ON A SUGAR ESTATE. 233 
to provide a physician and to keep a large stock of 
drugs constantly at hand. The Coolie is protected by 
government to such an extent that the planter is really 
the slave of the “laborer.” Upon the slightest pre- 
text the Coolie can call his manager before a magis- 
trate. If he does not choose to work, he can remain 
in his house on plea of sickness; if the manager or 
overseer uses force in trying to make the laborer per- 
form his task, he is at once summoned before the 
governor, imprisoned or fined. For a few years the 
Coolies worked well; they are sprightly intelligent 
people; and if the anti-slavery party, in power in 
England, had not hedged the planters about with so 
many restrictions, prosperity might have attended their 
efforts, ruined estates might have been reclaimed, and 
these fertile islands once more have blessed the world 
with their products. But the result has shown how 
2 party of fanatics can pervert power that, used 
judiciously, might have brought about a new era of 
prosperity. 
The Coolie, though naturally docile, was intelligent, 
and saw his opportunity ; and the planter now is not 
much better off than when he was wholly dependent 
upon negro labor. Wages, to be sure, are ridiculously 
low, though the profits of cane culture do not seem to 
warrant the payment of much higher rates. Twenty 
cents per day; for women sixteen cents; for children 
four cents and six cents per day. Some male la- 
borers, by extra work, can earn thirty-six cents, and 
those who have “tasks” assigned them as a day’s 
work can finish by noon, and prefer lying idle the 
rest of the day to increasing their wages. 
Even upon this small pay the negroes live com- 
