MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



407 



at his door, and he will generally 

 place it at t!ie landholder's thresh- 

 old on the following night ; this 

 is accounted excusable and even 

 meritorious, forat the great house 

 the child has neaily a certainty of 

 being well taken care of. 



I have observed that, generally 

 speaking, Europeans are less indul- 

 gent to their slaves than Brazi- 

 lians ; the former feed them well, 

 but they require from the poor 

 wretches more labour than they 

 can perform, whilst the latter al- 

 low the atfairs of their estates to 

 continue in the way in which it 

 has been accustomed to be di- 

 rected. This difference between 

 the two descriptions of owners is 

 easily accounted for ; the Euro- 

 pean has probably purchased part 

 of his slaves on credit, and has 

 during the whole course of his 

 life made the accumulation of 

 riches ins chief object. The Bra- 

 zilian inherits his estate, and as 

 nothing urges him to the neces- 

 sity of obtaining large profits, he 

 continues the course that has 

 been pointed out to him by the 

 former possessors. His habits of 

 quietude and indolence have led 

 him to be easy and indifferent, 

 and although he may not provide 

 for the maintenance of his slaves 

 with so much care as the Euro- 

 pean, still they find more time to 

 seek for food themselves. That 

 avaiicious spirit which deliberate- 

 ly works a man or a brute ani- 

 mal until it is unfit for farther 

 service, without any regard to 

 the well-being of the creatine, 

 which is thus treated as a mere 

 machine, as if it was formed of 

 wood 01' iron, is however seldom 

 to be met with in those part" of 

 the country which I visited. In- 



stances of cruelty occur, (as has 

 been, and will yet be seen,) but 

 these pi'oceed from individual de- 

 pravity, and not from systematic, 

 cold-blooded, calculating indiffer- 

 ence to the means by which a de- 

 sired end is to be compassed. 



Notwithstanding the relation- 

 ship of the mulattos on one side 

 to the black race, they consider 

 themselves superior to the mamu- 

 lucos ; they lean to the whites, 

 and from the light in which the 

 Indians are held, pride themselves 

 u])on being totally unconnected 

 with them. Still the mulattos 

 are conscious of their connection 

 with men who are in a state of 

 slavery, and that many persons 

 even of their own colour are un- 

 der these degraded circumstances ; 

 they have therefore always a feel- 

 ing of inferiority in the company 

 of white men, if these white men 

 are wealthy and powerful. This 

 inferiority of rank is not so much 

 felt by white jiersons in the lower 

 walks of life, and these are more 

 easily led to become familiar with 

 individuals of their own colour 

 who are in wealthy circumstances. 

 Still the irjferiority which tiie 

 mulatto feels is more that which 

 is produced by poverty than that 

 which his colour has caused, foi' 

 lie will be equally respectful to 

 a j)erson of his own cast who 

 may h;'.j)pen to be rich. The de- 

 graded state of the peojde of co- 

 lour in the British cohuiies is 

 most lamentable. In Brazil, even 

 the trifling regulations which ex- 

 ist cigain.st them remain imat- 

 tended to. A mulatto enters into 

 h(dy orders or is appointed a '.na- 

 gistrate, his ])apers stating liim to 

 be a white man, but his appear- 

 ance plainly denotiiig the con- 

 trary. 



