84 



provide food for themselves. Here, as every 

 where else in the valleys of Aragua, a small 

 spot of ground is allotted to them to cultivate ; 

 and where they labour on Saturdays and Sundays, 

 the only days in the week that they are free. 

 They keep poultry, and sometimes even a pig. 

 Their masters boast of their happiness, as in the 

 North of Europe the great landholders like to 

 descant upon the ease which the peasants enjoy, 

 who are attached to the glebe. The day of our 

 arrival we saw three fugitive negroes brought 

 back ; they were slaves newly purchased. I 

 dreaded having to witness one of those punish- 

 ments, which, wherever slavery prevails, de- 

 stroys all the charm of a country life. Happily 

 these blacks were treated with humanity. 



In this plantation, as in all those of the pro- 

 vince of Venezuela, three species of sugar-cane 

 can be distinguished even at a distance by the 

 colour of their leaves ; the ancient Creole sugar- 

 cane, the Otaheite cane, and the Batavia cane. 

 The first has a leaf of a deeper green, the stem 

 less thick, and the knots nearer together. This 

 sugar-cane was the first introduced from India 

 into Sicily, the Canary Islands, and the West 

 Indies. The second is of a lighter green ; and 

 it's stem is higher, thicker, and more succulent. 

 The whole plant displays a more luxuriant ve-* 

 getation. We owe this plant to the voyages of 



