108 STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 



the appellation of men dealers, have yet retained those in- 

 nate principles of humanity and virtue, which induce them 

 to seek every opportunity and occasion to ameliorate the situa- 

 tion of their dependants. Faults are now corrected and 

 punishments inflicted by personal deprivations, according to the 

 extent of the misdemeanor ; instead of being flogged, the 

 negroes are debarred their daily portion of rum, or their 

 weekly allowance of tobacco, and in case of the crime being 

 of such importance as to require a severer punishment, they 

 are confined on the Sunday in the stocks, and prevented en- 

 joying the company of their friends, or forbid from joining in 

 the merry dance, which takes place every Saturday night on 

 the estates. If the cook spoils the soup, which was intended 

 for his master's dinner, he is made to eat it, warmly peppered 

 with cayenne. Other domestics acting with impropriety, are 

 sometimes confined, at other times obliged to eat an ounce of 

 Glauber's salts, or to sip them with a tea spoon when dissolved 

 in half a pint of water. This manner of inflicting punish- 

 ments is more rational than any hitherto adopted, and as long 

 as the negroes are stimulated with a degree of pride and emu- 

 lation, it will continue to have the desired effect. 



An important and a grievous regulation is the non admis- 

 sion of servile evidence in the courts of justice. Why should 

 not negroes be heard against whites, as well as whites against 

 negroes ? Veracity is indeed not a conspicuous virtue of the 



