Of Ca^U HowEt TtAriS. 20} 



Weather, and the Slaves are at each End ; and yet 

 ^ven this, methinks, is better than the fpecious 

 Liberty a Man has for himfelf and his Heirs to 

 work in a Coal Mine. 



The Negroes are, moft of them, thro* the Ca^ 

 of their Patroons, Chriftians, at leaft nominal, but 

 excepting to fome few, they adhere ftill tf> many 

 filly Pagan Cuftoms in their Mournings and Re«* 

 joycings, and in fome Meafu^e, powerful Majority 

 has introduced them with the Vulgar of the Mulatto 

 and Tortuguez^e Race, 



If a Perlbn die in that Colour, the Relations and 

 Friends of him meet at the Houfe, where the Corpfe 

 is laid out decently on the Ground and covered (all 

 except the Face) with a Sheet ^ they fit round it, 

 crying and howling dreadfully, not unlike what our 

 Countrymen are faid to do in Ireland : This Mour- 

 ning lafts for eight Days and Nights, but note- 

 qually intenfe, for as the Friends, who compole 

 the Chorus, go out and in, are weary, and unequal- 

 ly affeded, the Tone lelTens daily, and the Inter- 

 vals of Grief are longer. 



In Rejoycings and Feftivals they are equally 

 ridiculous ; thele are commonly made on Ibme 

 Fr'end's Eftape from Shipwreck, or other Danger : 

 They meet in a large Room of the Houfe, with a 

 Strum Strum, to which one of the Company, per- 

 haps, fings wofully the reft ftanding round the 

 Room clofe to the Petitions, take it in their Turns 

 {6m or two at a time) to ftep round, called Dan- 

 cing, the whole clapping their Hands continually, 

 and hooping out every Minute Aheo^ which fignify 

 no more, than, hm do you. And this foolilh Mirth 

 will continue three or four Days together at a 

 fToufe, and perhaps twelve or fixteen Hours at a 

 time. 



The Tortugu€z.e ^thd^ emmer\t\y abftemious and tem- 

 perat^e in aU other Things, are unbpundgd in their 



