184
JAMAICA.
vation, and the fears that are commonly expressed, that the people will refuse, when free, to labor " continuously" for wages. He finds no difficulty in purchasing all the labor that his own people have to sell, besides the spare time of many from adjoining estates. He considers slave labor, of all others, the most un-economical and expensive ; and is persuaded that twenty free men are equal to one hundred slaves. Under a : slave system too, agricultural operations must be car ried on with immense masses of men, which he believes would not be required, even in West India cultivation, were it placed on a proper footing. | 8th.—We visited to-day several estates, called the Caymanas, accompanied by G. O. HIGGINS, Special Magistrate, the ATTORNEY-GENERAL, and JOSEPH | GORDON. The first of them Ellis's, is the property of Lord SEAFORD, and under the attorneyship of the last- j named gentleman. The number of negros is one hun- j dred and thirty-five, besides the free children who \ receive the same attention, as during slavery. The { manager, who has introduced taskwork to a consider- J able extent, assured us, that the cultivation of the estate was kept up as efi^ectively as at any former period. Complaints are rarely brought before the magistrate. We saw the hospital, in which were | twelve slight cases : it was a good building but very \ dirty. We passed also through the negro village. ; As the people were at work, most of the houses were , locked; such as we entered were comfortable, clean," and furnished. The village is situated in a grove of. cocoa nut trees, which belong to the negros, who are ' dependent, in part, for their subsistence, on the sale of \ the fruit in Spanish Town and Kingston markets. On I this estate, as well as on several others which we have j