arters, is a penitentiary, which is of
stone, with three cells for solitary confinement, each dark, but well
ventilated. Confinement in these, on bread and water, is the extreme
punishment that has been found necessary for the last three years. The
Negro fears solitude and darkness, and covets his food, fire, and
companionship.

With all the corps of hired white labor, the master must still be the
real power, and on his character the comfort and success of the
plantation depend. If he has skill as a chemist, a geologist, or a
machinist, it is not lost; but, except as to the engineer, who may
usually be relied upon, the master must be capable of overseeing the
whole economy of the plantation, or all will go wrong. His chief duty is
to oversee the overseers, to watch his officers, the mayoral, the
mayordomo, the boyero, and the sugar masters. These are mere hirelings,
and of a low sort, such as a slave system reduces them to; and if they
are lazy, the work slackens; and if they are ill-natured, somebody
suffers. The mere personal presence of the master operates as a stimulus
to the work. This afternoon young Mr. Chartrand and I took horses and
rode out to the cane-field, where the people were cutting. They had been
at work a half hour. He stopped his horse where they were when we came
to them, and the next half hour, without a word from him, they had made
double the distance of the first. It seems to me that the work of a
plantation is what a clock would be that always required a man's hand
pressing on the main spring. With the slave, the ultimate sanction is
force. The motives of pride, shame, interest, ambition, and affection
may be appealed to, and the minor punishments of degradation in duties,
deprivation of food and sleep, and solitary confinement may be resorted
to; but the whip, which the driver always carries, reminds the slave
that if all else fails, the infliction of painful bodily punishment lies
behind, and will be brought to bear, rather than that the question be
left unsettled. Whether this extreme be reached, and how often it be
reached, depends on the personal qualities of the master. If he is
lacking in self-control, he will fall into violence. If he has not the
faculty of ruling by moral and intellectual power--be he ever so humane,
if he is not firm and intelligent, the bad among the slaves will get the
upper hand; and he will be in danger of trying to recover his position
by force. Such is the reasoni