SLAVES. 



341 



mopolitan Frenchman, and the hardy, persevering, scheming American, 

 who likes little that any one should go ahead of him, would alike, in 

 the course of time, yield to the relaxing inlluence of a climate that for- 

 bids him to labor, and to the charm of a state of things where life may 

 be supported without the necessity of labor. 



To make, then, the rich and varied productions of this country avail- 

 able for commercial purposes, and to satisfy the artificial wants of man, 

 it is necessary that labor should be compulsory. To Brazil and her 

 political economists belongs the task of investigation, and of deciding 

 how, and by what method, this shall be brought about. 



The common sentiment of the civilized world is against the renewal 

 of the African slave trade ; therefore must Brazil turn elsewhere for the 

 compulsory labor necessary to cultivate her lands. Her Indians will 

 not work. Like the llama of Peru, they will die sooner than do more 

 than is necessary for the support of their being. I am under the im- 

 pression that, were Brazil to throw off a causeless jealousy, and a puerile 

 fear of our people, and invite settlers to the Valley of the Amazon, 

 there might be found, among our Southern planters, men, who, looking 

 with apprehension (if not for themselves, at least for their children) to 

 the state of affairs as regards slavery at home, would, under sufficient 

 guarantees, remove their slaves to that country, cultivate its lands, draw 

 out its resources, and prodigiously augment the power and wealth of 

 Brazil. 



The negro slave seems very happy in Brazil. This is remarked by 

 all foreigners ; and many times in Para was a group of merry, chatter- 

 ing, happy-looking black women, bringing their baskets of washed 

 clothes from the spring, pointed out to me, that I might notice the evils 

 of slavery. The owners of male slaves in Para generally require from 

 each four or five testoons a day, (twenty testoons make a dollar,) and 

 leave him free to get it as he can. The slaves organize themselves into 

 bands or companies, elect their captain, who directs and superintends 

 their work, and contract with a certain number of mercantile houses to 

 do their porterage. The gang which does the porterage for Mr. Norris, 

 and for nearly all the English and American houses, numbers forty. 

 Each man is paid about three cents to fill a bag or box, and four cents 

 to carry it to the wharf and put it aboard the lighter. It costs from 

 one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars to discharge and load a 

 moderate-sized ship. 



I have frequently seen these gangs of negroes carrying cocoa to the 

 wharf. They were always chattering and singing merrily, and would 

 stop every few minutes to execute a kind of dance with the bags on 



