INTERIOR OF AFRICA. 
287 
CHAPTER XXII. 
Observations concerning the State and Sources of Slavery in 
Africa. 
A state of subordination, and certain inequalities of rank and 
condition, are inevitable in every stage of civil society ; but 
when this subordination is carried to so great a length, that the 
persons and services of one part of the community are entirely 
at the disposal of another part, it may then be denominated a 
state of slavery ; and in this condition of life, a great body of 
the Negro inhabitants of Africa have continued from the most 
early period of their history ; with this aggravation, that their 
children are born to no other inheritance. 
The slaves in Africa, I suppose, are nearly in the proportion 
of three to one to the freemen. They claim no reward for 
their services, except food and clothing ; and are treated with 
kindness, or severity, according to the good or bad disposition 
of their masters. Custom, however, has established certain 
rules with regard to the treatment of slaves, which it is thought 
dishonourable to violate. Thus, the domestic slaves, or such 
as are born in a man's own house, are treated with more lenity 
than those which are purchased with money. The authority 
of the master over the domestic slave, as I have elsewhere 
observed, extends only to reasonable correction ; for the master 
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