Clark’s image shows nothing of the suffering of the enslaved and, if taken at face value, gives quite the wrong impression of conditions on Caribbean plantations.

Slaves prepared the soil, planted and cut the cane (which grew up to 15 feet high), and carried it to the sugar works. Throughout the year, they worked from dawn until dusk in the sweltering Caribbean heat. Once cut, the cane had to be processed quickly. The sugar works operated through the night and field hands were often required to carry on working after an exhausting day in the fields.