

^>*W&fc*Kft 



210 



MULATTOS. 



mor was not a mulatto man ; he answered, " he 

 waSj but is not now." * I begged him to ex- 

 plain, when he added, " Can a Captam-mor be 

 a mulatto man ?" t I was intimately acquaint- 

 ed with a priest, whose complexion and hair 

 plainly denoted from whence he drew his origin ; 

 I liked him much : he was a well-educated and 

 intelligent man. Besides this individual instance, 

 1 met with several others of the same description. 

 The regiments of militia, which are called 

 mulatto regiments, are so named from all the 

 officers and men being of mixed casts ; nor can 

 white persons be admitted into them. The 

 principal officers are men of property ; and the 

 colonel, like the commander of any other re- 

 giment, is only amenable to the governor of 

 the province. In the white militia regiments, 

 the officers ought to be by law white men ; 

 but in practice they are rather reputed white 

 men, for very little pains are taken to prove 

 that there is no mixture of blood. Great num- 

 bers of the soldiers belonging to the regiments 

 which are officered by white men, are mulattos, 

 and other persons of colour. The regiments 

 of the line, likewise, (as I have elsewhere said,) 

 admit into the ranks all persons excepting ne- 

 groes and Indians ; but the officers of these 

 must prove nobility of birth ; however, as cer- 



* " Era, porem ja nam he." 



f " Pois Scnhor Capitam-mor pode ser mulatto?' 



