In the Burvtba Dominions. 233 



myftcry in drawing of oil, no particular hardfliips endured, 

 or rifk of health, no compulfion or prevention pMended, 

 and as it is the intcrcft of the proprietors to get their work 

 done at the cheapell rate, of courfe the numbers that would 

 flock to fo regular and profitable an employment would foon 

 lower the rate of, hire nearlv, at lead, to the common wages? 

 of the country : befides, I obfcrved no appearance of afflu- 

 ence amongd the labourers, they were meanly lodged and 

 clad, and fed coarfely, not on rice, which in the upper pro- 

 vinces is an article of luxury, but on dry grains and indige- 

 nous roots of the nature of caflMda, collected in the waftes 

 by their women and children. Further, it is not reafonahle 

 to fuppofe that thcfe labourers worked conftantly ; nature al- 

 ways requires a refpite, and will be obeyed, however n*uch 

 the defire of gain may ftimulate, and this caufe mufl more 

 particularly operate in warm climates to produce w hat we 

 often improperly call indolence. f>en the rigid Calf) em- 

 phatically fays, that the man who has not time to be idle is 

 a (lave. A due confideration of this phyfical artd moral ne- 

 ceflity ought perhaps to vindicate religious legidators from 

 the reproaches too Hberally beftowed on them for fanclioning 

 relaxation : be that as it may, I think it is fufficiently appa- 

 rent that the article of wages is alio exaggerated, and that 

 500 vifs mufl: only be confidered as the amount produce of 

 working days, and not an average for every dav in the vear.* 

 The labour of the miners, as I have obforved above, is alto- 

 gether diftinc^ from the oil-drawers, snd their pay propor- 

 tioned to the hardfliips and rifks they endure. 



Afluming, therefore, as data, the acknowledged profit of 

 ]ooo tecals per annum A)r each well, which we can hnrdlv 

 fuppofe exaggerated, as it would expofe the proprietors to an 

 additional tax, and the common wiiges of precarious em- 

 ployment in the country, that is, one month with another, 

 including holydays, the year round, four and a quarter tecals 

 per month, as ihe pay of the oil-drawers, which includes 

 the two extremes of the quefl^ion, it will make the averai^e 

 produce of each well per diem 300 vifs, or 109,^00 vifs 

 per annum, equal to 399,675 lbs. avoirdupois, or tons 

 ^7^^955 ^^^-y «^' ii^ Viciuid meafure 793 hogfheads of fixtv- 



VoL. IX. Gg three 



