t 



132 



love 55 5 thefe being the names by winch the 

 eftates have long been known. 



Befides the great number of hofpitable 

 manfions found on the large plantations, in the 

 different parts of the country — many humble 

 dwellings attract the notice of the traveller, 

 and improve the general fcenery of the ifland. 

 Of fome of thefe I have before fpoken. They 

 are the cottages of a poorer order of white 

 people — of obfcure individuals, remote from 

 the great clafs of merchants and planters, and 

 who obtain afcanty livelihood by cultivating a 

 fmall patch of earth, and breeding up poultry, or 

 what they term flock for the markets. They 

 are defcended from European fettlers, but from 

 misfortune, or mifconduct, in fome of the race, 

 are reduced to a ftate far removed from inde- 

 pendence ; often, indeed, but little fuperior 

 to the condition of free negroes. 



Curiofity has led us to vifit feveral of thefe 

 families, and we find that, throughout many 

 generations, their predecelfors have lived con- 

 ftantly, in the ifland. Some have not been 

 able to trace back their pedigree to the period 

 when their anceftors firft arrived, and there-* 



7 



