110
MARTINIQUE.
Guadaloupe ! ! Our companion introduced us to his father, who is a planter, and of different sentiments to himself. He confirmed what his son had said respe ct \ ing the depressed condition of the colony, and the low \ price to which slaves had fallen, and also repeated j some of the current rumours about the British islands. He observed that the slaves in our colonies were " perfectly happy" before Emancipation, because they had legal protection. In Martinique, however, a master j could do anything with his slave, short of putting him j to death; and even in that case, if prosecuted, he would ! be sure to escape conviction. Since the change in the j British colonies, the discipline on the estates had much \ relaxed ; the slaves worked less and were less harshly | treated. A strong proof, he thought, that the French ; Government contemplated the early and entire aboli- | tion of slavery, was, that it passed no ameliorating laws. No doubts were entertained, that the slaves would con tinue on the estates and work if made free, but he feared that the cultivation could not be carried on pro fitably. During our stay at this gentleman's house, \ we drank some eau sucré, made of an inferior refined j sugar; which on enquiring we found was French beet- \ root sugar. j We went afterwards to the Botanic Garden of St. { Pierre, a scene of extraordinary luxuriance and beauty, j It is situated in the basin, and on the sides of a circle j of mountains, and is a complete labarynth of walks j with fish-ponds, cascades, &c. It is devoted chiefly j to tropical trees and shrubs of the Eastern hemisphere, ; with which it is supplied in great profusion and variety. { St. Pierre has from twenty-five to thirty thousand j inhabitants. It is a place of great trade, and theprin ] cipal port in the island, though the harbor is much ex-