Travels Through North America 



causes of weakness, that they never can possess any 

 real strength. The cHmate operates very power- 

 fully upon them, and renders them indolent, in- 

 active, and unenterprising; this is visible in every 

 line of their character. I myself have been a spec- 

 tator, and it is not an uncommon sight, of a man in 

 the vigour of life, lying upon a couch, and a female 

 slave standing over him, wafting off the flies, and 

 fanning him, while he took his repose. 



The southern colonies (Maryland, which is the 

 smallest and most inconsiderable, alone excepted) 

 will never be thickly seated : for as they are not con- 

 fined within determinate limits, but extend to the 

 westward indefinitely, men, sooner than apply to 

 laborious occupations, occupations militating with 

 their dispositions, and generally considered too as 

 the inheritance and badge of slavery, will gradually 

 retire westward, and settle upon fresh lands, which 

 are said also to be more fertile; where, by the ser- 

 vitude of a negro or two, they may enjoy all the 

 satisfaction of an easy and indolent independency: 

 hence the lands upon the coast will of course remain 

 thin of inhabitants. 



The mode of cultivation by slavery, is another in- 

 surmountable cause of weakness. The number of 

 negroes in the southern colonies is upon the whole 

 nearly equal, if not superior, to that of the white men; 

 and they propagate and increase even faster. Their 

 condition is truly pitiable; their labour excessively 



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