overseers look to the different departments of the estate under his direction. The situation of overseer is by no means enviable; nevertheless it has been the birth of all managers, and of many wealthy proprietors, before they attained their present dignity. In this, as in every other situation in life, it is impossible to begin at the top of the tree.-An overseer in the Leeward Islands is the same as a bookkeeper in Jamaica; and the respective duties of these persons will be more fully discussed hereafter : but to return to the mill.

The mill then consisted of three perpendicular rollers placed close together, and turned by the working of other machinery. The method of grinding is perfectly simple:-negroes are stationed on either side of the mill; one of these places the canes, --which are cut short, and handed to him ten or a dozen at a time, at the mouth of the mill, where they are drawn in and ground between the first and second. rollers; they then pass round, and receive another compression between the second and third rollers, from which they are taken by the slave stationed on the opposite side, and thrown in heaps upon the ground. These heaps of ground canes are carried away by carts or negroes, and deposited in the houses, or rather sheds, for the reception of trash. The negro, whose business it is to place the canes in the mill, is subject to some danger, unless very careful. An accident of a serious nature occurred some time back, on an estate in one of the islands :a slave having pushed the canes too far in got his

hand caught, and his whole arm was literally ground off before they could stop the mill.

The juice pressed from the canes flows into the receiver, whence it is conveyed to a cistern in the boiling-house, by means of a wooden pipe, lined with lead, and somewhat resembling our water spouts. This juice is a very healthy and grateful beverage; and the negroes, who drink immense quantities of it during the season of crop, grow as fat as pigs.

We next repaired to the boiling-house; and here the scene that presented itself was totally different from that at the mill.

The boiling-house was a long building; on one side of which was a cistern, or receiver of the canejuice, clarifiers, and four copper-caldrons, for the purpose of boiling the said liquor; and on the other, a row of large wooden trays, made on the same principle as the small trays in which the town negroes carry about their articles for sale; the length and breadth of these trays might be about eight feet by six, and their depth nearly a foot they are called coolers, and receive the boiled liquor from the coppers.

With these materials, the process is thus carried on the cane-juice passes from the cistern into the clarifiers; and from the clarifiers into the coppers: when the negroes, who are employed in stirring, scumming, &c. ladle it, as it becomes sufficiently clear, from boiler to boiler, until it is at length fine enough to be deposited in the last of all, from which it is conveyed to the coolers, and left to harden into

sugar; it is next put into hogsheads and carried to the curing-house.

The curing-house is a large building, below which is a cistern of considerable size. It has an open floor, being without boards, upon the thick beams which cross it above the cistern; and, after the cooper has bored a number of holes in the bottoms of the hogsheads, they are ranged in rows upon these beams, and all the molasses they contain drains through the holes, and falls into the cistern below after this, the casks are filled up and sent to town, to be embarked on board the vessels that are to convey them to England.

The labour in the boiling-house is more hot than heavy, and the slaves at the coppers are all lively and in good spirits. The presence of the overseer by no means restrains the free and merry clatter of their tongues, or the loud and glad laugh which bursts forth at times, at some of their own witticisms, which I confess are rather difficult to understand :-in fact, while at their work, they are always talking or singing, and each appears to do that which is most pleasing to himself.

When we entered, "How d'ye, massa ?—how d'ye, "massa?" burst from a dozen mouths at once.These how d'yes were intended for the manager: a different reception was reserved for me." New buckra !-new buckra!" said a man, advancing towards me; and chalking the ground on which I had been just standing, he looked knowingly in my face, as if expecting me to pay something for my first

"entrée" into the boiling-house.-I gave him a trifle; and I have since learnt that it is customary for all strangers to do the same; for the slaves think themselves privileged to make all new comers " pay their footing."

After I had been thus entertained by witnessing the progress of sugar-making, and Mr. Merrythought had given the necessary directions to the overseers, we mounted our horses, and returned to the great house, where I found Phillipson had been well entertained by the ladies. We now proposed taking our departure; but our friends pressed us so warmly to remain with them till the following day, that having no other engagement, we could not refuse to comply.

My friend was well pleased with this arrangement, as it enabled him to advance further in the favour of Miss Merrythought; and I, for my own part, felt an extreme desire to make a tour of the estate, and to visit the negro huts on the plantation; an indulgence which the good manager promised to grant me on the morrow. We agreed, therefore, to remain; and after partaking of a comfortable family dinner, and passing a very agreeable evening in the society of our friends, we retired at an early hour to rest.—Reader, "go and do thou likewise."

CHAPTER XIII.

NEGRO HUTS, HOSPITALS, AND NURSERIES.

"Each had a separate hut."

"Their hospitals are cleanly, and the patients are well "tended."

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They have public nurseries, where all parents are obliged "to send their children."

Swift.

HAVING enjoyed a peaceful and quiet sleep during the night, I managed to rise as early as five o'clock, and was tempted by the refreshing coolness of the morning air, to bend my steps towards the bath of the estate, which was some distance from the great house, and one of the finest I saw in the West Indies.

I had just finished bathing, and was about to take a little walk, before I returned to the houses, when, to my surprise, Mr. Merrythought rode up to me, inquiring how I had passed the night. "As well as "I could wish," was my reply; "but I did not "expect to see you here; do you always rise so early? I thought I should be the first person moving on the estate."

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Why," said he, we managers are obliged to

"rise earlier than you town people. I have been

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riding about the estate during the last hour, and I "make a point of doing the same every morning, for