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Show 64. DOMINICA. unsettlement, which took place after the commencement of full freedom, (at the time of planting) he had now no complamt to make-that the laborers were working well on then old locations-that not a single instance of squatting had occurred -that he was conducting his estates on the plan of job-work, which was agreeable and profitable to both parties- that whereas he had formerly borne the burden of more than two thousand one hundred slaves or apprentices, he now employed only six hundred free laborers- that he expected to save money by the change- and lastly, that he was taking measures for enlarging the extent of his sugar cultivation." I aftcnvards met with an agreeable confirmation of this last item in the account. In comp.:my with the Governor, and our friend Bellot, I rode out one afternoon, to sec a celebrated prospect from a hill, bordering on the valley of the Roseau, called ·watten 'Vavcn. When we arrived at the spot, I found it · was one of the estates under the care of this gentleman. Before us was an amphitheatre of mountains, of romantic shapes and covered with foliage, and at their feet, an uncultivated glen of extreme luxuri ance. The scene was lovely beyond description; but its beauty, if not to be materially injured, was at least about to change its character, for our friend Laidlaw had already laid his plans for con· verting this wild, fertile glen, into a sugar pltmtation. The e>tport of sugar from Dominica was, in 1837, (the last year of apprenticeship) 2,221 hogsheads; in 1838, 2,900 hogsheads ; in 1839, 2,47 4 hogsheads ; a gradual but decided increase is now expected. Cheering, indeed, is the fact that, in the meantime, both the morals and comforts of the laboring population arc rnpidly improving; take for an evidence, the decrease of crime, and the increase of imports. In 1833, (the last year before the act of emancipation) the commitments to the jail, were 160; in 1839, the first entire year of freedom, only 88 ; difference in favor of freedom, 72. The average imports of the last five years of slavery, were DOMINICA. 65 of the valne of £64,000. In 1839, they amounted to £120,000; although certain vessels which had been expected, had not yet arnved, when the accounts were made up-difference in favor of freedom, £56,000; a sum which mainly represents an increase of comforts enjoyed by the emancipated negroes. Two other circumstances, in the present state of Dominica, deserve a somewhat emphatic notice. The first is, that field labor, being no longer the work of slaves, is no longer helcl to be disgraceful. The black people who were free, before the date of emancipation, used to consider it below their dignity, to work on the estates. Now it is quite otherwise. We had the pleasure of finding them busily engaged, with their lately cmru1c1pated brethren, in cutting the cane and boiling the sugar. The second ctrcumstn.nce alluded to, is of a political natnre. A majurity of the lower house, 'in the L egislature, is composed of colored persons-duly chosen, of course, by the freeholders of the island. It may naturally be asked, whether a body of persons, so constituted, show any tendency to disquietude or disaffection. To such an inquiry the answer is most satisfactoty; they are remarkable for their loyalty-the zealous friends and supporters of the British Government ! On the 7th of the Second-month, we took our leave of our warm-hearted fi'iends. Maria Dalrymple, who had lodged and boarded us, so greatly to our comfort, refused to receive a penny of repayment; but we at length persuaded her to take the doubloons which were her due, with our permission that she should apply them to charity. Our colored brethren accompanied us to the vessel. We parted from them, under the feeling of Christian love and friendship ; and as the lateness of the season precluded a farther windward voynge (consistently \VIth our other objects) we set sail for St. Thomas. _ The wind which, as a matter of course, we hoped to enJOY m our favor, now "hauled" to the westward, and blew strongly ahead. Such are the trials of patience to which one is often exposed, at sea. As we slowly receded from Dominica, 6* |