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A Descriptive Account of the Island of Jamaica
A Descriptive Account of the Island of Jamaica Author:William Beckford Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Section 3O ) Xvithout encouragement, he would natu« rally fuppofe to be a hardfhip and a toil. When they are feen working in front, and when confequently the action of the limbs is obferved t... more »o vary with the ftrength of the body, and the exprefllon of the countenance to the weaknefs or the vigour of the frame; and when the exertions of the mufcles befpeak the age and condition of thofe who work-—the lover of nature and of art will be delighted with thefe varieties that prefent themfelves with fo much advantage to the imitations of the pencil, and the labours of the chitfe!. When they are beheld in the profile, and their uplifted hoes are all gleaming together in the air, and their length of fhadows is reflected upon the ground; when the curvatures of their bodies, and the inflexions of their limbs, be obferved, and the difference of the fexes in their va^- rious exertions be contrafted, and the ftri- king diffimilarity of their make be duly B 2 attendedattended to—the picture which all thefe circumftances exhibit, will be found to be not lefs pleayng perhaps than fingular an'd new. It is amufing to fee them at a little diftance when forming a curve according to the fweep of the road, when only their hoes and the upper parts of their bodies are perceived emerging from the depth of the trench which they are employed to drain: the voices of fome are now heard to refound from the bottom, and of others from an eminence on each fide, of a hollow way; the light burfting upon fome, and the furrounding logwoods overwhelming others with a dark and impenetrable canopy of fhade. n They are now bufy in the midft of a river, uplifting mafly fragments of rocks to make a fording-place for the wains and mules, the bridge having been fwept away by the violent defcent of the rains, the rapidity of the torrents, or th...« less