328 DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. XX.-B. P. 
some £6000. Being interested in the slave question, 
I seized every occasion of talking with the “ emanci¬ 
pated gentlemen.” They had one and all declined to 
work, and had never wavered in that resolution from 
the time of their manumission to the present day, 
thus turning the tables with a vengeance; they had 
been allowed to squat on the land of their masters, but 
only cultivated sufficient to keep body and soul toge¬ 
ther ; living in a squalid, half-starved condition the 
best part of the time. Indeed, I think it may he 
laid down as an axiom, that when the negro, in con¬ 
tact with the white man, is freed from all restraint, he 
becomes a burden to himself and to all around him. 
But to finish my description of these Islands. 
Great Corn is in lat. 12° 13' N., long. 82° W .; it is 34 
miles from Pearl Cay Lagoon, 38 from Blewfields, 52 
from Pirn’s Bay, and 82 from Greytown. 
The Little one is scarcely less beautiful than its big 
brother, but it is almost entirely laid out in grass-land 
for the cattle which are brought from Cape Gracias, 
and looked after by about twenty of the Great Corn 
Islanders, who also collect the cocoa-nuts with which 
the island abounds. There are no springs in either 
island, but an abundant supply of water can be ob¬ 
tained by digging wells. The Great island is about 
three and a half miles long by two broad, and there is 
a very fair road leading all round, on which we had 
many pleasant walks and gallops, for there are several 
good sturdy horses, about fourteen hands high, well 
broken, but sufficiently spirited, in the possession of 
the creoles. 
