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CRUELTY TO SLAVES. 



were thrust within the latter, which caused the 

 higher part of the pantaloons to appear to be 

 of preposterous width. We dismounted at a 

 sugar-plantation, being the third we had passed 

 through this morning ; here we were invited to 

 stay to breakfast, but this we could not do, 

 and were therefore regaled with pine-apples 

 and oranges. The owner of this place had 

 taken great pains with his garden, and had 

 reared several fruits which require much care ; 

 but it is strange that, although there are many 

 which may be raised with very little trouble, 

 still upon far the greater number of plantations, 

 even oranges are not to be found. The ant is, 

 I well know, a great persecutor of this tree, 

 but when care is taken in this respect, and a 

 little water is afforded during the dry months 

 for two or three years, none else is necessary. 

 Upon the same plantation have been practised 

 the most monstrous cruelties ; the conduct of 

 the owner towards his slaves is often spoken of 

 with abhorrence, but yet he is visited and 

 treated with the same respect which is paid to 

 an individual of unblemished character. It is 

 however almost the only instance of which I 

 heard of systematic, continued, wanton enor- 

 mity ; but it has here occurred and has passed 

 unpunished, and this one is sufficient, even if 

 none other existed, to stamp the slave system 

 as an abomination which ought to be rooted 



