35 ° 
HISTORY OF THE [book iv. 
nut-tree; an admirable covering, forming a lasting 
and impenetrable shelter both against the sun and 
the rain. Of furniture they have no great matters 
to boast, nor considering their habits of life, is 
much required. The bedstead is a platform of 
boards, and the bed a mat, covered with a blanket; 
a small table; two or three low stools; an earthen 
jar for holding water; a few smaller ones; a pail; 
an iron pot; calabashes * of different sizes (serving 
very tolerably for plates, dishes, and bowls) make 
up the rest. Their cookery is conducted in the 
open air, and fire-wood being always at hand, they 
have not only a sufficiency for that purpose, but also 
for a fire within doors during the night, without 
which a negro cannot sleep with comfort. It is 
made in the middle of one of the two rooms, and 
the smoke makes its wav through the door or the 
thatch. This account of their accommodation, 
however, is confined to the lowest among the field- 
negroes: tradesmen and domestics are in general 
vastly better lodged and provided. Many of these 
have larger houses, with boarded floors, and are 
accommodated (at their own expense it is true) 
with very decent furniture:—a few have even 
good beds, linen sheets, and musquito nets, and 
display a shelf or two of plates and dishes of queen’s 
or Staffordshire ware. 
Of cloathing, the allowance of the master is not 
always so liberal as might be wished, but much 
* A species of gourd. 
