[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

LIFE ON A PLANTATION 43

tuberculosis, colds, indigestion, fever and infections,
and it is evident that if they receive any medical
treatment at all, it is of a primitive and insufficient
description. The planters work with fearfully strong
plasters, patent medicines and “universal remedies,”
used internally and externally by turns, so that the
patient howls and the spectator shudders, and the
results would be most disheartening if kind Nature
did not often do the healing in spite of man’s efforts
to prevent it. Naturally, every planter thinks him-
self an expert doctor, and is perfectly satisfied with
his results.

Mr. Ch. was ill with fever, nevertheless we went
down to the work-shed. It was a pitch-dark night,
the air was like that in a hothouse, smelling of earth
and mould. The surf boomed sullenly on the beach,
and heavy squalls flogged the forest. Sometimes a
rotten branch snapped, and the sound travelled, dull
and heavy, through the night.

From far away we hear the noise of the engine
peeling the corn-ears. Two of the natives turn the
fly—Wheels, and the engine gives them immense
pleasure, 'all the more, the faster it runs. The
partners are selected with care, and it is a matter of
pride to turn wheels as long and as fast as possible;
they encourage each other with Wild shrieks and
cries. It seemed as if the work had turned to a
festival, as if it were a sort of dance, and the couples
waited impatiently for their turn to drive the engine.
The delight of the boys in the noise of the machinery
Was very favourable to the progress of the work, and