212 



humboldt's cuba. 



attainment of freedom, placing no obstacle in its 

 way, nor making it in any manner onerous. The 

 right which every slave has of seeking a new mas- 

 ter, or purchasing his liberty, if he can pay the 

 amount of his cost ; the religious sentiment that in- 

 duces many persons in good circumstances to con- 

 cede by will freedom to a certain number of negroes ; 

 the custom of retaining a number of both sexes for 

 domestic service, and the affections that necessarily 

 arise from this familiar intercourse with the whites ; 

 and the facilities allowed to slave-workmen to labor 

 for their own account, by paying a certain stipulated 

 sum to their masters, are the principal causes why 

 so many blacks acquire their freedom in the towns. 1 



1 The customary rate of hire is ten cents on each $100 of 

 the value of the slave for every working-day. There are about 

 two hundred and ninety working-days in the year, Sundays and 

 church holidays being considered days of rest. In addition to the 

 above-mentioned facilities for attaining freedom, the slave has the 

 privilege of paying his master small sums of money on account, and 

 thus becoming a coowner of himself. Thus, if his value be $600, 

 by paying his master $25 he becomes the owner of one twenty- 

 fourth of himself; when he has paid $50, he owns one-twelfth, and 

 so on ; and in hiring his time, he pays to his master rent only on the 

 sum remaining due. The law obliges the master to accept these 

 partial payments ; and should the owner over-value the slave at the 

 time of commencing them, the negro can appeal to the syndic, who 

 is annually appointed to protect the slaves. A slave who has par- 

 tially manumitted himself is styled coartado. Many redeem them- 



