DEMERARA SUGAR AT HOME 29 



has been empoldered, being protected against floods 

 by dams, main drainage trenches with sluice-gates, 

 and a river or sea margin of Bush left, as I have ex- 

 plained, when the clearing was made. The main 

 drainage trenches, with their sluice-gates connecting 

 with the water frontage, can also be used, if necessary, 

 for irrigation purposes. Lengthways down the middle 

 of the estate runs a broad walk, on either side of which 

 are navigation canals. From this central walk as 

 base, the estat-e is laid out in rectangles, completed by 

 cross-navigation canals as side boundaries. The cane- 

 fields occupy the rectangular enclosures, and are further 

 divided into sections by drainage ditches. 



The chief buildings on an estate are the factory — 

 known as the mill — the manager's house, the over- 

 seers' quarters, a hospital, a school, and a store, 

 usually kept by a John Chinaman. The hospital and 

 school are compulsory institutions in the case of all 

 estates which employ indentured coolie labour. The 

 Colony brings over the coolie immigrants, the planters 

 paying part of the expense involved ; in return, the 

 coolies are attached to an estate for five years, the 

 Government being responsible for their welfare. The 

 system of indentured labour is very much like that 

 of apprenticeship. These apprentices have to live on 

 the estates and do the work they undertake ; they are 

 paid for that work, and apart from the restrictions 

 mentioned, they are free agents. In completing their 

 apprenticeship they cancel all obligations to their 

 employer and to the Colony. 



Let us make a short journey to one of the Demerara 

 sugar estates, in the near neighbourhood of George- 

 town. Here, before taking you among the canes, I 



