| Disgrifiad | Fearon seems to have had an estate of his own on the island He reports the death of Mr Falconer, the previous agent; discharges several overseers for misdemeanours and "excesse" (towards the "negroes", presumably); incidentally refers to the "negroes'" partiality for herrings from this country, and much regrets the loss of a consignment by shipwreck off Portugal (letter, July 14).
Great attention to drainage by use of a "steam engine" to pump water; distemper amongst cattle and sheep considerably cured by the spraying of tar; Lord Penrhyn (letter of Sept.25) sends out a specimen of a new manure for sugar-canes.
Mr Fearon (letter of Aug. 29) alludes to a new move by Wilberforce in favour of abolition; in the agent's view, such a project, if it matured, "would put an end to Colonization, infant settlements must be thrown up ..... everything brought to the Hammer". At the same time, he quotes several cases of slaves being manumitted on the Pennant plantations. |