M H 







266 



SLAVERY. 



own estates, and increases much the licentious- 

 ness of the women. I have seen upon these 

 plantations many light-coloured mulatto slaves ; 

 but when the approximation to white blood be- 

 comes considerable, a marriage is projected for 

 the individual with a person of a darker tint. 

 No compulsion is made use of to oblige any one 

 to marry, and therefore many of the slaves, con- 

 trary to the wishes of their masters, remain single. 

 The monks allow their female slaves to marry 

 free men, but the male slaves are not permitted 

 to marry free women. Many reasons are alleged 

 in favour of this regulation. One is that they 

 do not wish that a slave should be useless in the 

 way of increasing the stock of the plantation ; 

 likewise the monks do not wish to have a free 

 family residing among their slaves (for obvious 

 reasons), which must be the case if a man mar- 

 ries a free woman ; they have less objection to a 

 man, because he is during the whole of the day 

 away from their people, or is perhaps employed 

 by the community, and thus in part dependant 

 upon it, and he merely comes to sleep in one of 

 the huts ; besides, a stranger is contributing to 

 the increase of the stock. 



The Jaguaribe estate is managed by a mulatto 

 slave, who married a person of his own colour, 

 and she likewise belonged to the convent. Her 

 husband has purchased her freedom and that ot 

 her children j he possesses two African slaves, 



