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JAMAICA.
were three females with infants at the breast, who had each been committed to hard labor by the Special Ma gistrate ; one for having three pints of sugar in her possession ; another for quarrelling with her sister ; and the third, who was a non-predial, hired out, for not paying her weekly hire. In the last case, it is more than probable, that the offence was unavoidably created by her situation as a nursing mother. A history of past sufferings was legibly inscribed on the backs of many of the prisoners, who were almost in a state of nudity, in the scars of severe floggings. The super visor told us that prison dresses were being made for them. The majority of the prisoners sleep in two very small apartments, which we saw soon after the prison ers had left them for the day ; they were almost insuf ferable on account of their closeness. We saw here two women, named S A R A H N E L S O N and B E S S E Y G R A N T , from Phoenix Estate, in the parish of Hanover, and who were sent to this instead of their own workhouse, for the offence of being unable to execute the compul sory task-work imposed upon them by the Special Magistrate. That functionary resides in the great house on Phoenix Estate, and the people complain that he coerces them without mercy.* This estate also belongs to a professedly liberal and religious proprietor. We were permitted to look over the files of the Special Magistrates' commitments, which frequently consist of nothing more than lists of eight or ten apprentices with their respective punishments affixed, without any mention whatever of complaints or offences. We saw two of the life convicts, both of whom were condemned after the rebellion. One of them, a very old man, as* See A p p e n d i x F , Sec.
iv.