SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, iVc. 59 



There are about fifty negroes belonging to the colony, whose 

 houses are at the back of Stabroek. These negroes are for the ^ 

 common good, and then' employment is to keep the town, 

 streets, sewers, and canals, in good repair. Several of them 

 are convicted criminals, and instead of being transported to Bo- 

 tany Bay, or any other place, are sentenced to work in chains 

 about Stabroek; while the owners receive a stipulated sum from 

 the colony funds for them. This is certainly a disgrace to the 

 court of police. To see these poor miserable objects, our fellow 

 creatures, working from morning till night in heavy chains, 

 without regard to weather, destitute of cloaths, with only a coarse 

 rag round their middle, and, as I am told, frequently with no- 

 thing but dry plantains to eat. About half a dozen pipes are 

 attached to the gang ; when one poor fellow has taken a few 

 whiffs, he passes it to another, and so on. I am not going to ob- 

 ject to the punishment of criminals, on the contrary, let them 

 meet their deserts. There is moderation in every thing, and 

 when the court of justice condemned these poor people to la- 

 bour in chains, it was not intended to deprive them of all 

 the comforts of human life. Therefore I blame the court of 

 police for not making their servant, the scavenger, do his duty 

 in providing for the wants of these negroes, at least suitably to 

 their situations. At all events suffering chained negroes to 

 work in Stabroek I consider as improper. It is a common 

 saying that custom familiarizes every thing. Here however 

 I must differ, for notwithstanding I was in the habit of seeing 



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