"The most general apprehension prior to emancipation was, that the negroes would not work after they were made free--that they would be indolent, buy small parcels of land, and '_squat_' on them to the neglect of sugar cultivation. Time, however, has proved that there was no foundation for this apprehension. The estates were never in better order than they are at present. If you are interrogated on your return home concerning the cultivation of Antigua, you can say that every thing depends upon the _weather_. If we have _sufficient rain_, you may be certain that we shall realize abundant crops. If we have no rain, the crops _must inevitably_ fail. _But we always depend upon the laborers_. On account of the stimulus to industry which wages afford, there is far less feigned sickness than there was during slavery. When slaves, the negroes were glad to find any excuse for deserting their labor, and they were incessantly feigning sickness. The sick-house was thronged with real and pretended invalids. After '34, it was wholly deserted. The negroes would not go near it; and, in truth, I have lately used it for a stable."--_Hon. N. Nugent_. "Though the laborers on both the estates under my management have been considerably reduced since freedom, yet the grounds have never been in a finer state of cultivation, than they are at present. When my work is backward, I give it out in jobs, and it is always done in half the usual time." "Emancipation has almost wholly put an end to the practice of _skulking_, or pretending to be sick. That was a thing which caused the planter a vast deal of trouble during slavery. Every Monday morning regularly, when I awoke, I found ten or a dozen, or perhaps twenty men and women, standing around my door, waiting for me to make my first appearance, and begging that I would let them off from work that day on account of sickness. It was seldom the case that one fourth of the applicants were really unwell; but every one would maintain that he was very sick, and as it was hard to contend with them about it, they were all sent off to the sick-house. Now this is entirely done away, and my sick-house is converted into a chapel for religious worship."--_James Howell, Esq._