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NARRATIVE OF AN 



CHAP, ought to be treated ; and this mode of condu6t might 

 XXVI. {till be more general, by amending the laws, which ought 

 not corruptly to inveft human nature with what it is 

 certain to abufe — an authority completely defpotic. No 

 mafter furely ought to be entrufted with the dangerous 

 power of taking away the life of his Haves v/ith impu- 

 nity ; and it ought to be conlidered an equal crime in the 

 eye of the law to kill a negro or a white man, as it is 

 equally murder in the light of God. 



I lhall now introduce to the reader's acquaintance a 

 negro family in that ftate of tranquil happinefs, which 

 they always enjoy under a humane and indulgent mafter. 

 The figures in the plate are fuppofed to be of the Loango 

 nation^ by the marks on the man's body, while on his 

 breaft may be fecn y. G. S. in a cypher, by which his 

 owner may afcertain his property. He carries a bafket 

 with fmall fifh, and a net upon his head, with a large 

 fifh in his hand, caught by himfelf in the river. His 

 wife, who is pregnant, is employed in carrying difFercLt 

 kinds of fruif, fpinning a thread of cotton upon her dif- 

 tafF, and comfortably fmoking her pipe of tobacco. Be- 

 lides all this, fhe has a boy upon her back, and another 

 playing by her fide. Thus, under a mild mafter and an 

 honeft overfeer, a negro's labour is no more than a 

 healthy exercife, \Yhich ends at the fetting-fun, and the 

 remaining time is his own, which he employs in hunt- 

 ing, filhing, cultivating his garden, or making ba/kets 



and 



