EXPEDITION TO SURINAM. 



No fooner do thefe wretched ftrangers begin to flag at 

 their labour, than whips, cow-fkins, bamboos, ropes, fet- 

 ters, and chains are introduced, until they are ready to 

 fink under accumulated oppreffion. With fome mafters 

 their tafks can never be performed, as they mufl toil on, 

 day and night, even Sundays not excepted. I recolledl a 

 ftrong young negro, called Marquis, who had a wife he 

 loved, with two fine children ; he laboured hard, and ge- 

 nerally finifhed his tafk of digging a trench of five hun- 

 dred feet by four o'clock in the afternoon, that he might 

 have fome time to cultivate his little garden, and go to 

 fifh or fowl to fupport his beloved family: hard did Mar- 

 quis ftrive to earn this additional pittance, when his bu^ 

 mane mailer, apprized of his indullry, for his encourage- 

 ment informed him, that if he could delve five hundred 

 feet by four o'clock, he could certainly finifh fix hundred 

 before fun-fet ; and this tafk the xinfortunate young man 

 was condemned from that day ever fince to perform. 



In Surinam the flaves are kept nearly naked, and their 

 daily food confifls of little more than a few yams and 

 plantains ; perhaps twice a year they may receive a fcanty 

 allowance of falt-fifli, with a few leaves of tobacco, which 

 they call fweety-muffo, and this is all : but what is pecu- 

 liarly provoking to them is, that if a negro and his wife 

 have ever fo great an attachment for each other, the 

 woman, if handfome, muft yield to the loathfome em- 

 brace of an adulterous and licentious manager, or fee her 

 hufband cut to pieces for endeavouring to prevent it. 



Vol. IL Nn This 



