Six months in the West-Indies, in 1825

189 NEVIS. of temperature which an Englishman or a white Creole scarcely perceives.

In fact I was assured, by a medical man in Montserrat, that the negros on the hill estates did often suffer much from cold, and my own observation justified the remark. A planter, in my opinion, if he really wishes to do good, ought to insist upon all his slaves being clothed who are above the age of five years, the women, as women in every country under the sun ought to be clothed, fully and properly, the men in trowsers and a checked shirt with a pair of braces. Domestics, even for one's own vanity's sake, should be made to wear shoes and stockings, or shoes at all events; and though I would not enforce, I would encourage the same practice in the case of the field laborers. The planters themselves say, and for the most part they say truly, that the negros have the means or may have the means of procuring these articles for themselves: if they have, they should be made to purchase them, if they have not, it is the undoubted duty of the planters, as they are masters, Christians, and gentlemen, to give them. I suspect the man who talks to me about preaching and teaching and baptizing, when he, at least, for his own part, should be measuring and sewing and building; for until you have taught a man or a woman to respect themselves, it is vain for you to attempt to teach them to respect anything else: and observe that the question is not with savages of the forest,