55**?=** 





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138 



SUGAR-PLANTATIONS. 



and when he gets among it he giakes dreadful 

 havock, for he is only satisfied by cutting down 

 great numbers of canes, taking only a small 

 portion of each. There is also a strange custom 

 among the lower orders of people ; they scruple 

 not in passing a field, to cut down and make a 

 bundle of ten or a dozen canes, from which they 

 suck the juice as they go along, or preserve some 

 of them to carry home. The devastation which 

 is committed in this manner is incalculable, in 

 the fields that border upon much frequented 

 paths. It is a custom ; and many persons think 

 that the owner has scarcely a right to prevent 

 these attacks upon his property. 



The planters of Brazil have not yet arrived at 

 the period (which is not however far distant) of 

 being under the necessity of manuring their 

 lands. I heard of very few instances in which 



negroes, which he wished to prevent, as he thought that 

 this food brought on consumption. I know that the negroes 

 in Brazil eat every rat which they can catch, and I do not 

 see why they should not be well tasted and wholesome food, 

 for they feed on sugar-cane and- mandioc. I cannot refrain 

 from transcribing the following statement : " II y a des ha- 

 bitans qui se contcntent que le preneur de rats leur en apporte 

 les queues ou les testes. C'est une mauvaise methode, parce 

 que les preneurs voisins saccordent ensemble et portent les 

 queues d'un c6te et les tetes d'autre, qfin de prqfiter de la re- 

 compense que les mattres donnent, sans se mettre beaucoup en 

 peine de tendre les atlrapes." — Nouveau Voyage, &c. torn. iii. 

 p. 358. 



