510 WEST INDIES. 



the ill effects of the worst ; as the planter is sure of a speedy and 

 profitable market for his produce, which has a readier sale than 

 perhaps any other commodity in the world. 



Large plantations are generally under the care of a manager, or 

 chief overseer, who has commonly a salary of 150/. a year, with 

 overseers under him in proportion to the extent of the plantation ; 

 one to about thirty negroes, with a salary of about 40/. Such planta- 

 tions too, have a surgeon at a fixed salary, employed to take care ot 

 the negroes which belong to it. But the course which is the least 

 troublesome to the owner of the estate is, to let the land, with all the 

 works, and the stock of cattle and slaves to a tenant, who gives secu- 

 rity for the payment of rent, and the keeping up repairs and stock. 

 The estate is generally estimated to such a tenant at half the net pro- 

 duce of the best years. Such tenants, if industrious and frugal men, 

 soon make good estates for themselves. 



The negroes in the plantations are subsisted at a very easy rate. 

 This is generally by allotting to each family of them a small portion 

 of land, and allowing them two days in the week, Saturday and Sun- 

 day, to cultivate it : some are subsisted in this manner ; but others 

 find their negroes a certain portion of Guinea and Indian corn, and 

 to some a salt herring, or a small portion of bacon or salt pork, a day. 

 All the rest of the charge consists in a cap, a shirt, a pair of breeches, 

 and a blanket ; and the profit of their labour yields 10/. or 12/. annu- 

 ally. There are instances of a single negro man, expert in business, 

 bringing 150 guineas; and the wealth of a planter is generally com- 

 puted from the number of slaves he possesses. 



To particularise the commodities proper for the West India mar- 

 ket, would be to enumerate all the necessaries, conveniences, and 

 luxuries of life ; for they have little of their own but cotton, coffee, 

 tropical fruits, spices, and the commodities already mentioned. 



Traders there make a very large profit upon all they sell: but 

 from the numerous shipping constantly arriving from Europe, and a 

 continual succession of new adventurers, each of whom carry out 

 more or less as a venture, the West India market is frequently over- 

 stocked ; money must be raised, and goods are sometimes sold at 

 prime cost or under. But those who can afford to store their goods, 

 and wait for a better market, acquire fortunes equal to any of the 

 planters. All kinds of handicraftsmen, especially carpenters, brick- 

 layers, braziers, and coopers, get very great encouragement. But 

 it is the misfortune of the West Indies, that physicians and surgeons 

 even outdo the planter and merchant in accumulating riches. 



The present state of the population in the British West Indies 

 appears to be about 65,000 whites, and 455,000 blacks. There is 

 likewise in each of the islands a considerable number of mixed blood,, 

 and native blacks of free condition. In Jamaica they are reckoned at 

 10,000 ; and they do not fall short of the same number in all the other 

 islands collectively taken. The whole inhabitants therefore, may 

 properly be divided into four grt-at classes : 1, European whites ; 2 ? 

 Creole or native whites ; 3, Creoles of mixed blood and free native 

 blacks ; 4, Negroes in a state of slavery. 



The islands in the West Indies lie in the form of a bow, or semi- 

 circle, stretching almost from the coast of Florida north, to the river 

 Oronoque, in the main continent of South America. Some call them 

 the Caribbees, from the first inhabitants : though this is a term that 

 most. geographers confine to the Leeward Islands. Sailors distin- 



