mentioned as a great hardship, that often when they had cleared these lands, their master has taken them away for canes, giving them new wood-land in their stead, to be cleared afresh. This circumstance, together with the removal of their houses, many of them have so taken to heart as to have died.

Whether or not their food may be considered as sufficient in general for their support, may be better seen from the following than the preceding account. Mr. Cook says that they have not sufficient food. He has known them they did it through

to eat the putrid carcasses of animals, and is convinced

want. Mr. J. Terry has known them, on estates where they have been worse fed than on others, eat the putrid carcasses of animals also. Dead mules,

horses, and cows, says Mr. Coor, were all burned under the inspection of a white man. Had they been buried, the negroes would have dug them up in the night to eat them through hunger. It was generally said to be done to prevent the negroes from eating them, lest it should breed distempers.

On the subject of their clothing, there is the same variation as to quantity as in their food. It depends on the disposition and circumstances of their masters. The largest allowance in the evidence is that which is mentioned by Dr. Harrison. The men, he says, at Christmas, are allowed two frocks, and two pair of Osnaburgh trowsers, and the women two coats and two shifts apiece. Some also have two handkerchiefs for the head. They have no other clothes than these, except they get them by their own extra labor. Woolrich and Coor agree, that as far as their experience went, the masters did not expend for the clothing of their slaves more than half a crown or three shillings a year; and Cook says that they are in general but very indifferently clothed, and that one-half of them go almost naked in the field.

With respect to their houses and lodging, the accounts of the three following gentlemen will suffice:

Mr. Woolrich states their houses to be small, square huts, built with poles, and thatched at the top and sides with a kind of bamboo, and built by the slaves themselves. He describes them as lying in the middle of these huts before a small fire, but to have no bedding. Some, he says, obtain a board or mat to lie on before the fire. A few of the head-slaves have cabins of boards raised from the floor, but no bedding, except some, who have a coarse blanket. The Rev. Mr. Rees, in describing their houses nearly in the same manner, observes that their furniture consists of stools and benches, that they had no beds or bedding in the houses he was in, but that some of them slept on the ground, and others on a board raised from it. Some of the new slaves, says Dr. Harrison, have a few blankets, but it is not the general practice: for in general they have no bedding at all.

Of the property of the field-slaves, the next article to be considered, the following testimony will give a sufficient illustration:

Many field-slaves, says Mr. Woolrich, have it not in their power to earn any thing, exclusive of their master's work. Some few raise fowls, and some few pigs, and sell them, but their number is very few. Mr. Dalrymple does not say that slaves never become possessed of much property, but he never knew an instance of it, nor can he conceive how they can have time for it. The Dean of Middleham observes, that the quantity of ground allowed to field-slaves for raising provisions does not admit of their frequently possessing any considerable property. It is not likely they can spare much of their produce for sale. Sometimes they possess a pig, and two or three fowls, and if they have also a few plantain trees, these may be the means of supplying them with knives, iron pots, and such other conveniences as their masters do not allow them. The greatest property Mr. M. Terry ever knew a field-slave to possess was two pigs, and a little poultry. A field-slave has not the means of getting much property. Mr. J. Terry has known the field-slaves so poor as

not to be able to have poultry. They were not allowed to keep sheep on any estate he knew. On some they might keep two or three goats, but very few allowed it. Some keep pigs and poultry, if able to buy any.

To this testimony it may be added, that all the witnesses, to whom the question has been proposed, agree in answering, that they never knew or heard of a field-slave ever amassing such a sum as enabled him to purchase his own freedom.

With respect to the artificers, such as house-carpenters, coopers, and masons, and the drivers and head-slaves, who form the remaining part of the plantation slaves, they are described as having in general a more certain allowance of provisions, and as being better off.

Having now described the state of the plantation, it will be proper to say a few words on that of the in-and-out-door slaves. The in-door slaves, or domestics, are allowed by all the witnesses to be better clothed and less worked than the others, and invariably to look better. Some, however, complain of their being much pinched for food.

