The Yankee cotton Harvest.
--The Port Royal correspondent of the New York Commercial Advertiser gives the following account of the Yankee operations in the cotton business at Port Royal:‘ The negroes everywhere in two districts are at work collecting, baling, and rolling cotton. Thousands of them have been set at their task, for which they are paid at the rate of a dellar for every hundred pounds they deliver. They labor with alacrity under this unwonted stimulus; various assistants and clerks have been appointed to oversee their performances, and though they need to be constantly directed and skillfully managed, yet a good degree of work is really gotten out of them. This is proven by the fact that, in less than three days, over $50,000 worth of cotton was put on board the steamboat which accompanied Col. Nobles; all this cotton had been baled by the negroes themselves, and the bags made by them; it was then conveyed to the various landings, at no one of which there is a wharf. The supply of bags having been incomplete some thousand sand-bags were supplied them, and these had to be first placed in flat boats, then rowed out to the steamer, and again removed to the decks, before the labors of the blacks were completed. The old drivers were generally retained to find out the hands and bring them up to the places where their labor was required.
The amount of cotton taken from each plantation is carefully ascertained; each bag is marked with the former owner's initials, and an account kept both with the estate and with the negroes, so that any time the Government will be able to compensate any of the owners who shall prove to have been loyal. The cotton found on these islands is, as is well known, of a superior quality. It is worth 50 cents a pound on the island, and 75 cents in New York. It is in ordinary times sent almost exclusively to France, where it is mixed with silk and cotton goods. Its texture is of the finest quality, and its culture requires the greatest and most constant care. There are immense quantities of it yet stored in the cotton-houses of these islands; more even has been discovered than was auticipated. At least $3,000,000 worth is believed to have been already secured.
Since the negroes have discovered that they will be paid for their exertions, they have brought in some that was buried in the interior, and manifested great care to preserve and obtain as much as possible. I have heard some instances of their giving warning in advance when their masters or the rebel soldiers contemplated any new burnings. As for the gluning, most of it is to be done in New York.
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