50 TRAVELS IN 
" found contempt which the whites entertain 
for the blacks, and even for thofe of a mixed 
" breed like myfelf. To fettle among them 
" was to expofe myfelf to daily difgrace and 
" affronts, or to be reduced to live alone, foli- 
tary and unhappy ; while among the Hot- 
tentots I was fure of finding a welcome, and 
" of being treated with friendihip and efteem. 
" What, let me afk, would you have done in 
my place ? For my part, between certain 
" friends, and undoubted enemies, I faw no 
room to hefitate. I preferred happinefs to 
" pride. Among your planters I fhould have 
been overwhelmed with humiliations : a- 
" mong thofe of my mother's complexion I am 
" happy. Efteemed and refpedted, and per- 
" fediy freCj I am in want of nothing. Elfe- 
" where I fhould have flied torrents perhaps of 
" tears ; here I laugh all the day long ; and 
you may judge from my difpofition whether 
I am content." 
Thus fagacioufly did my pretty mulatto 
reafon ; and if her playfulnefs and frivolity 
fometimes teafed me, to balance the account I 
was frequently aftonlfhed at her good fenfe. 
One morning as fhe was rambling round 
my 
