258 TIMEHRI. 
the whip like an English deserter, that they have a hard 
or a cruel Master; and more especially when a further 
examination would show, that with the rest of the gang, 
scarce the mark of a lash is seen. The law of punish- 
ments is in faét too lenient, since it incapacitates the 
master from punishing serious offences as they deserve, 
and with desperate offenders has no effeét ; it should be 
extended to 50 lashes, but with this Ordinance, always 
to be administered before the gang, in the presence of 
the medical attendant and all the white servants of the 
estate; this exhibition is a more complete check upon 
wanton tyranny than any law could be, and with the 
negro, would have a much greater effeét than the mere 
pain of punishment. It would obviate the inconvenience 
of constant applications to the Magistrates, and without 
doubt, would considerably decrease the number of pun- 
ishments. Indeed, it is much to be wished that the cus- 
tom of punishing before the whole gang, in the manner 
of a court-martial, was in general use, as there is no 
doubt of its superior efficiency over the common method 
of infliction, and the shame attending the exposure would 
operate equally with the punishment. 
One of the most serious duties of management is 
attention to the Creole Gang of the estate. The negro 
parents, though not generally deficient in affeétion to 
their offspring, yet are always lamentably so in those 
habits of cleanliness and wholesome nurture without 
which it is impossible to raise their infant progeny. The 
manager must descend to the most minute particulars of 
the cares of the Nursery. And he will find his greatest 
stock of patience put to the trial by the filthiness, obsti- 
nacy, negleét and stupidity of the negro mothers. 
