38 SLAVE TRADE. 



number of the slave population, that it now exceeds 

 the white in the ratio of ten to one, while individually 

 the slaves are both physically and in natural capa- 

 city more than equal to their sensual and degenerate 

 masters. Bahia and its neighbourhood have a bad 

 eminence in the annals of the Brazilian slave-trade. 

 Upwards of fifty, some accounts say eighty cargoes, 

 had been landed there since the Beao^le's last visit : 

 nor is the circumstance to be wondered at when we 

 bear in mind, that the price of a slave then varied 

 from £90. to £100., and this in a country not 

 abounding in money. 



The declining trade, the internal disorganization, 

 and the rapidly augmenting slave population of 

 Bahia, all tend to prove that the system of slavery 

 which the Brazilians consider essential to the wel- 

 fare of their country, operates directly against 

 her real interests. The wonderful resources of the 

 Brazils will, however, never be fully developed 

 until the Brazilians resolve to adopt the line of 

 policy suggested in Captain Fitz-Roy's interesting 

 remarks upon this subject. To encourage an in- 

 dustrious native population on the one hand, and on 

 the other to declare the slave-trade piratical, are 

 the first necessary steps in that march of improve- 

 ment, by which this tottering empire may yet be 

 preserved from premature decay. 



It would, however, be " a vain imagination," to 

 suppose that this wiser and more humane determi- 

 nation wdll be spontaneously adopted by those most 



