Salem was situated on the Black River,
accessible by boats and canoes. The huts of negro slaves were near the
sugar mills, without regard to order, but in clusters of banana, avocado-
pear, limes and oranges, and with the cultivated land round their huts
made an effective picture.
One day every fortnight was allowed the negroes to cultivate their crops,
and give them a chance to manufacture mats for beds, bark-ropes, wicker-
chairs and baskets, earthen jars, pans, and that kind of thing. The huts
themselves were primitive to a degree, the floor being earth, the roof,
of palm-thatch or the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree, the sides hard-posts
driven in the ground and interlaced with wattle and plaster, and inside
scarcely high enough for its owner to walk upright. The furniture was
scant--a quatre, or bed, made of a platform of boards, with a mat and a
blanket, some low stools, a small table, an earthen water-jar, and some
smaller ones, a pail and an iron pot, and calabashes which did duty for
plates, dishes and bowls. In one of the two rooms making the hut, there
were always the ashes of the night-fire, without which negroes could not
sleep in comfort.
Pages:
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71