130 WASTE OF LABOR. 



die is inserted. A more awkward thing for chopping could 

 not be well conceived — at least so I thought until I saw 

 the instrument in yet more general use about the houses 

 in the country, for cutting fire-wood. It was in shape, 

 size and appearance, more like the outer half of the blade 

 of a scythe, stuck into a small wooden handle, than any- 

 thing else I can compare it to ; with this long knife, for it 

 is nothing else, I have seen negroes hacking at branches of 

 palm for several minutes, to accomplish what a good 

 wood-chopper, with an American axe, would finish at a 

 single stroke. I am not now speaking of the poorer class 

 of negro proprietors, whose poverty or ignorance might ex- 

 cuse this, but of the proprietors of large estates, which 

 have cost their thousands of pounds. 



During my stay in Jamaica an address was delivered to 

 the people of Kingston, by Mr. W. W. Anderson, a very 

 respectable and much esteemed lawyer of that city, who 

 has travelled extensively in the United States, and who 

 took occasion to contrast the industrial policy of the two 

 countries, with the view of showing to his fellow citizens 

 the real cause of their declining prosperity. He noticed 

 particularly their neglect to avail themselves of the im- 

 provements making in every department of agricultural 

 industry. Being a resident, and addressing his fellow 

 citizens, his opinions upon these subjects are worth re- 

 peating. 



