Ww^ uKm 



238 



SLAVERY. 



in which the Christian church exists in that 

 country, still such are the beneficent effects of 

 the Christian religion, that these, its adopted 

 children, are improved by it to an infinite de- 

 gree j and the slave who attends to the strict 

 observance of religious ceremonies invariably 

 proves to be a good servant. The Africans who 

 are imported from Angola are baptized in lots 

 before they leave their own shores, and on their 

 arrival in Brazil they are to learn the doctrines 

 of the church, and the duties of the religion 

 into which they have entered. These bear the 

 mark of the royal crown upon their breasts, 

 which denotes that they have undergone the 

 ceremony of baptism, and likewise that the 

 king's duty has been paid upon them. * The 



a la mart, la religion qu'ils out embrasste ; quils en pratiquent 

 les vertus et en excercent les ceuvres, et je puis dire avec verity 

 qu'ils y vivent hien plus Chrestiennement dans leur condition, 

 que beaucoup de Francois." — Histoire des Antilles, torn. ii. 

 p. 502. 



* Labat says that the inhabitants of St. Domingo were in 

 the habit of marking the negroes which they bought by -burn- 

 ing the skin, and he adds, in his Dominiean way, " Desorte 

 quun esclave qui auroit ete vendu et revendu plusieurs foia 

 paroitroit a la Jin aussi charge de caracters, que ces obelisques 

 d'Egypt." This was not practised, as he tells us, in the 

 islands (Martinique and Guadaloupe), and he adds that their 

 negroes, and principally the creole slaves, seroient au desespoir 

 quon les marqudt comme on Jait les bceufs et les chevaux. 

 The small islands did not require this practice, but St. Do- 

 mingo, tin pais aussi vaste, could not do without it, because 



