94 TRAVELS IN 
whose temper, always capricious, becomes on slight provoca* 
tions cruel and revengeful. The negroes of Mosambique and 
of Madagascar are harmless and stupid on their first arrival, 
but soon become cunning and dishonest by intercourse with 
their elder brethren. In full possession of all the vices that 
must infallibly result from the condition of slavery, there is 
j'et no part of the Avorld where the domestic slaves of every 
description are so well treated, and so much trusted, as at 
the Cape of Good Hope. They are better clothed, better 
fed, and infinitely more comfortable, than any of the pea- 
santry of Europe. Yet such are the bad effects, which the 
condition of slavery produces on the mind, that they are in- 
capable of feeling the least spark of gratitude for good and 
gentle usage, whilst, under the severe hand of a rigid and 
cruel master, they become the best of slaves. It may be 
considered as an axiom or self-evident truth, that such are 
and always will be the consequences of degrading man to 
the lowest of all conditions, that of being made the property 
of man. 
The Dutch use little prudence or precaution with regard 
to their domestic slaves : in the same room where these are 
assembled to wait behind their masters' chairs, they discuss 
their crude opinions of liberty and equality without any 
reserve; yet they pretend to say that, just before the Eng- 
lish got possession of the Cape, and when it was generally 
thought the French would be before-hand with us, the 
slaves who carried the sedan chairs, of which no lady is 
v/ithout one, used very familiarly to tell their mistressesi 
