J 94 On the Condition of the Inhabitants 



nate sent ihelr old and infirm -slaves to work at the public 

 roads, and received for them the same wages as were paid to 

 able-bodied men ; others had teams of horses and waggons 

 that never wanted empioy. These things are trifling in 

 themselves, hut the public business suffered by it. When 

 thcEns;lish took the place, the streets were in so ruinous a 

 condition as scarcely to be passable with safety. A small 

 additioiial assessment was laid upon the inhabitants, and 

 in the course of five vcars ihev liad nearly completed a 

 thorough repair of the streets, to the great improvement of 

 the town. If they should be induced to light the streets 

 with lamps, it would not only add greatly to the embellish- 

 ment of the toun, but prevent a number of accidents that 

 ha^ppen in«thc night time among the slaves. It would also 

 tend to the encouragement of the whale fisherv there. But 

 the greatest of all improvements, and one easily to be ac- 

 complished, would be to conduct the water into the houses. 

 The head of the spring, where it-flows into the pipes which 

 conduct it to the present fountains, is higher than the roof 

 of the hiohest house in the town ; yet, b)' a strange piece of 

 iffnon-'nce or pcrverseness^ thcv have carried it down to the' 

 Jowest point on the plain leading to the castle, so that those 

 who live at the upper end of the to\\'n have half a mile to 

 fetch water, which is done bv tv.o slaves, v;ho consume 

 inanv hours in the day in this employ, and are a great an- 

 noyance to the public fountain, where they are quarrelling 

 and fighting from morning till night. 



The pleasures of the inhabitants are chiefly of the sen- 

 .>ual kind, and those of eating, drinking, and smoking pre- 

 dominate ; principally the two latter, which, without much 

 intermission, occupy the whole day. They have no relish 

 for public amusements. Thev have no exercise but that of 

 dancing. A new theatre was erected, but plays were con-^ 

 sidered to be the most stupid of ail entertainments, whether 

 the performance was Knglish, French, or German. To 

 listen three hours tp a conversation was of all punishments, 

 the most dreadful, I remember, on one occasion only, to 

 have observed the audience highly entertained j this was at 

 an old German soldier t:moking his pipe ; and the encourage- 

 ment he met \\ ith in this part of his character vi as so great, 

 and his exerti<">ns proportioned to it, that the whole house 

 was prescnttv in a cioud of tobacco smoke, 



There is neither a bookseller's shop in the whole town, 

 nor a book society, A club called the Covcordla has lately 

 aspired to a collection of books, but the pursuits of the prin- 

 «i;pal part ol the members are drinking, smoking, and 



Learning. 



