Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/58

 An European burns at the very idea of human nature toiling in the fervid regions of the torrid zone, without conſidering that every climate has its inhabitant, and that inhabitant its local cuſtoms and labours to endure. An African would ſhudder at the anticipation of being expoſed to rains that freeze, and colds that numb; and the effects of the laſt (adverting to climates) are more ſudden, and more fatal in point of ſenſation than thoſe of heat: as animal warmth preſerves the ſyſtem in life and health; ſo doth a languor or fatal ſuppreſſion of this principle give rife to ſickneſs, or conſign to death.

In crop time the labour of the negroes is more conſtant, I will not ſay that it is more ſevere. The ſituation of the tiers (or thoſe who collect and bind up the canes for carriage) is that which I have been the moſt often led to compaſſionate; for as they are too weak for the labours of the big gang, one would of courſe imagine that they were entitled to ſome indulgence—on the contrary they are oftentimes kept in the field from