286 



SOUTHERN STATES. 



omens of death, and that the domestic animals, but principally cows, when they emit low anu 

 melancholy sounds, perform the same Banshee office. They have no obi-men, though they 

 fear an evil prediction, which they call " putting a bad mouth" upon a person. They will 

 never use in any way the wood of a tree that has been struck with lightning. It is not strange, 

 that they should believe heaven to be entirely different from what they ex})erience of earth, and 

 they have no other conception of it than as a place where they shall rest from their labors. 

 They sometimes speak of their lost children as still theirs. If asked how many children she 

 has, a mother who has lost three, and has still seven, will say ten. 



Their marriages are mere civil contracts, and are too often of little force. In towns, many 

 have their children christened. On the plantations, the preacher is geneially some respectable 

 and fluent person, who harangues wildly, and who seldom connects his religious views with mo- 

 rality. Their amusements are few, and chiefly dancing. Many of them know so much of 

 music, that they can play a few tunes on the violin, and they dance with much vigor. They 

 are aristocratic, and feel towards a good master as the Highlanders to their chief. They de- 

 spise poor white people, and often give them food with an air of patronage. They attach im- 

 portance to being born on the estate, and are mortified if they are sold for a small sum. In the 

 upper country, and with the small proprietors, the slaves live nearly on terms of equality with 

 their masters. They prefer to have their children named by their owners, and it is a custom to 

 give renowned Roman names. Cssar, Pompey, and Cato, are found on all plantations. There 

 are also several negroes with the same name, distinguished by some addition ; as Long Tom, 

 Short Tom, Big Tom, Lame Tom, Diana's Tom, &c. 



The laws which operate on the slaves must necessarily be peculiar, though many of them are 

 severe beyond all necessity. It is to be recollected, however, that they have grown up from 

 the commencement of the institution ; and that, from changes in circumstances, many of them 

 have no longer an application, and many others are not enforced. The more severe parts of 

 the code are not of recent enactment. A traveler, or even a resident in the Southern States, 

 would not discover the existence of the severer part of these acts, without reference to the 

 statute book. Captain Hall, who has traversed this section, and who, in America, at least, was 

 sagacious in discovering defects, acknowledges, that slavery has all consistent mitigations, that 

 the slaves are humanely treated, and not overtasked or underfed. This has, of course, much 

 weight, as being the testimony of a competent, but reluctant witness. 



Of these laws, we must speak generally, though there are many individual differences in va- 

 rious States. The slavery is by these laws made hereditary, and the servitude of the mother 

 determines that of the child. Some few of the slaves are little darker than the whites ; and 

 when such claim their freedom, their color, in some States, throws the burden of proof upon 

 the other side ; but in the case of those evidently of African descent, the color is held to be a 

 sufficient indication of bondage, till the negro furnishes testimony of his freedom. The slaves 

 are in every State but Louisiana chattels personal, and may be sold to pay the debts or bequests 

 of the master. In some States, certain separations in their families are forbidden ; though, 

 generally, the wife may be separated from the husband, and the child from both. The slave 

 can make no contracts, nor can he legally hold any property. He can commence no suit, nor 

 can a free negro, without the intervention of a special guardian. The testimony of a negro, 

 bond or free, is not admitted in a civil or criminal suit against a white. There are, in all the 

 States, restraints upon manumission ; as a population of free blacks is felt to be dangerous to 

 the subordination of the others. In all the States, negroes traveling without a pass are liable 

 to be seized, advertised, and sold. In Mississippi, the jailer shall interrogate the prisoners, 

 and write by mail to the person by them described as masters ; if the account be false, he shall 

 give each prisoner 25 lashes, " well laid on," and "interrogate them anew, and so on" ; and 

 for the space of six months, it shall be his duty "alternately to interrogate and whip, as afore- 

 said." The general punisiiment for minor oflences is whipping, which may be inflicted by any 

 owner or overseer. There are various laws, indeed, to restrain cruel punishments or tasks, and 

 to prescribe a suflicient allowance of food and clothing, but these cannot be generally enforced 

 for the want of evidence. 



The best security of the slaves, is in the force of custom, public opinion,* and in the hu- 



* The following report will show, that the spirit and let- a negro slave, t!ie property of the defendant, by working 



ter of the law is sometimes relaxed : out, in town, by the permission of Iter master, had by her 



"The Guardian of Sn.!!y, a negro, vs. Beattie. This was industry acquired a considerable sum of money over and 



a special action to pstahlis > the freedom of a negro girl : above monthly wages to her master; and having an afFec- 



