gS^&' 



160 



PROVISION-GROUNDS. 



crop time for the work which is necessary to be 

 done during the whole of the year, always re- 

 mains upon the spot. These fields are some- 

 times of considerable extent ; I have seen some 

 of three miles in circumference, or even of 

 more. Few owners of estates can manage to 

 preserve the field free from brushwood. The 

 horses which work the mill are usually removed 

 from the plantation as soon as the crop is finished, 

 and are often sent to the Sertam to pass the 

 winter, and they return again just before crop- 

 time on the following year. Indeed, such is the 

 importance of having good pasturage for these 

 animals between the crops, and the advantage 

 of allowing some of them to rest two years, that 

 every plantation should have a cattle-estate in 

 the interior of the country, as a necessary ap- 

 pendage. The oxen are often driven to the 

 sea-shore after the crop is over, if the estate is 

 conveniently situated for this purpose, and are 

 left to graze under the coco-trees until the fol- 

 lowing season. But they are fond of the young 

 coco-plants, and therefore it is not in every 

 situation that this can be done. 



As the planters commonly feed their slaves, 

 instead of allowing them a certain portion of 

 each week for the purpose of supplying them- 

 selves, the lands which are set apart for raising 

 their provisions are of great importance, for it 

 does not answer to the planter to purchase the 



