the merits of silks and cambrics I do not pretend to decide; but they
pay ready money, and it is not for the sellers to cavil at their
discrimination. The purchase of land, as you well know, is going on
rapidly throughout the island; and the money thus invested must have
been chiefly, though not entirely, accumulated by the labouring
classes since slavery was abolished. A proprietor told me the other
day that he had, within twelve months, sold ten acres of land in small
lots, for the sum of 900_l_. The land sold at so high a price is
situated near a town, and the purchasers pay him an annual rent of
50_s_. per acre, for provision grounds on the more distant parts
of the estate. Again, in most districts, the labourers are possessed
of horses, for which they often pay handsomely. A farm servant not
unfrequently gives from 12_l_. to 20_l_. for an animal which
he intends to employ, not for purposes of profit, but in riding to
church, or on occasions of festivity.

Whence then are these funds derived? That the peasantry are generally
frugal and sober I have already observed. But they are assuredly not
called to tax their physical powers unduly, in order to achieve the
independence I have described. Although the estate I lately visited is
well managed, and the best understanding subsists between employer and
labourers, the latter seldom made their appearance in the field until
some time after I had sallied forth for my morning walk. They work on
the estate only nine days in the fortnight, devoting the alternate
Fridays to the cultivation of their provision grounds, and the
Saturdays to marketing and amusements. On the whole, seeing that the
climate is suited to their constitutions, that they experience none of
the drawbacks to which new settlers, even in the most fertile
countries, are subject, that they are by disposition and temperament a
cheerful race, I much doubt whether any people on the face of the