CHAP. XV.] NEGROES IN THE MINES. 217 



of the negroes. Some years ago, a planter came to him with a 

 refractory slave, and asked him to keep him underground for a 

 year by way of punishment, saying, that no pay would be re 

 quired for his hire. The overseer retorted that he would be no 

 man s jailer. The British company at Blackheath having re 

 solved not to employ any slaves, and Mr. Gifford, having engaged 

 130 free^^roes, found he could preserve good discipline without 

 corpora^^Pnishment ; and he not only persuaded several newly 

 arrived laborers from England to work with the blacks, but old 

 Virginians, also, of the white race, engaged themselves, although 

 their countrymen looked down upon them at first for associating 

 with such companions. They confessed that, for a time, &quot; they 

 felt very awkward,&quot; but it was not long before the proprietors 

 of other mines followed the example which had been set them. 

 VOL. i. K 



