chap, v.] WEST INDIES. 351 
more so of late years than formerly.* Few of the 
negroes however, on Sundays and holydays, ap¬ 
pear deficient in this point, or shew any want of 
raiment, not only decent but gaudy. 
The circumstances wherein the slaves in the 
West Indies seem mostly indebted to their owners’ 
liberality, are, I think, those of medical attendance 
and accommodation when sick. Every plantation, 
that I am acquainted with, is under the daily or 
weekly inspection of a practitioner in physic and 
surgery, who very frequently resides on the spot; 
and the planters, being in general men of educa¬ 
tion themselves, are not easily reconciled in so im¬ 
portant a matter, with such illiterate pretenders in 
medicine as are very often found in the country 
parts of England, to the disgrace of the profession. 
Young men of skill and science are therefore sought 
for and encouraged; and as but few single planta¬ 
tions can afford a very liberal allowance, they are 
permitted to extend their practice in the neigh¬ 
bourhood. + 
1 
* I believe the negroes on every plantation in Jamaica, without ex¬ 
ception, receive a yearly allowance of oznaburg-linen, woollen, baize, 
checks, &c. and but very few planters deny them hats, handkerchiefs, 
and other little articles, as knives, needles and thread, See. &c. 
f The usual recompense to the surgeon for attendance and medi¬ 
cines, is six shillings a head per annum for all the negroes on the 
estate, whether sick or well, imputations, difficult cases in mid¬ 
wifery, inoculation, &c. are paid for exclusively, and on a liberal 
scale. A property having five hundred negroes contributes about 
£.150 sterling per annum 5 and the surgeon if he chooses, is entitled 
