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Government alone, and may be said to be almost absolute in his 

 office. 



In addition to these important functions, the present Intendant 

 has assumed the whole direction and regulation of the mining con- 

 cern, which none of his predecessors ever practically interfered with, 

 it being the peculiar province of the administrator-general. For this 

 undertaking he is equally qualified by the superiority of his talents, 

 and by the extent of his acquirements : he studied mineralogy many 

 years under the celebrated Werner, by whom he was considered as 

 one of his most enlightened disciples ; afterwards he travelled through 

 Hungary, and all the most interesting German states, and, lastly, 

 made the tour of England and Scotland, where he resided two 

 years. 



The Administrator-general, to whom belong the direction and 

 management of the works, ought to be equally experienced in mining 

 and mechanics, particularly in hydraulics : he should be a man of 

 general information, combined with great practical knowledge rela- 

 tive to the locality of the district, so as to be able to ascertain the 

 real value of every situation, and to direct the operations accordingly. 

 He should have a mind fertile in resources, and prepared to meet 

 every disappointment or casualty that can possibly occur, that the 

 time of the negroes may not be employed in vain ; he should also 

 facilitate their labours by the introduction of machinery, and should 

 be particularly attentive to their good treatment, since on them his 

 success, and consequently his reputation, must in a great measure 

 depend. 



On this latter point humanity and policy ought alike to direct the 

 attention of the superiors of the establishment. It is natural to sup- 

 pose that negroes, when treated with harshness, ill fed and ill clothed, 

 will be indifferent to the interests of their employers, and, perhaps, 

 determined not to find diamonds, whereas, when subjected to milder 

 and kinder usage, which might be done without relaxing in vigilance, 

 they would become anxious to please, and would search more dili- 



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