Sentence:  For one and a half days each week, Saturday afternoon and Sundays, the slaves were freed from formal plantation labour to work their provision grounds or “<WSD>polinks</WSD>” (as distinct from the tiny plots or yards close to their houses). 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A plot of land on a hill near a plantation, alotted to enslaved people for growing food.<ref>Benjamin Núñez, "Dictionary of Afro-Latin American Civilization," Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980, p.(nbsp)387,[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofafro0000nune]</ref>