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107

                            Negroes

Generally speaking throughout the Republic the Negroes are well treated & I can bear witness that they are not over-worked or ill used. In the eastern counties they are principally 'family negros' or brought up by their owners, & when they get old are kept upon the plantations & not sold to an indifferent master. A good working hand in fine weather will pick 1000 lib of cotton per week. The negro is allowed Saturday after 12 oClock until Monday morning, to arrange his or her own domestic affairs; but if they choose to pick cotton on Saturday afternoon, they are remunerated for it, & on some plantations all the cotton they thus pick is given to them & may amount to 30 dollars for the season. On well regulated plantations, each Negro family has its log house, half an acre of land behind it for a garden, to support some stock, pigs, poultry, which the negro consumes or sells on his own account.