CHARACTERS. 



797 



tions." Mackarel is a very cheap 

 diet here ; and that the plantation 

 negroes have some reason for their 

 exultation, I am inclined to think, 

 as I have seen very few among 

 the free negroes as strong and 

 hearty in appearance as they are. 



The custom which the free ne- 

 groes have of following their fu- 

 nerals, gives me an opportunity of 

 observing them collectively.* 



The number of slaves kept in the 

 town are estimated, as I observed 

 in one of my former letters, at eleven 

 thousand ; they are not only em- 

 ployed in the management of the 

 house, but are also put out to dif- 

 ferent mechanics, to learn those 

 occupations of which their master 

 stands most in need. But there is 

 one method here of employing the 

 negroes, which should not be tole- 

 rated; some of the inhabitants, 

 when they find a slave possessing 

 Bagacity, will make him a pedlar, 

 or strolling trader, furnishing him 

 with different articles, and leaving 

 entirely the management of the bu- 

 siness to him; but he is obliged to 

 pay so much per week to his mas- 

 ter, who cares not what means he 

 employs to obtain it; now, when 

 the man has been some weeks with- 

 out selling enough for his regular 

 payment, instances have occurred 

 of his endeavouring to supply the 

 deficiency by imposition, or even 

 by theft ; thinking that even if he 



should be detected, his master 

 would, from a regard to his own in- 

 terest, screen him as much as pos- 

 sible from severe punishment. 



The great vivacity in the tem- 

 per of the negroes is never more 

 displayed than in their Sunday 

 amusements ; you know the lively 

 play which is performed in the 

 south of Europe, where one party 

 shows with his finger a certain num- 

 ber, to which the other is to add 

 with his fingers a number, and 

 quickly to answer how many the 

 number is together, which is per- 

 formed with a great deal of gesti- 

 culation ; but the negroes here 

 have still a more lively game; one 

 of them makes, with his feet, all the 

 extraordinary figures that are pos- 

 sible to be invented, and the other 

 is to imitate them instantly, trying 

 who can tire the other most. They 

 play also with balls, but not in the 

 European manner, by turns, but 

 he is considered the best who can 

 first catch the ball ; and being all 

 of them constantly employed toge- 

 ther, you may judge how fatiguing 

 this must be to the players. Ti»e 

 negro girls, while they are washing 

 the floors of the houses, are fre- 

 quently singing, and beating time 

 to their merry songs, with the cloth 

 with which they are at work. 



The creole-negroes, particularly 

 the women, have in general a more 

 cheerful countenance than those 



brought 



• By the laws of Surinam, it is enacted, that if a master wishes to emancipate a 

 negro, he must first prove how the negro is to gain his future living ; or to give 

 him a house with some lancl attached to it ; besides which, the master must give 

 security to the value of three thousand florins, in case the negro should become so 

 poor or infitm, or otherwise as to prove a burthen to the colony. It is observed, 

 however, that the free negroes, whatever be their condition at first, decline too 

 often in their condition, particularly their posterity; but some who merit to be 

 excepted from this reproach, I know myself. 



