252 
LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
the lash is pretty surely applied. Desertion is, 
therefore, more common at this season : the chance 
of a poor wretch’s escape, throngh a thousand 
miles of hostile country, without funds, without 
friends, without knowledge of geography, — every 
white man he sees his enemy, ipso facto^ and his 
colour betraying him to all, — is small indeed ; yet 
such is the pressure of the bitter yoke, that it is 
constantly attempted. 
It is to counteract this tendency to desertion that 
the patrol system has been devised. The young 
men of a given neighbourhood enrol themselves in 
a band, and scour the country by night, taking the 
duty in turns, to arrest every negro who is abroad 
without a written pafes. Armed parties frequently 
go in pursuit of runaways, who are shot down 
relentlessly if they oppose, or refuse to surrender. 
The patrols are allowed this power, not indeed by 
law, but by public opinion. 
The aid of trained dogs is also used in the pur- 
suit of runaways. Bloodhounds, of high breeding 
and of great ferocity, are taught to follow the 
human trail in this manner. A negro is sent into 
the woods, and told to climb up into a tree ; when 
sufficient time has been allowed him, the hound is 
set on the scent, and is soon at the foot of the tree, 
which he will not leave till the party come up and 
release the poor slave. If any accident prevent 
him from mounting the tree in time, his life will 
probably pay the forfeit ; for these ferocious dogs 
not unfrequently kill their victims. 
Hunger adds its sharp spur to the many goads 
which impel the wretched sable race to fight or . 
flee. In proportion to the sensuousness of the 
negro temperament — a character which no one can 
