TREATMENT OF SLAVES.

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plantations become unhealthy for whites, more especially forthose who labour with their hands in the fields.

In sailing on the Mississippi, one is led to believe that thecondition of the negroes is much better on some plantationsthan on others, if it may be judged of from the appearanceof their huts or cabins. On one plantation the cabins appearwell white-washed and tidy; on the next, dirty and dilapi-dated. The cottages on this plantation were roomy andnicely whitewashed, and the floors raised about three feet fromthe ground. Each family had a small garden with a pigsty,and fowl-house on the top, in one of the corners. The negroeshad many privileges, and could easily save considerable sumsof money, which enabled them to purchase tobacco, tea, andfancy clothing for Sundays. Negroes of the strongest classare required in the culture of sugar; and about three-fourthsof a pound of bacon is the common allowance for an able-bodied negro, with Indian corn ad libitum. The food is allcooked in one kitchen. I was told by the overseer that thenegroes were not treated well on some plantations; and inrunning over the particulars of his own management, he statedthat his negroes “ were fed three times a-day,” as if the Cubafashion of feeding only twice were practised on some estates.

The negroes are generally tasked up to their strengthduring the crushing season, when some planters, I was told,work them on the Sundays as well as other days of the week.However, I believe it is quite the exception to work on Sun-day. The grinding season commences in the end of October,and lasts till the end of December. It cannot be prolongedover a greater period with advantage, as the cane is not ripesooner than the end of October, and frosts are apt to set inwith severity by the first of January. The leaves of thesugar-cane are as susceptible of frosts as those of the potato,and if the juice is frozen, the constituents are so muchchanged that the sugar does not crystallize. The quantity ofsugar that can be produced on the Louisiana estates is limitedby the number of hands that can be turned out during thecrushing season, to carry on the harvesting and the manufacture.But during the rest of the year, especially in July, August,and September, there being no pressure of work on the sugar

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