WEST INDIA SOCIETY. 211 



But as this injunction seemed not to inspire the lady nor my com- 

 panion with the horror it well might, I checked my surprise awhile : 

 and properly so. The defunct was presently heard bellowing in 

 the slave yard ; his cries mingled with solemn promise against 

 stealing rum any more, the offence for which he had been incarcera- 

 ted. In fact, the fellow had eluded his scot once before by a 

 stratagem like this. In our stroll back we were again saluted with 

 the crack of a slave whip ; and, coming up, heard an old man com- 

 plaining that they had " mashed him — for sake of canes." He had 

 suffered some juvenile thieves to plunder his charge. 



The cane-watcher's hut with us is just that of a gipsey at home. 

 He erects it by setting two long mats obliquely against each other, 

 the back being closed with underwood, or in some more artificial 

 manner. Just by you have the pile of embers that mark his fire 

 plaCe ; and here, or stretched at length within, one commonly finds 

 the Charley of a tropic beat. A grego, of the coarse welt called 

 Osnabrug, is girt tight about him, with what also serves as a belt 

 for his rusty hanger. Sometimes a battered fire-lock will be found 

 among his equipments. These negroes are stationed to prevent de- 

 predations on the open cane patches, but their trust also extends 

 beyond this : they are a check on amorous vagrants, a class but 

 too numerous here. 



I avoid entering at length on the state and treatment of our 

 slaves : — my only wish, in these poor notices, is to relate, without 

 bias, w^hat has been viewed with no other prejudice than one I 

 would not readily be divested of — a love of freedom even in her 

 sternest form. It has never entered my thoughts to compare such 

 little comforts* as slavery may yet afford with those enjoyed by the 

 peasantry of my native vallies. Oh no, bondage here is a poor state, 

 a very poor state, rife with ignorance, and sin, and shame ; but let 

 rae not inconsiderately add, as some will do, with misery, and pain, 

 and want. There may be short commons at times under embarrass- 

 ed proprietors, with here and there a petulant resort to the cowkin 

 on trivial occasions ; yet that our negroes are — except in more than 

 solitary cases — ill treated or neglected in any way, so Heaven help 

 me as I believe otherwise. 



A myriad of sand-flies haunted us within doors at sun-set, and I 

 was glad to escort a young lady in her ride home. Passing bold 

 rider she proved. Her nag threaded the rough track ; wliich in 



* I cannot but consider Major Moody's estimate of property held 

 by slaves on this island as over rated. 



