Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/40

 leaſt diſinclination to do that which he is imperiouſly ordered to perform, threats at leaſt, if not a blow, will be the immediate conſequence. If he complain to the overſeer, he may not be inclined to liſten, the conſequence will be a diſcouragement to future applications, and a more dependent ſituation under the tyrant than he experienced before. In ſhort ſo ſoon as he begins to be handy, to underſtand a few words of the language, and has learned to pleaſe the culinary taſte of his maſter, he is kept awake for this purpoſe, ſent upon meſſages, and goes through the meaneſt ſervice of dependency: ſo that in fact the new negro has not only his overſeer to obey, but his tyrant to pleaſe; and under this double humiliation this part of ſlavery at leaſt may be eaſily conceived. The other mode of ſeaſoning is to give them grounds, and work them all together in one gang on Sunday to clean or plant it; and as this is done under the eye of a driver, it is only accumulating the ſeventh day of labour, inſtead of giving the one of reſt. As negroes of every other deſcription have this day to themſelves all the year round, and out of crop every other Saturday,