The legislature of Jamaica had stated the
scantiness both of water and provisions, as a subject which called for
the interference of parliament. As Mr. Norris had said, the song and the
dance were promoted, he could not pass over these expressions without
telling the house what they meant. It would have been much more fair if
he himself had explained the word _promoted_. The truth was, that, for
the sake of exercise, these miserable wretches, loaded with chains and
oppressed with disease, were forced to dance by the terror of the lash,
and sometimes by the actual use of it. "I" said one of the evidences,
"was employed to dance the men, while another person danced the women."
Such then was the meaning of the, word _promoted_; and it might also be
observed with respect to food, that instruments were sometimes carried
out in order to force them to eat; which was the same sort of proof, how
much they enjoyed themselves in this instance also. With respect to
their singing, it consisted of songs, of lamentation for the loss of
their country. While they sung they were in tears: so that one of the
captains, more humane probably than the rest, threatened a woman with a
flogging because the mournfulness of her song was too painful for his
feelings.
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