With respect to the out-door slaves, several persons, who have a few slaves, and little work, allow them to work out, and oblige them to bring home three or four bits a day. The situation of these is considered to be very hard, for they are often unable to find work, and to earn the stated sum, and yet, if they fail, they are severely punished. Mr. Clappeson has known them steal grass, and sell it, to make up the sum required.

In this description may be ranked such as follow the occupation of porters. These are allowed to work out, and at the end of the week obliged to bring home to their masters a certain weekly sum. Their situation is much aggravated by having no fixed rates. If, says Foster, on being offered too little for their work they remonstrate, they are often beaten, and receive nothing, and should they refuse the next call from the same person, they are summoned before a magistrate, and punished on the parade for the refusal, and he has known them so punished.

Having now described the labor, food, clothing, houses, property, and different kinds of employment of the plantation, as well as the situation of the in-and-out-door slaves, as far as the evidence will warrant, it may be proper to advert to their punishments; and, first, to those that are inflicted by the cowskin or the whip.

In the towns many people have their slaves flogged upon their own premises, in which case it is performed by a man, who is paid for it, and who goes round the town in quest of the delinquents. But those, says Mr. H. Ross, who do not choose to disturb their neighbors with the slave cries, send them to the wharves or gaol, where they are corrected also by persons paid. At other times they are whipped publicly round the town, and at others tied down, or made to stand in some public place, and receive it there. When they are flogged on the wharves, to which they go for the convenience of the cranes and weights, they are described by H. Ross, Morley, Jeffreys, Towne, and Captain Scott, to have their arms tied to the hooks of the crane, and weights of fifty-six

pounds applied to their feet. In this situation the crane is wound up, so that it lifts them nearly from the ground, and keeps them in a stretched posture, when the whip or cow-skin is used. After this they are again whipped, but with ebony bushes (which are more prickly than the thorn bushes in this country) in order to let out the congealed blood.

Respecting the whippings in gaol and round the town, Dr. Harrison thought them too severe to be inflicted on any of the human species. He attended a man, who had been flogged in gaol, who was ill in consequence five or six weeks. It was by his master's order for not coming when he was called. He could lay two or three fingers in the wounds made by the whip.

The punishments in the country by means of the whip and cow-skin appear to differ, except in one instance, from those which have been mentioned of the

town.

It is usual for those, says Mr. Coor, who do not come into the field in time, to be punished. In this case a few steps before they join the gang they throw down the hoe, clap both hands on their heads, and patiently take ten, fifteen, or twenty lashes.

There is another mode described by Mr. Coor. About eight o'clock, says he, the overseer goes to breakfast, and if he has any criminals at home, he orders a black man to follow him; for it is then usual to take such out of the stocks and flog them before the overseer's house. The method is generally this: The delinquent is stripped and tied on a ladder, his legs on the sides and his arms above his head, and sometimes a rope is tied round his middle. The driver whips him on the bare skin, and if the overseer thinks he does not lay it on hard enough, he sometimes knocks him down with his own hand, or makes him change places with the delinquent, and be severely whipped. Mr. Coor has known many to receive on the ladder, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty lashes, and some two cool hundreds, as they are generally called. He has known many returned to confinement, and in one, two or three days, brought to the ladder, and receive the same complement, or thereabouts, as before. They seldom take them off the ladder, until all the skin, from the hams to the small of the back, appears only raw flesh and blood, and then they wash the parts with salt pickle. This appeared to him from the convulsions it occasioned, more cruel than the whipping, but it was done to prevent mortification. He has known many after such whipping sent to the field under guard and worked all day, with no food but what their friends might give them, out of their own poor pittance. He has known them returned to the stocks at night, and worked next day, successively. This cruel whipping, hard working, and starving has, to his knowledge, made many commit suicide. He remembers fourteen slaves, who, from bad treatment, rebelled on a Sunday, ran into the woods, and all cut their throats together.

The whip, says Woolrich, is generally made of plaited cow-skin, with a thick strong lash. It is so formidable an instrument in the hands of some of the overseers, that by means of it they can take the skin off a horse's back. He has heard them boast of laying the marks of it in a deal board, and he has