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cities : for they are very fond of marketings 

 which is one of their highest pleasures. I 

 know a number of gentlemen in America^ 

 who say they should be very glad to set 

 their whole number of slaves at liberty, 

 but that they do not know how to do it, as 

 they are afraid of their* ravaging the coun- 

 try, being m.uch more numerous in the 

 southern parts of America than the white 

 men ; and it is a paradox to me to conceive 

 how they can be profitable to the owner 

 Observe, General Washington's number 

 at Mount- Vernon was four hundred — 

 men, w^omen, and children ; and out of tliat 

 number only seventy were able to work. 

 And although the General was said both 

 to feed and clothe them in a more scanty 

 manner than any other man, I do not 

 know how it was effected in that poor barren 

 soil ; nor could it be done at all but from 

 the herring fishery adjoining to his estate 

 in the Potowmac, w^hich is the greatest 

 part of their food, with bread of Indian 

 corn, of which they are the best of culti- 



