But now the case is generally different. The negroes work for _money_; they know if they feign illness for a week, they will be the losers at the end of the month; and as they are very quick in discovering where their own interest lies, they stick to the hoe for the sake of the dollars. Still, however, pretended illness is not entirely extinct,—there are some of the labourers who practise it in these days of freedom, as of erst they did in slavery. In illustration of this remark, it is a customary plan upon sugar plantations, that if any of the people quit their work for a certain period, they, after that time, are required to pay rent for the cottages, with which, as stationary labourers, they are provided. This is done in order to ensure their labour, and prevent them from working upon other estates, where they may receive higher wages as strangers.[39] In order, then, to gain this increase of wages, without having to pay rent for his house, the negro calls up some pseudo complaint, and very early in the morning, presents himself before the manager, with the usual bandages, and the notification that he is “quite sick.” The manager feels grieved at this intelligence, for he had contemplated doing a particular quantity of work that week, and required all the labourers he could procure; but as the negro represents himself so very ill, and he cannot deny the statement, he is obliged to remain content. No sooner, however, has the indisposed negro gained his hut, than he throws off all symptoms of illness, and choosing his best hoe, he secretly starts away to some other estate, where he is sure to obtain the additional wages; while his proper master supposes he is reclining upon his bed, a prey to ill-health. It must be remarked, that although the free labourer acts at times in this disingenuous manner, it is a general opinion that they work better, and in a more cheerful manner than they did in days of slavery, when a driver stood over them with his long and heavy whip, to chastise their least cessation from labour. It cannot be supposed that I am perfectly cognizant of the real truth of this statement. I must, therefore, along with my own observations, take the opinions and arguments of planters, and other persons connected with agricultural employments, as the basis of my remarks.