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Show 82 DOMINWA. Iu.s own accor d-was to the following effe.c t-. "t. hat althougI 1 h1. s pres,o.n t crops were somewhat d1mm1shed m· consequence of the slight degree of unsettlement, w Iu .c h too k p 1a ce after t11e commencement of full frc.e - dom (at the time of planting) he had now n_o complamt k th t the laborers were workmg well on ~ rna e- a . . their olrl locations-that not a smgle mstancc of sqlta ttm. g h a d occurred-that he wa.s conducting his estates on the Plan of .J . ob-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 afterwards met with an agreeable confirmation of this last item in the account. In company with the Governor, and our friend Bcllot, I rode out one afternoon, to see a celebrated prospect from a hill, bordering on the valley of the Roseau, called Watten Waven .. When we arrived at the spot, I found it was one ol 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 luxuriance. The scene was lovely beyond descn· pt·w n ; b ut 1· ts b eau ty ' if not to be materially injured, was at least about to change its character, for our friend Laidlaw had alread! Ialii his plans for convcrt·m g t h1' s w1' ld , f'e r t'1l e glen ' mto a sugar plantation. DOMINICA. 83 The export of sugar from Dominica was, in 1837, (the last year of apprenticeship) 2,221 hogsheads; in 1838, 2,900 hogsheads; in 1839, 2,474 hogsheads; a gradual but decided increase is now expected. Cheering indeed is the fact that, in the mean time, both the morals and comforts of the laboring population are rapidly 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 of the value of £64,000. In ] 83!) they amounted to £120,000; although certain vessels, which had been expected, had not yet arrived, 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 held 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 emancipated brethren, in cutting the cane and boiling the sugar. The second circumstance alluded to is of a political nature. A majority of the lower house, in the Legislature, is composed of colored persons- duly chosen, of course, by the freeholders of the G 2 |