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282 



SLAVERY. 



justice, the slave has only a poor chance of 

 being properly dealt with; the above circum- 

 stances being those to which the culture of the 

 sugar-cane is subject, it is scarcely ever planted 

 by slaves on their own account. 



The cattle-districts employ few slaves, and 

 these are occupied at home, for scarcely any of 

 them, unless they are Creoles, are deemed ca- 

 pable of undertaking the more arduous employ- 

 ments of pursuing the cattle, breaking in horses, 

 &c. The slaves remain in the huts to attend 

 to the less enterprising occupations. The cli- 

 mate of the Sertam is accounted well adapted 

 to the constitutions of the Africans ; sickly ne- 

 groes are often purchased at reduced prices by 

 persons who reside in the interior, under the 

 idea that the climate will soon re-establish their 

 health. The circumstance of the non-existence 

 of the chigua or bicho*, in the plains of the 

 Sertam is of much importance ; for this insect 

 is extremely injurious to some of the negroes ; 

 notwithstanding every precaution, the feet have 

 in some instances been destroyed by them. The 

 chigua has more effect upon the flesh of some 

 persons than upon that of others ; and the sub- 

 jects who are violently attacked by this insect, 



* Bicho means an animal, in the common acceptation of 

 the word ; but the insect which is commonly, in other coun- 

 tries, called the chigua, is known at Pernambuco, only under 

 the name of bicho. 



