410 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



nected ; in this case, he gives her 

 a portion, and she marries a man 

 of her own rank, who regards her 

 rather as a widow than as one 

 whose conduct has been incoirect. 

 Instances of infidelity in these 

 women are rare ; they become at- 

 tached to the men with whom they 

 cohabit, and they (hiect the atfairs 

 of the houses over which they are 

 placed with the same zeal that 

 they would display if they had the 

 right of command over them. It 

 is greatly to the credit of the 

 people of that country that so 

 much fidelity should be shown on 

 one side, and that tiiis should so 

 frequently, as it is, be rewarded 

 by the other party, in the advance- 

 ment of those wlio have behaved 

 thus faithfully, to a respectable 

 and acknowledged situation in 

 society. It should be recollected, 

 too, that the merit of moral feel- 

 ings must be judged of by tlie 

 standard Of the country, and not 

 by our own institutions. I have 

 only spoken above of what occurs 

 among the planters ; for in large 

 towns man is pretty much the 

 same every where. 



The Mamalucos are more fre- 

 quently to be seen in the Sertam 

 than upon the coast. They are 

 handsomer than the nuilattos; and 

 the women of this cast particu- 

 larly surpass in beauty all others 

 of the country ; they have the 

 brown tint of mulattos, but their 

 features are less blunt, and their 

 hair is not curled. I do not tliiiik 

 that the men can be said to possess 

 more courage than tlie mulattos ; 

 but whetlier from the knowledge 

 wiiich they have of being of free 

 birth on both sides, or from re- 

 sidingin the interior of the country 

 where government is more loose. 



they appear to have more inde- 

 pendence of character, and to pay 

 less deference to a white man than 

 tlie mulattos, ^yhen women re- 

 late any deed of danger tluit has 

 been suimounted or undertaken, 

 they generally state that the chief 

 actor in it was a large manialuco, 

 mamalucam ; as if they thought 

 this descrii)tion of men to be su- 

 perior to all others. Mamalucos 

 may enter into the mulatto regi- 

 ments, and are piessed into the 

 regiments of the line as being men 

 of colour, without any regard to 

 the sources from which their 

 blood proceeds. 



Of the domesticated Indians I 

 have already elsewhere given what 

 accounts I could collect, and what 

 I had opportunities of observing. 

 The wild Indians are now only to 

 be met witii at a great distance 

 from the coast of Pernambiico; 

 and although they are very neai- 

 to Rlaranham, and are dreaded 

 neighbours, 1 had no means of 

 seeing any of them. 



I now proceed to mention that 

 numerous and valuable race of 

 men, the creole negroes ; a tree 

 of African growth, which has thus 

 been transplanted, cultivated, and 

 nuich improved by its removal to 

 the New World. The cieole ne- 

 groes stand alone and unconnected 

 with every other race of men, and 

 tiiis circumstance alone would be 

 sufficient, and indeed contributes 

 much to the effect of uniting them 

 to each other. The mulattos, and 

 all other persons of mixed blood, 

 wish to lean tow.ards the whites, 

 if they can possibly lay any claim 

 to relationshi[). Even the mestizo 

 tries to pass for a mulatto, and to 

 persuade himself, and others, that 

 his veins contain some portion of 



white 



