48 SUGAR 



top thereof a large, fancy straw hat, bedecked a la 

 mode, with ribbons and flowers. 



The labourers are called in gangs to the pay- wicket. 

 Whilst waiting their turn, they rest in the shade, 

 whiling away the time according to their fancy. Here 

 you see an old coolie woman leaning against a wall, 

 enjo3dng a pipe. Near by, a mother is buying a bun 

 for her pickaninny, from an old granny who is hawking 

 round a basket of " dainties." One very little girl is 

 sitting by herself under the shade of a very big gamp, 

 sucking a piece of sugar-cane ; she can hardly be more 

 than eight years old, yet her name is on the pay-sheet 

 for a very good week's work in the fields. On the 

 canal bank lies some timber ; every length of wood is 

 being made to do duty as a garden-seat. All around, 

 men and women are doing nothing, and doing it in a 

 most picturesque style ; and dotted about the groiuid 

 in their midst are infants and tiny tots. But most of 

 the children in the scene are playing about in the punts, 

 in which they have not long ago come back from work ; 

 the favourite pastime is the perilous game of walking 

 round the edge of the boats. 



After drawing their wages, the labourers, big and 

 little, all go off to the market. An estate's market- 

 place is situated by the roadside ; the scene it presents 

 on a Saturday afternoon is very animated and uniquely 

 picturesque. The goods are displayed on either side 

 of the highway, which is more like a country lane than 

 a road ; nearly every stock-in-trade is spread on the 

 ground — sometimes on a cloth, more often on the grass. 

 A few things are piled up in baskets, or on little trays 

 reared on folding stands. The salesmen and sales- 

 women, blacks, coolies and Chinese, generally disport 



