756 
W. H. DALRYMPLE. 
various digestive fluids, and the generation of gas ; then, on ac¬ 
count of being loose, the more pugnacious animals got more 
than their share and deprived the more docile of a sufficiency, 
besides inflicting injuries by kicking. 
It is customary even now among a great many to feed twice 
per diem (at noon and at night), the last feed being sufficient in 
quantity for two or perhaps more ordinary feeds, to which the 
animals stand up until they feel themselves satisfied, which is 
well into the hours at which they should be lying down, resting 
their worn-out muscular systems. 
The principal excuse generally offered for such a system is 
that of custom ; and there is no doubt that the continuance of 
such absurd methods is largely due to the fact that the responsi¬ 
bility for the health and condition of the sugar-plantation ani¬ 
mals is left almost entirely in the hands of illiterate and often 
superstitious individuals, as hostlers, who receive mere nominal 
wages, which is the height of false economy and is extremely 
inconsistent when we consider that for all the other departments, 
such as in the field and in the sugar-house, experts are engaged 
at good salaries. 
Another cause of injury and many deaths among sugar mules 
is pressure over the loins from plough back-bands, producing 
paraplegia. The negro ploughman, if not closely watched, will 
shorten his back-band ; place it, in some cases, close up to the 
external angle of the ilia, and then hitch his traces up to it, 
causing the greater part of the work of lifting and traction of 
the plough to be imposed upon the lumbar region, where there 
is least support to the back. His object here is, when shallow 
ploughing is required, to make the mule do the work he ought 
to do in elevating the point of a plough that really ought to be 
at the blacksmith’s shop to be put in proper running order. 
Another reason, attributed to this style of gearing, is that when 
a slow-gaited negro gets a fast-gaited mule he resorts to this 
method with the object of causing uneasiness to the animal and 
a consequent slowing of his speed. 
On account of the want of information with regard to die- 
