128 



DOVE HALL. 



the base of a mountain, beautifully wooded with the most 

 luxuriant forest trees of the tropics. The mansion is upon 

 an elevation which gradually slopes, for near a quarter of 

 a mile, till it is bounded in the valley by extensive fields of 

 sugar cane, which skirt the margin of a beautiful river that 

 traverses the whole estate. As I drove into the lawn in 

 front of the house, I observed from fifty to seventy-five 

 head of cattle — oxen, cows, and donkeys — grazing about, 

 and three men and two boys, posted at different points, 

 were watching them, occasionally varying the monotony of 

 their duties by rolling over on the grass and chattering to 

 each other, de rebus nihili, in that peculiarly rapid and 

 thoughtless gibberish which one never hears, except from 

 negroes and monkeys. 



"When I entered the house, I asked what these negroes 

 were doing on the lawn, and was told that they were tend- 

 ing the cattle to keep them from wandering off into the 

 mountain. Before I left, the overseer of the estate assured 

 me in all sincerity, that the planters could not get ahead 

 in J amaica unless wages came down ? I told him that he 

 must not talk to an American about high wages, when he 

 could afford to keep three men and two boys to do what 

 was not more than half occupation for the smallest of the 

 boys* 



* My readers will probably share the surprise which I experienced when I read 

 the statement about wages which occurs in the following passage in Mr. Stanley's 



