343 HISTORY OF THE [book iv. 
potatoes, cassada, and other esculent roots; all 
which are out of the reach of hurricanes; but pru¬ 
dence is a term that has no place in the negro vo¬ 
cabulary. To obviate the mischiefs which fatal ex¬ 
perience has proved to flow from, this gross inat¬ 
tention, the slave act of Jamaica obliges, under a 
penalty, every proprietor of lands to keep, proper¬ 
ly cultivated in ground provisions, one acre for 
every ten negroes, exclusive of the negro grounds.* 
* In Jamaica the negroes are allowed one day in a fortnight, except 
in lime of crop, besides Sundays and holydays, for cultivating their 
grounds and carrying their provisions to market. Some of them find 
time on these days, besides raising provisions, to make a few coarse 
manufactures, such as mats for beds, bark ropes of a strong and du¬ 
rable texture, wicker chairs and baskets, earthen jars, pans, &c. for 
all which they find a ready sale ; but I cannot say much for the skill 
and elegance of their workmanship. The most industrious of the ne¬ 
groes do not, I believe, employ more than sixteen hours in a month in 
the cultivation of their own provision gardens (leaving all further care 
of them to the beneficence of nature) and in favourable seasons this 
is sufficient. Sunday is their day of market, and it is wonderful what 
numbers are then seen, hastening from all parts of the country, to¬ 
wards the towns and shipping places, laden with fruits and vegetables, 
pigs, goats, and poultry, their own property. In Jamaica it is sup¬ 
posed that upwards of io ; ooo assemble every Sunday morning in the 
market of Kingston, where they barter their provisions, &c. for salt¬ 
ed beef and pork, or fine linen and ornaments for their wives and chi I - 
' dren. I do not believe that an instance can be produced of a master s 
interfering with his negroes in their peculium thus acquired. They are 
permitted also to dispose at their deaths of what little property they 
possess 5 and even to bequeath their grounds or gardens to such of 
their fellow slaves as they think proper. These principles are so well 
established, that whenever it is found convenient for the owner to ex¬ 
change the negro-grounds for other lands, the negroes must be satis¬ 
fied, in money or otherwise, before the exchange .takes place. It is 
universally the practice. 
