Read Online The Sugar Barons by Matthew Parker - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Matthew Parker
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largeness, not to be paralleled … if you had ever seen her, you could not but have fallen in love with her’.
The new arrivals were brought back down to earth by the news that their other vessel, which had set out before them, had ‘miscarried’. This meant that the Antigua plan had to be shelved: Modyford no longer had the labour force needed to start a plantation on uncleared land. He thus decided to remain in Barbados, ‘til the times became better, and fitter for our remove’. Consulting ‘the most knowing men of the Island’, Modyford was advised that if you had money or credit, you were better off taking on a fully stocked and operational plantation rather than starting from scratch, even if undeveloped land could be had far cheaper.
Governor Philip Bell introduced Modyford and Ligon to William Hilliard, who told them he was ‘desirous to suck in some of the sweet air of England’, and invited them to his 500-acre plantation in St Johns, which bordered that of James Drax. Clearly Hilliard had undertaken what Ligon called the ‘hardships … tedious expectation’ and ‘many years patience’ required to establish a working sugar plantation. He now had 200 acres in cane, which was considered the maximum that could be processed by a single factory. His operation consisted of a 400-square-foot mill, a boiling house and four other buildings for processing the sugar. There were also stables, a smithy, storage for provisions and houses for his workforce of ‘96 Negroes, and three Indian women, with their Children; 28 Christians’. The list of ‘stock’ continues with: ‘45 Cattle for work, 8 Milch Cows, a dozen Horses and Mares, 16 Assinigoes [asses]’. Apart from the sugar cane, 150 acres of the 500 was still wooded, the rest taken up with provisions and pasture, with very small plots still in cotton, tobacco and ginger.
Hilliard’s substantial investment turned out to be shrewd. After a month of negotiations, Modyford agreed to buy a half-share in the plantation, with the understanding that he would run the estate in Hilliard’s absence. Before cane had been planted and the sugar works built, the land had been worth £400. Modyford was happy to pay £7,000 for his half-share, £1,000 down and the remainder in three instalments over the next two years, paid for in sugar from the crop. It was a fabulous return for Hilliard, but with the sugar on stream, Modyford considered it a very good deal. He told Ligon that he had resolved not to return to England until he had made £100,000 sterling – a staggeringly large fortune – out of sugar.
For three years Richard Ligon lived on the plantation, now called Kendal. For some of the time he was employed in ‘publick works’ such as cuttingpaths, but mostly he dabbled in his wide range of interests while working as a secretary and adviser to Modyford.
Like most newcomers to the tropics, he suffered in the heat. It was ‘scorching’, but above all suffocatingly humid, ‘sweaty and clammy’. The result, Ligon found, was a numbing lethargy, ‘a great failing in the vigour, and sprightliness we have in colder Climates’. He moaned about the biting cockroaches and mosquitoes, and, in particular, the chiggers that burrowed into his feet. But he was fascinated by the snakes, scorpions, ants and crabs and the melancholy-looking birds, as well as the vibrant night-time noise, which he described as resembling ‘a pack of small beagles at a distance’.
After more than five years of penury in England, Ligon was now living the good life, pampered by Kendal’s house slaves, including a beautiful Indian girl, 5 and moving among the great and the good of the island. He was clearly a regular visitor to the next-door Drax plantation. He described how Drax’s men were busy felling trees, battling the ever-present vines, and how Drax himself lived ‘like a Prince’. Almost uniquely on the island, Drax was rich enough to kill an ox for meat – for most they were too
The new arrivals were brought back down to earth by the news that their other vessel, which had set out before them, had ‘miscarried’. This meant that the Antigua plan had to be shelved: Modyford no longer had the labour force needed to start a plantation on uncleared land. He thus decided to remain in Barbados, ‘til the times became better, and fitter for our remove’. Consulting ‘the most knowing men of the Island’, Modyford was advised that if you had money or credit, you were better off taking on a fully stocked and operational plantation rather than starting from scratch, even if undeveloped land could be had far cheaper.
Governor Philip Bell introduced Modyford and Ligon to William Hilliard, who told them he was ‘desirous to suck in some of the sweet air of England’, and invited them to his 500-acre plantation in St Johns, which bordered that of James Drax. Clearly Hilliard had undertaken what Ligon called the ‘hardships … tedious expectation’ and ‘many years patience’ required to establish a working sugar plantation. He now had 200 acres in cane, which was considered the maximum that could be processed by a single factory. His operation consisted of a 400-square-foot mill, a boiling house and four other buildings for processing the sugar. There were also stables, a smithy, storage for provisions and houses for his workforce of ‘96 Negroes, and three Indian women, with their Children; 28 Christians’. The list of ‘stock’ continues with: ‘45 Cattle for work, 8 Milch Cows, a dozen Horses and Mares, 16 Assinigoes [asses]’. Apart from the sugar cane, 150 acres of the 500 was still wooded, the rest taken up with provisions and pasture, with very small plots still in cotton, tobacco and ginger.
Hilliard’s substantial investment turned out to be shrewd. After a month of negotiations, Modyford agreed to buy a half-share in the plantation, with the understanding that he would run the estate in Hilliard’s absence. Before cane had been planted and the sugar works built, the land had been worth £400. Modyford was happy to pay £7,000 for his half-share, £1,000 down and the remainder in three instalments over the next two years, paid for in sugar from the crop. It was a fabulous return for Hilliard, but with the sugar on stream, Modyford considered it a very good deal. He told Ligon that he had resolved not to return to England until he had made £100,000 sterling – a staggeringly large fortune – out of sugar.
For three years Richard Ligon lived on the plantation, now called Kendal. For some of the time he was employed in ‘publick works’ such as cuttingpaths, but mostly he dabbled in his wide range of interests while working as a secretary and adviser to Modyford.
Like most newcomers to the tropics, he suffered in the heat. It was ‘scorching’, but above all suffocatingly humid, ‘sweaty and clammy’. The result, Ligon found, was a numbing lethargy, ‘a great failing in the vigour, and sprightliness we have in colder Climates’. He moaned about the biting cockroaches and mosquitoes, and, in particular, the chiggers that burrowed into his feet. But he was fascinated by the snakes, scorpions, ants and crabs and the melancholy-looking birds, as well as the vibrant night-time noise, which he described as resembling ‘a pack of small beagles at a distance’.
After more than five years of penury in England, Ligon was now living the good life, pampered by Kendal’s house slaves, including a beautiful Indian girl, 5 and moving among the great and the good of the island. He was clearly a regular visitor to the next-door Drax plantation. He described how Drax’s men were busy felling trees, battling the ever-present vines, and how Drax himself lived ‘like a Prince’. Almost uniquely on the island, Drax was rich enough to kill an ox for meat – for most they were too
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