45/197 The most of them were employed in cutting canes[A], which they did with a heavy knife called a _bill_. Mr.B.beckoned to the superintendent, a black man, to come to him, and gave him some directions for the forenoon's work, and then, after saying a few encouraging words to the people, took us to another part of the estate, remarking as we rode off, "I have entire confidence that those laborers will do their work just as I want to have it done." We next came upon some men, who were hoeing in a field of corn. We found that there had been a slight altercation between two of the men. Peter, who was a foreman, came to Mr.B., and complained that George would not leave the cornfield and go to another kind of work as he had bid him. Mr.B. |