Page:Abstract of the evidence for the abolition of the slave-trade 1791.djvu/91

( 57 ) Their Food.

The point, which may be considered next, may be that of the slaves food. This appears by the evidence to be subject to no rule. On some estates they are allowed land, which they cultivate for themselves at the times mentioned above, but they have no provisions al- [sic] allowed them, except perhaps a small present of salt fish or beef, or salt pork, at Christmas. On others they are allowed provisions, but no land: and on others again they are allowed land and provisions jointly. Without enumerating the different ratios mentioned to be allowed them by the different evidences, it may be sufficient to take the highest. The best allowance is evidently at Barbadoes, and the following is the account of it. The slaves in general, says General Tottenham, appeared to be ill fed: each slave had a pint of grain for twenty-four hours, and sometimes half a rotten herring when to be had. When the herrings were unfit for the whites, they were bought up by the planters for the slaves. Mr, Davis says, that on those estates in Barbadoes where he has seen the slaves allowance dealt out, a grown negro had nine pints of corn, and about one pound of salt fish a week, but the grain of the West-Indies is much lighter than wheat. He is of opinion, that in general they were too sparingly fed. The Dean of Middleham also mentions nine pints per week as the quantity given, but that he has known masters abridge it in the time of crop. This is the greatest allowance mentioned throughout the whole of the evidence, and this is one of the cases in which the slaves had provisions but no land. Where, on the other hand, they have land and no provisions, all the evidences agree that it is quite ample to their support, but that they have not sufficient time to cultivate it. Their lands too are often at the distance of three miles from their houses, and Mr. Giles thinks the slaves were often so fatigued by the labour of the week as scarcely to be capable of working in them on Sunday for their own use. It is also mentioned as a great hardship, that often when they had cleared these lands, their master has taken them away for canes, giving them new wood-land in their stead, to be cleared afresh. This circumstance, together with the H