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Show 108 JAMAICA. floors called Barbacucs. After being well dried, it is snbjected to a process, called ho~se-picking, which is nothing more than the separatiOn by hand of the bi'Okcn and inferior seeds, from those of a better qua· ]ity. Finally comes the packing of the cofl'ec in bags and barrels, which arc conveyed on mules down the mountain paths, to the place of shipment. We saw a number of women diligently at work in the house, picking, and men at the mills. Thus the whole scene was one of orde1· and indnstry. The proprietor. informed us, that although a temporary unsettlement, since the change of system, had occasioned a diminution of produce, there was now a decided reaction; and that if his people continued to work, as they were then doing, an increased crop next year might reasonably be expected. After an early dinner, our kind host conducted us, on horseback, to an estate on a higher mountain eminence, called Bloxburgh. As we rode along, and when we had attained the height, the views of the hills, plains, and distant sea, with the palisades, town of Port Royal, and Kingston harbor, on one side-and of deep ravines and wooded dells, backed by the Blue Mountains on the other-were of unusual sublimity and beauty. We could not be surprised that Columbus, in his day, was so much delighted with the scenery of Jamaica. At Bloxburgh we found an agreeable young man from Scotland, who was then sole manager of a very extensive coffee estate, belonging to ])ark and Hall of Liverpool. He told us that he had ninety laborers at work, who were doing as well as those on the neigh-b or.m g properti.e s ; an d t IH it h c was Io o k'Ing forward JAMAICA. 109 to an increased produce for the future. It appeared, however, that he had been engaged in some conflicts with them, on the subject of rent and wages, which did not evince an enlightened management. Here it may be well to notice the fitet, that the great majority of estates in Jamaica belong to absentee proprietors who reside in England. In Jamaica they are placed under the care of some attorney, or representative of the owner-one attorney often undertaking the care of numcrou~ estates. Under the attorney, is the overseer, on each particular property, on whom the management almost exclusively devolves. This state of things is extremely unfavorable to the welfare of Jamaica. If the proprietors cannot give their personal attention to their estates, it would certainly be a better plan to lease them to eligible tenants on the spot-a practice which has, of late years, been adopted in many instances. It is only surprising that rstates, never visited by the proprietor, and sehlom by the attorney, but left to the care of inexperienced young men, often of immoral character, should prosper at all. Nor would they prosper, even as they now do, but for two causes: first, the exuberant bountv of nature; and secondly, the orderly, inofl'ensive cond~ct, and patient industry, of the negro race. Many of the coffee estates in this neighborhood are on very high ground, one or more at least four thousand feet above the level of the sea. Our intelligent conductor pointed out_ several of them to us; and, with little exception, gave a good account of their condition under freedom. At Halberstadt we were lodged as well as boarded; and the next morn- |