Book I. AGRICULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. 193 



120a Landed property in Jamaica is in general freehold without manorial rights, and is chiefly in the 

 enjoyment of individuals, though there is some government and corporation territory. Estates are 

 generally small, few exceeding 1000 acres : formerly they were managed by resident proprietors ; but at 

 present, and for some time past, by far the greater number have been managed by agents or attorneys, 

 who are represented by Roughley as a sellish, grasping, unprincipled set of men, " too ignorant to be 

 planters, and too ostentatious, proud, and supine, to contribute to the good of their constituents." 

 {Planter's Guide, p. 8.) They often contrive, by getting estates in debt and mortgaging them, ultimately 

 to become the proprietors themselves. Some proprietors are so over-careful as to have what is called a 

 planting attorney, and a mercantile attorney, the latter for the sale of produce, and the purchase of im- 

 ported stores for tlie slaves. Besides these there are travelling agents who visit difFerent estates, and 

 make annual or biennial voyages to Europe to the proprietors ; an overseer for each estate, who has both 

 free white men and slaves under him ; a head driver, a slave ; the head cattle and mule man ; the head 

 boiler or manufacturer of sugar ; head carpenters, coopers, masons, coppersmiths, and watchmen ; a 

 hot-house or hospital doctor or doctress midwife ; the great gang of able men and women ; the second 

 gang of rather weakly habits ; and the third, or weeding gang, composed of children ; cattle and mule boys, 

 watchmen, invalids, and superannuated, and young children and infants. The qualifications, duties, 

 and treatment of all these classes are discussed at length by Roughley, who gives a picture ot culture 

 and management very diffferent from any thing belonging to the management of landed property, or the 

 culture of farm lands, in Britain. 



1201. The overseer, who is generally known by his hat and pipe {fig. 162.), should be a man of intelli- 

 gence, tempered with experience, naturally humane, steadfast in well-devised pursuits, of settled sober 

 habits, not given to keeping indiscriminate company, or, suffering his subor- 

 dinate white people to do so, thereby vitiating their manners ; presenting a gen- 

 tleman-like appearance; keeping a regular, well-supplied, comfortable table, 

 without profusion, not only for himself and the white people under him, but for 

 the benefit of such sick and convalescent slaves as require salutary and restor- 

 ing nourishment. His business hours will be fully occupied by the concerns of 

 the estate, his leisure ones in the innocent enjoyment of some domestic amuse- 

 ment. He must be kind and courteous to the young men under him, but giving 

 or allowing them no opportunity to treat him with disrespect ; attentive and 

 hospitable to respectable strangers ; cautious and wary how he suffers strollers 

 to tempt his benevolence. He must not capriciously or suddenly discharge his 

 white people (as is very often the case), taking care that no envious or jealous 

 sentiment or idea arises in his mind, if his young men have merit on their side, 

 or are caressed by their superiors. He must keep the slaves strictly to their 

 work, yet not imposing on them unusual hours, or inflicting punishment for 

 every trifling oflfence ; but, when punishment for crimes is necessary, tempering 

 it with prudent mercy. He must be attentive to their real wants, not suffering 

 them to tease him with their trifling complaints, or tamper with him by their ' 

 arts, but promptly satisfying them, by enquiring into their serious grievances. Above all things, he must 

 not encourage the spirit of Obea in them (which is horrible), nor dishearten them by cohabiting with their 

 wives, annulling thereby their domestic felicities. He must not suffer their provision-grounds to be 

 neglected, trespassed on, or ruined, nor their houses to be out of repair or uncomfortable ; for it very often 

 happens, that well-disposed slaves, by such freedoms taken with their wives, their well-established 

 grounds ruined by thieves or cattle, their domestic quiet and comfort intruded upon, or their houses ren- 

 dered uninhabitable by storm or other casualty, become runaways. Their conduct influences others, till 

 at last the strength of the estate vanishes, the evil becomes notorious, and the plantation, of course, be- 

 comes neglected. The magistrates are then obliged to take this growing evil into serious consideration. 

