At the end of each week each family was given 4 lbs. of meat, 1 peck of
meal, and some syrup. Each person in a family was allowed to raise a
garden and so they had vegetables whenever they wished to. In addition
to this they were allowed to raise chickens, to hunt and to fish.
However, none of the food that was secured in any of the ways mentioned
above could be sold. When anyone wished to hunt, Mr. Coxton supplied the
gun and the shot.

Although the slaves cooked for themselves, their breakfast and dinner
were usually sent to them in the fields after it had been prepared in
the cook house. The reason for this was that they had to get up too soon
in the morning, and at noon too much time would be lost if they were
permitted to go to their cabins for lunch.

The children who were too young to work in the field were cared for by
some old slave who likewise was unable to do field work. The children
were usually fed pot liquor, corn bread, milk, syrup, and vegetables.
Each one had his individual cup to eat from. The food on Sunday was
usually no different from that of any other day of the week. However,
Mr. Bland says that they never had to break in the smokehouse because of
hunger.

When asked to describe the living quarters of the slaves on his
plantation he looked around his room and muttered: "Dey wuz a lot better
than dis one." Some of the cabins were made of logs and some of
weatherboards. The chinks in the walls were sealed with mud. In some
instances boards were used on the inside to keep the weather out. There
were usually two windows, shutters being used in the place of window
panes. The chimney and fireplace were made of mud and stones. All
cooking was done at the fireplace as none of them were provided with