The West indies in 1837

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102

DOMINICA.

tem of freedom. Very few apprentices on this or the other plantations, have been registered as non-predials, of those who are immediately employed as domestics. The manager said they preferred to be predials, with the privilege of their large grounds, and related an in­ stance to us, where a non-predial had been made a pre­ dial at his own request, giving as a reason, that when his mistress was not at home, " he did not get fed."— It appears to us that the domestics and mechanics of Dominica, as of some other colonies, have been exten­ sively defrauded in the classification, by being regis­ tered as predials. The temptation to cane stealing is not so great here as in Antigua, as the negros can grow canes in their own grounds. In one instance on this estate, a considerable quantity were raised by some apprentices, which the attorney directed to be con­ verted into sugar for them, receiving one third of the produce for the use of the mill. This meteyer system will probably extend in some of the colonies. We re­ turned to Roseau in the afternoon in our canoe. The day was so continually showery, that we were pre­ vented visiting an adjoining estate. The climate of Dominica is considered unhealthy, but will doubtless become more salubrious and less humid, as it is more extensively cleared and cultivated. We have found it quite bracing, and very different to the dry, relaxing air of Antigua, which is usually numbered among the healthiest islands. It is probable that each island might be beneficially resorted to, by invahds from the other. One of the great recommendations of Dominica, are its delicious rivers, which supply a beverage, the luxury of which, can only be appreciated in a tropical climate, and by those who have been recently restricted to the cistern rain water of Antigua. The last hurri-


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