 Hunting parties are sent out (perhaps with little success) to bring in the fugitives ; martial law is at last 

 proclaimed throughout the diseased district; all sorts of people are harassed; public trials are instituted; 

 some of the runaways are never caught ; others who are brought in undergo trial, and are convicted and 

 sentenced to death or transportation for life. {Roushley, 40. 43.) 



1202. The head driver is seen carrying with him the emblems of his rank and dignity, a polished .staff 

 or wand, with prongy hooks on it to lean on, and a short-handled flexible whip ; his office combining 

 within itself a power, derived principally from the overseer, of directing all conditions of slaves, relative 

 to the precise work he wishes each gang or mechanic to undergo or execute. The great gang is comprised 

 of the most powerful field negroes, and is always under his charge. These form the strength with which 

 principally to carry into effect the main work in the field, and to manufacture the sugar and rum. There 

 are so many points to turn to, so many occasions for his skill, vigilance, steadiness, and trust-worthiness, 

 that the selection of a man, fit for such a place, requires circumspection, and an intimate knowledge 

 of his talents and capacity. A bad or indifferent head driver sets almost every thing at variance ; injures 

 the negroes, and the culture of the land. He is like a cruel blast that pervades every thing, and spares 

 nothing ; but when he is well-disposed, intelligent, clever, and active, he is the life and soul of an estate. 

 He very often is an elderly or middle-aged negro, who has long been so employed. If it should be so 

 ordered, that a new head driver is requisite to be put in commission, I must beg leave to lay before my 

 readers my opinion of the proper choice of one. I may err, but I hope not irretrievably. He should, in 

 my judgment, be an athletic man ; sound and hardy in constitution ; of well-earned and reputed good 

 character ; of an age, and, if possible, an appearance, to carry respect ; perhaps about thirty-five years 

 old ; clean in his person and apparel ; if possible, a native or Creole of the island, long used to field work, 

 and marked for his sobriety, readiness, and putting his work well out of his hands. His civility should 

 be predominant, his patience apparent, his mode of inflicting punishment mild. He should be respectful 

 to white people ; suffering no freedoms from those under him, by conversation or trifling puerile conduct. 

 It is rare, indeed, to find this mass of perfection in a negro ; but you may obtain a combination of most of 

 these virtues ; and, as to petty vices, always inherent in some measure in human nature, they must be 

 looked over, when not too full of evil. The junior drivers likewise, if possible, should be men of this 

 description ; but having a good master over them in the head driver, they will be induced to behave 

 tolerably. {lb., 79. 82.) 



1203. The labourers on a Jamaica sugar estate consist almost entirely of slaves, Creoles, natives, or 

 Africans, with some free blacks and men of colour or mixed progeny. The overseers are almost always 

 whites, and sometimes also the head drivers. 



1204. The buildings required for a sugar plantation are numerous and extensive. In a central 

 situation, by a stream or other supply of water, an extensive set of works, including an overseer's house, 

 hospital or hot-house, mill-house, large mill-yard, mule stable, trash or fuel house, cooper and carpenter's 

 shops, boiling and curing houses, a distilling house, tanks, cisterns, &c., should be built, and so arranged 

 as all to be seen from the overseer's house. 



1205. The overseei-'s house, it would appear, must be both a comfortable and elegant buihhng. It should 

 be built compact and convenient, not over roomy ; and raised sufficiently high from the foundation, with 

 good masonry work, to admit of suitable stores underneath, to keep all the plantation stores and supplies 

 in. It should be so placed that all the works can be seen from it, and not far from the boiling-house. 

 The rooms should be all on the same floor, and closely boarded with seasoned stuff. Each white man 

 should have a small bed-room to himself, with a glazed sash window on hinges, and a shutter to it. The 

 bed-rooms should be eleven feet by nine each, of which five should be in every overseer's house on a sugar 

 estate, leaving the overseer's room somewhat largei than the book-keeper's. A large well-covcretl 



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