( 250 ) 



sades per annum ; and 3d, the Administrator-general, who has a 

 salary of 6,000. The book-keeper has 4,000, and three clerks, or 

 key-keepers, have from 800 to 1,000 each. These officers are em- 

 ployed in whatever relates to the treasury, or to the general concerns 

 of the establishment ; they all reside in Tejuco, and are the most re- 

 spectable of the inhabitants. The management of the difFerenl 

 works is entrusted to eight or ten under-administrators, each having 

 in his care two hundred negroes, called a troop, to which, besides a 

 clergyman and a surgeon, are attached several overseers and subor- 

 dinate officers, who have salaries of from 400 to 200 crusades. The 

 privilege of employing a certain number of negroes in the works is 

 common to all the officers, to an extent corresponding with their 

 rank : the superior officers let to hire as many as they please, say 

 forty, and sometimes upwards of fifty ; the inferior officers are 

 permitted to let out two or three, in preference to other individuals ; 

 a decidedly bad practice, as will be shewn hereafter. 



The Intendant holds a place of great trust : he is the superior 

 magistrate, and his duty is to administer justice, and to see that 

 the laws peculiar to the district are duly executed. He is of course 

 president of the assembly, or juncta, and calls meetings whenever he 

 thinks proper ; he disposes of the military force of the district, orders 

 roads to be made or stopped, and stations guards on them to ex- 

 amine travellers, and to detain suspicious persons. fJe has also the 

 privilege of giving or refusing permission for persons to enter the dis- 

 trict, or settle in it ; and every one, however high in rank or pro- 

 perty, who passes thither is supposed to have the Intendant s express 

 concurrence, which, as a matter of form, is sometimes dispensed with. 

 He appoints officers, signs all papers, receives all reports that are 

 made, and acts accordingly. To him solely the treasure is entrusted 

 for the payment of the salaries of the officers, the negroes^ wages, 

 tradesmen's bills, and every incidental ex pence attending the esta- 

 blishment. He issues paper-money, and withdraws it from circula- 

 tion whenever he thinks proper ; for all which he is responsible to 



