64 SUGAR 



There are fifty-three labourers employed by this 

 estate — in comparison, think of the stafE, eight hundred 

 strong, of the small Demerara estate we went over, and 

 of the big Demerara estate which employs over eight 

 thousand labourers. 



All the hands here are darkies, for with the excep- 

 tion of Trinidad, which imports East Indian coolie 

 labour, the British West Indian islands rely mainly on 

 the native labouring classes for sugar-estate workers. 



This little stafi is fulfilling its appointed duties as 

 follows : sixteen are working in the fields, cutting and 

 loading canes ; six are carting ; eleven are stationed at 

 the mill ; four are drying megass ; and sixteen are 

 attached to the boiling-house. 



In the West Indies, the canes are reaped with a 

 hatchet, which has a fancy-shaped blade. For trans- 

 port to the mills, they are loaded on carts, which are 

 drawn by oxen. 



So peaceful is the romantic scene which fascinates 

 your gaze, that it takes some time for you to notice the 

 various signs of activity which are the vital features 

 thereof. Gradually, however, you become conscious 

 that there are other indications of life besides the 

 whirling of the windmill, and the music which accom- 

 panies the merry-go-round of sails. A team of stately 

 oxen is slowly making its way up the hill with a cart- 

 load of canes ; another team is plodding back to the 

 fields with an empty cart. From the general-supply 

 heaps of already unloaded canes, men are collecting 

 little bundles, which they carry on their heads to the 

 mill, a few yards away. Women are spreading out 

 megass to dry in the sun, and raking it over ; other 

 women are carrying dried megass over to the boiling- 



