another.

After breakfast they have generally,

and in wet weather (the only time perhaps that it is of any use) always, an allowance of rum given them. Some drink it off immediately-others club and make up a bottle, which they take in turn and carry home to use or sell as they think proper. In very wet weather they do not go out to work at all; or if, after they are gone to the field, the day turns out very bad, they are called in. At twelve o'clock at noon the shell is blown, and they disperse to enjoy two hours of rest, or to employ the time at their own concerns-mending their fences or hogsties, fishing, bathing, washing, carrying home fire-wood, cane-tops, or hog-meat, &c. A few roasted plantains, with a little fish, is all they seem to care about eating in the middle of the day; breakfast and supper being their chief meals. At half-past one o'clock the shell is blown again, and they re-assemble in the field at two.

The plantations have been very happily termed sugar gardens, and the general labour performed by the negroes may be compared to the cleaning and weeding of gardens in this country. The hardest work on them, as already noticed, is the turning up of a small portion of the field every year to be replanted. This is most commonly done by jobbing negroes, who become so much accustomed to this description of labour, that they will sometimes grumble at being sent to what is considered lighter work.

As to the overworking of the negroes, how is the belief of it to be reconciled with the well

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known fact, (that they sit up amusing themselves for nearly one half of the night, and take only six hours of sleep? Let the man in this country accustomed to hard labour, say, if he finds six hours of sleep sufficient to restore exhausted nature? or if, when the toils of the day are over, he finds any enjoyment equal to repose? The negroes perform willingly and cheerfully their regular and accustomed quantity of work, but any attempt of an overseer to exact more is determinedly resisted and resented, and, as I have already had occasion to notice, the sure consequence is, that every thing on the estate goes wrong.

Plantation Hospitals and Nurseries.

BESIDES the regular physician who visits the hospital two or three times a week, or oftener if there is occasion, and examines all the patients individually, there is on every estate an' hospital doctor' and a sick nurse; the former is an intelligent man (most commonly of colour), who, acting for years under the directions of the white doctor, acquires a sufficient knowledge of the common complaints of the negroes, to be capable of administering some simple medicines in cases of slight indisposition; in more serious cases, the physician, if not present, is sent for immediately, and must give prompt attendance, or his office is soon filled by some other person: the interest of the proprietor and character of the overseer, are too deeply concerned, even putting humanity out of the question, to excuse any degree of negligence on the part of the medical attendant. But it would be doing injustice to the gentlemen of the faculty merely to say that they are not negligent in their attendance on the negroes: some of them, as in other countries, are more zealous than others in the discharge of their duties, both to whites and blacks; but it is rare to see them wanting in a proper feeling for, and interest in their patients; and I have myself witnessed many instances where a medical gentleman has paid all the

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attention to a sick negro that he could have done to his master, sitting up with him for nights, or, if he left him to take a few hours' sleep, it was with injunctions to the attendants to call him up immediately, if any change should take place. It is almost unnecessary to add, that every article in the shape of medicine (including port and madeira wine, &c.) likely to be useful, is always afforded. In short, no expense or trouble is spared.

One of the best disposed and most trustworthy women on the estate, is sick nurse, to attend the hospital; her duty is, to keep the hospital, and the sick in it, clean, and to cook such victuals for the patients as may be prescribed. I may also notice, that besides the attendance of the medical practitioner, the hospital doctor, and sick nurse, a negro dangerously ill is always allowed the presence of some of his own family.

In every hospital there are of course separate apartments for the men and the women; and generally an apartment where delinquents are confined in the stocks.

THE NURSERIES are neat buildings on a ground floor, with platforms for the children to sleep upon, and a spacious yard enclosed as a play ground. They are under the superintendance of the best nurses, and however able the parents may be to provide for them, they are supported by the master with the food best adapted for their age, such as oatmeal, rice, and a pot of good soup for the whole once a day.

On the abundance of Land Crabs and Fish in Jamaica, and Negro Methods of catching them.

CRABS abound in the eastern part of Jamaica, Land Crabs. at all seasons, but are considered to be best in

the months, the names of which contain the letter R, April, &c. They are most plentiful in May, the season at which they deposit their eggs, or run,' as the negroes express it, and when the earth is literally covered with them. At this season it is impossible to keep them out of the houses, or even out of the bed-rooms, where, at one time scratching with their large claws, and at another rattling across the floor, they make a noise that would not a little astonish and alarm a stranger. Occasionally they will lodge themselves very snugly in a boot, and if a person puts in his foot upon them inadvertently, he has quick intimation of the intruder, by a grasp of his nippers. For a few weeks in this season, they may be gathered in any quantities, and the negroes sometimes hurt themselves by making too free use of them. Even the hogs catch them, although not always with impunity, as a crab sometimes gets hold of one of them by the snout, from which he is not easily disengaged; and the terrified animal runs about squeaking in great distress.

At other seasons, and when more valuable,