CHARA 
ing very much towards the after- 
part of the jaw: his coat, or skin, 
is much harder than that of most 
dogs, and so must be the whole 
struéture of the body, as the severe 
beatings he undergoes in training 
would kill any other species of dog. 
There are some, but not many, 
ef a more obtuse nose, and which 
are rather squarer set. These, it 
may be presumed, have been crossed 
by the mastiff; but if, by this, the 
bulk has been a little increased, it 
has added nothing to the strength, 
height, beauty, or agility of the na- 
tive breed. 
The chasseur has no other weapon 
than a long strait muschet, or cou- 
teau, longer than a dragoon’s sword, 
and twice as thick, something like a 
flat iron bar, sharpened at the lower 
end, of which about eighteen inches 
areas sharp asarazor. The pointis 
notunlike the old Roman sword: the 
steel of them is excellent, and made 
at Guanabacoa, about three miles 
from the Havanna. The handle of 
the muschet is without a guard, but 
scolloped to admit the fingers, and 
Suit the grasp. These men, as we 
have seen, are under an officer of 
high rank; the alcade provinciale, 
and receive a good pay from the go- 
vernment, besides private rewards 
for particular and extraordinary 
services. They are a very hardy, 
brave, and desperate set of people, 
scrupulously honest, and remarka- 
bly faithfal. 
A body of men of the same de- 
scription and chara¢ter reside at 
Busucal, within the marquisa’s ju- 
risdiction. These are not in the 
_ king’s pay, butvare chiefly employ- 
ed, like the Maroons in Jamaica, 
in scouring the mountains of this 
extensive country, to take runa- 
ways, for which they have a fixed 
Vou. XLY. 
C/T EYRIS: 801 
reward, and to attack all bodies of 
negroes collected for hostile pur- 
poses, which is sometimes occasion~ 
ed by the rigour exercised on the 
Spanish plantations: for, although 
in other employments, and particus 
larly in domestic service, the slaves 
are treated kindly, and live a very 
easy life, it must be owned that the 
state of slavery on the settlements is 
not unattended with severity. The 
greatest commotions, however, have 
been occasioned by Spanish piety. 
Many of the largest and best sugar 
estates in the island of Cuba belong 
to the different ecclesiastical orders, 
who are the most rapacious of plan- 
ters. Under the mask of discou- 
raging a vicious intercourse with 
the sexes, some of them religiously 
resolved to purchase only male ne- 
groes; a devout austerity imposed 
upon the poor fellows, which, would 
the good fathers candidly confess it, 
would appear to originate in the 
_temporal policy of Quwrenda pecu« 
nia primum est, it being thought 
that men can do more work than 
women, Deprived of connexions 
resulting from one of the chief laws 
of nature, and driven to despera- 
tion, the unhappy negroes, notunm+ 
like the first Romans, have been — 
known to fly to neighbouring estates, 
seize on the women, and carry them 
off to the mountains. There, in or- 
der to secure and defend themselves, . 
they fell upon some Spaniards, killed 
them, and thus procuring a few fire 
arms, lances, and cutlatses, attempt- 
ed to make a resistance against the 
laws, but in vain; a few of the 
Besucal people, with their dogs, 
have always proved an overmatch 
for them. 
The aétivity of the chasseurs no 
negro on earth can’elude ; and such 
is their temperance, that, with a few 
3F ounces 
