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SLAVERY. 



which are rotten, and other work of the same 

 description. When they arrive at the age of 

 ten and twelve years, the girls spin thread for 

 making the coarse cotton cloth of the country, 

 and the boys attend to the horses and oxen, 

 driving them to pasture, &c. If a child evinces 

 peculiar fitness for any trade, care is taken that 

 his talents should be applied in the manner which 

 he would himself prefer. A few of them are 

 taught music, and assist in the church -festivals 

 of the convent. Marriages are encouraged ; as 

 early as the age of seventeen and eighteen years 

 for the men, and at fourteen and fifteen for the 

 girls, many of these unions take place. Imme- 

 diately after their entrance into this state, the 

 people begin to labour regularly in the field for 

 their owners ; oftentimes both boys and girls 

 request the manager to allow them to commence 

 their life of daily toil, before the age which is 

 pointed out by the regulations of the convent ; 

 and this occurs because they are not permitted to 

 possess provision-grounds of their own until they 

 labour for their masters. Almost every descrip- 

 tion of labour is done by piece-work ; and the 

 task is usually accomplished by three o'clock in 

 the afternoon, which gives to those who are in- 

 dustrious an opportunity of working daily upon 

 their own grounds. The slaves are allowed the 

 Saturday of every week to provide for their own 

 subsistence, besides the Sundays and holidays. 



