EXPEDITION TO SURINAM. 



the venereal difeafe ; and the word of the hunaan carcafe- 

 butcher is quite fnfficient, as no negro is allowed to give 

 evidence in any cafe whatever. 



" Didio tcftimonii non eft fervo homini." 



Yet fhould fome fair European by accident prove the 

 murder, the delinquent efcapes, as I have obferved, by 

 paying a fine .of jT. 50 and the value of the flave, if the 

 owner requires it ; and for this price of blood he may 

 daughter the poor wretches whenever a temporary paf- 

 lion or a habit of cruelty, which is too commonly gene- 

 rated in this fituation, prompts his rage. 



They have moreover many ftratagems to evade the 

 penalty, fhould even the magiftrates be prefent. I have 

 known it happen when one of thefe fcourges of the hu- 

 man race became tired of a negro, that he has taken him 

 out with him a fhooting ; and ordering him to difcover 

 the game, the firft bird that ftarted he has fliot the poor 

 man dead upon the fpot. This was called an accident, 

 and no farther enquiry was made concerning it. Others 

 have been difpatched by the following method : — A (take 

 being fattened in the middle of an open plain, the Have 

 is chained to it, and expofed to the burning fun, where 

 one jill of water and a lingle plantain is brought him 

 daily, until he pines to death. But this is not called 

 ftarving, as his matter declares that he neither wanted 

 vi6luals nor drink until he expired—- thus he is honourably 

 acquitted. 



Another 



CHAP. 



XXVL 



