BRITISH SETTLEMENT


tion is to search the woods, or as in this
country it is termed, the bush, to find la-
bour for the whole. A negro of this de-
scription is often valued at more than five
hundred pounds.
 About the beginning of August, the
huntsman is dispatched on his errand, and
if his owner be working on his own
ground, this is seldom an employment of
much delay or difficulty. He cuts his
way through the thickest of the woods to
the highest spots, and climbs the tallest
Iree he finds, from which he minutely sur
veys the surrounding country. At this
season, the leaves of the mahogany tree
are invariably of a yellow reddish hue,
and an eye accustomed to this kind of ex-
ercise can discover, at a great distance,
the places where the -wood is most abun-
dant. He now descends, and to these his
steps arc directed ; and without compass:
or other guide than what observation has