SLAVERY. 



241 



which they soon take an interest, but from 

 which no injury can proceed towards themselves, 

 nor can any through its means be by them in- 

 flicted upon their masters. Their ideas are 

 removed from any thought of the customs of 

 their own country, and are guided into a chan- 

 nel of a totally different nature, and completely 

 unconnected with what is practised there. The 

 election of a King of Congo (which 1 have 

 mentioned in Chapter XIII.) by the individuals 

 who come from that part of Africa, seems 

 indeed as if it would give them a bias towards 

 the customs of their native soil ; but the Bra- 

 zilian Kings of Congo worship Our Lady of the 

 Rosary, and are dressed in the dress of white 

 men; they and their subjects dance, it is true, 

 after the manner of their country ; but to these 

 festivals are admitted African negroes of other 

 nations, Creole blacks, and mulattos, all of 

 whom dance after the same manner ; and these 

 dances are now as much the national dances of 

 Brazil as they are of Africa. The Portuguese 

 language is spoken by all the slaves, and their 

 own dialects are allowed to lay dormant until 

 they are by many of them quite forgotten. No 

 compulsion is resorted to to make them embrace 

 the habits of their masters, but their ideas are 

 Insensibly led to imitate and adopt them. The 

 masters at the same time imbibe some of the 

 customs of their slaves, and thus the superior 



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