347 
CHAP. v.] WEST INDIES. 
The practice which prevails in Jamaica of giving 
the negroes lands to cultivate, from the produce of 
which they are expected to maintain themselves, 
(except in times of scarcity, arising from hurricanes 
and droughts, when assistance is never denied 
them), is universally allowed to be judicious and 
beneficial; producing a happy coalition of interests 
between the master and the slave. The negro 
who has acquired by his own labour a property in 
his master’s land, has much to lose, and is there¬ 
fore less inclined to desert his work. He earns a 
little money, by which he is enabled to indulge 
himself in fine clothes on holydays, and gratify his 
palate with salted meats and other provisions that 
otherwise he could not obtain; and the proprietor 
Is eased, in a great measure, of the expense oi 
feeding him. In some of the Windward Islands 
they have not land enough for the purpose; nor in 
any one of them are the negroes so happily accom¬ 
modated, in this respect, as in the large island of 
Jamaica; where they are seldom either stinted in 
quantity of land, or confined as to situation. In 
fact, if the owner’s territory is sufficiently exten¬ 
sive, the negroes make it a practice to enlarge 
their own grounds, or exchange them tor fresh 
land every year. By these means, having quicker 
and better returns, they raise provisions in abun¬ 
dance, not only for their own use, but also a great, 
surplus to sell. The misfortune is, they trust more 
to plantain groves, corn, and other vegetables, that 
are liable to be destroyed by storms, than to what 
are called ground provisions ; such as yarns, eddoes, 
