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fiscation of his person to the state : but it being thought too hard for 

 the owner to suffer for the offence of his servant, the penalty' lias 

 been commuted for personal imprisonment and chastisement. This 

 is a much lighter punishment than that which their owners or any 

 white man would suffer for a similar offence. 



There is no particular regulation respecting the dress of the ne- 

 groes : they work in the clothes most suitable to the nature of their 

 employment, generally in a waistcoat and a pair of drawers, and not 

 naked, as some travellers have stated. Their hours of labour are 

 from a little before sun-rise until sun-set, half an hour being allowed 

 for breakfast, and two hours at noon. While washing they change 

 their posture as often as they please, which is very necessary, as the 

 work requires them to place their feet on the edges of the trough, 

 and to stoop considerably. This posture is particularly prejudicial 

 to young growing negroes, as it renders them in-kneed. Four or 

 five times during the day they all rest, when snuff, of which they are 

 very fond, is given to them. 



The negroes are formed into working parties, called troops, con- 

 taining two hundred each, under the direction of an administrator 

 and inferior officers. Each troop has a clergyman and a surgeon to 

 attend it. With respect to the subsistence of the negroes, although 

 the present governor has in some degree improved it by allowing a 

 daily portion of fresh beef, which was not allowed by his predeces- 

 sors, yet I am sorry to observe that it is still poor and scanty ; and 

 in other respects they are more hardly dealt with than those of any 

 other establishment which I visited : notwithstanding this, the 

 owners are all anxious to get their negroes into the service, doubtless 

 from sinister motives, of which more will be said hereafter. 



The officers are liberally paid, and live in a style of considerable 

 elegance, which a stranger would not be led to expect in so remote 

 a place. Our tables were daily covered with a profusion of excellent 

 viands, served up on fine Wedgewood ware, and the state of their 

 household generally corresponded with this essential part of it, 



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