But when a despot can boast of none of those attributes, woe to the people who are obliged to submit to his oppressions and obey his behests! The island of Grenada, as is indeed the case with most of the Windward Islands, is well watered by rivers running from the mountains.

Some of the streams are of considerable size, and are never dry in seasons of the greatest drought.

The water, conducted by canals from these rivers, constituted the chief motive power for the machinery on the sugar estates, although in a few cases windmills were used for that purpose.
The estates comprised each an area of some two to five hundred acres, a considerable portion of which was planted with the cane.

The remainder was improved as sites for the various buildings, gardens for the slaves, fields of corn and "guinea grass," and other purposes.

The "sugar works" were placed as near the centre of the estate as convenience would admit.