Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/26

 ſtate of life, as a temporary paſtime, which muſt be greatly enhanced by the ſudden enjoyment of ideal liberty, after the horrible confinement of a long, and perhaps a tempeſtuous, and dangerous voyage. They take the hoe, the adze, the hammer, or the plane the firſt time into their hands with as much youthful vanity as a boy at ſchool does his bat; and it is not long before they know how to make an ingenious uſe of either.

From the age of twelve to ſixteen is, in my opinion, the period that is moſt likely to anſwer the future views of the purchaſer; for as property in the Weſt-Indies is only valuable according to its capital, (as the land would be of little uſe without negroes or cattle to work it) it is ſurely the intereſt of the proprietor (humanity out of the queſtion) to preſerve it undiminiſhed; and if it can be ſupported without a recruit of foreign purchaſe, (an inſtance of which has not fallen within my experience, or that of any perſon with whom I am acquainted) it argues either prevention, care, or ſome accidental properties of ſoil and climate.

I think it bad policy to puſh the labours of the