human
Good! said Toussaint.
gpt
Some of the finest crops I have seen have risen from January plants, though it were best it were done in September. How do you report about the rats?
human
The nuisance is still great, replied the head superintendent;
gpt
We have allies, said Toussaint, gravely--
human
They have closed their campaign. They cleared the fields for us in the autumn; but they have disappeared.
gpt
For a time only. While there are rats, they will reappear.
human
And when there are no more rats, we must call in some force, if your excellency knows of such, to make war upon the an Is; for they are only a less evil than that which they cure.
gpt
If they were absent, you would find some worse evil in their stead-- pestilence, perhaps. Teach your children this, if you hear them complain of anything to which Providence has given life and an errand among us. The cocoa walks at Plaisance--are they fenced to the north?
human
Completely. The new wood has sprung up from the ashes of the fires, like a mist from the lake.
gpt
Are the cottages enlarged and divided, as I recommended?
human
Universally. Every cottage inhabited by a family has now two rooms, at least. As your excellency also desired, the cultivators have spent their leisure hours in preparing furniture--from bedsteads to baskets. As the reports will explain, there are some inventions which it is hoped will be inspected by your excellency--particularly a ventilator, to be fixed in the roofs of cottages; a broad shoe for walking over the salt marshes; and--
gpt
The cooler,
human
And a new kind of cooler, which preserves liquids, and even meats, for a longer time than any previously known to the richest planter in the island. This discovery does great credit to the sagacity of the labourer who has completed it.
gpt
I will come and view it. I hope to visit all our cultivators--to verify your reports with my own eyes. At present, we are compelled, like the Romans, to go from arms to the plough, and from the plough to arms; but, when possible, I wish to show that I am not a negro of the coast, with my eye ever abroad upon the sea, or on foreign lands. I desire that we should make use of our own means for our own welfare. Everything that is good shall be welcomed from abroad as it arrives; but the liberty of the blacks can be secured only by the prosperity of their agriculture.
human
I do not see why not by fisheries, observed Paul, to the party in the piazza, as he caught his brother's words.
gpt
If Toussaint is not fond of fish, he should remember that other people are.
human
He means, said Therese,
gpt
It is pleasanter on a hot day to dive than to dig; and easier to draw the net for an hour than to cut canes for a day--is it not, uncle?
human
If the Commander-in-chief thinks toil good for us, said Moyse,
gpt
Because, said Madame,
human
Besides his thinking that there has been too much fighting, said Aimee,
gpt
In order, continued Aimee,
human
There are whites now entering, said Paul;
gpt
No, said Madame.
human
Surely they are Creoles; yes, there is Monsieur Caze, and Monsieur Hugonin, and Monsieur Charrier. I think these gentlemen have all been reinstated in their properties since the last levee. Hear what they say.
gpt
We come, exclaimed aloud Monsieur Caze, the spokesman of the party of white planters;
human
These passions of war, of which you speak, said Toussaint,
gpt
We do.
human
And you understand the terms on which the labour of your fellow-citizens may be hired? You have only to secure to them one-fourth of the produce, and you will, I believe, be well served. If you experience cause of complaint, your remedy will be found in an appeal to the superintendent of cultivators of the district, or to myself. Over the cultivators no one else, I now intimate to you, has authority.
gpt
It may be in your power, continued Toussaint, after applying to his secretary for a paper from the mass on the table--