MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



413 



with the mulattos; nor are they 

 to be easily distinguished from 

 some of the darker varieties of 

 this cast. A dark-coloured man 

 of a disagreeable countenance and 

 badly formed person is commonly 

 called a mestizo, without any re- 

 ference to his origin. 



Yet one race of human beings 

 remain to be spoken of ; but the 

 individuals who compose it are not 

 sufficiently numerous to permit 

 them to take their place among 

 the several great divisions of the 

 human family which form the po- 

 pulation of Brazil, and therefore 

 1 did not rank this among the 

 others which are of more imjjort- 

 ance. Still the qiganos, fur thus 

 they are called, must not be foi'- 

 gotten. I frequently heai'd of 

 these people, but never had an 

 oppoi'tunity of seeing any of them. 

 Parties of ciganos were in the 

 habit of appearing formerly once 

 every year at the village of Pas- 

 mado, and other places in that 

 jjart of the country ; but the late 

 governor of the province was ini- 

 mical to them, and some attempts 

 having been made to apprehend 

 some of them, their visits were 

 discontinued. They are repre- 

 sented as being a jieople of a 

 brownish cast, with features which 

 resemble those of white persons, 

 an;l as being tall and handsome. 

 They wander fiom place to place 

 in p.arties of men, women, and 

 children ; e^ichanging, buying, and 

 selling horses, and gold and silver 

 trinkets. The women travel on 

 horseback, sitting between the 

 panniers of the loaded horses, and 

 the young ones are placed within 

 the panniers among the baggage. 

 The men are excellent horsemen, 

 and attiiough the packhorses may 



be overburthened, these fellows 

 will only accommodate matters by 

 riding slowly upon their own 

 horses, andnever think of dividing 

 the loads more equally ; but they 

 preserve themselves and the ani- 

 mals upon which they ride quite 

 unencumbered. They are said to 

 be unmindful of all religious ob- 

 servances ; and never to hear mass 

 or confess their sins. It is like- 

 wise said that they never marry 

 out of their own nation. 



SLAVERY. 



(From the same.) 



The general equity of the laws 

 regarding free persons of colour 

 in the Portuguese South-.\mericaa 

 possessions, has been to a certain 

 degree extended to that portion of 

 the population which is in a state 

 of slavery; and the lives of the 

 slaves of Brazil have been ren- 

 dered less hard and less intolera- 

 ble than those of the degraded 

 beings who drag on their cheerless 

 existence under the dominion of 

 other nations. The Brazilian slave 

 is taught the religion of his master, 

 and hojies are held out of manu- 

 mission from his own exertions ; 

 but still he is a slave, and must be 

 guided by another man's will, and 

 this feeling alone takes a-\vay much 

 of the pleasure that would be felt 

 from the faithful discharge of his 

 duty, if it was voluntarily perform- 

 ed. The consciousness tliat if the 

 directions were not willingly at- 

 tended to, the arbitrary will of 

 the master would enforce their 

 ])erforniancc, removes much of the 

 desire to ]ilease ; obedience to a 

 command is not required with any 

 idea that refusal can' possibly en- 

 sue, and therefore no merit is 



attached 



