The Three Counties under the Dutch. 33 
ARD; and of these passages, I select the two following: — 
" I know not, whether upon any occasion since my departure 
from England I have experienced such true and heartfelt plea- 
sure as in witnessing the high degree of comfort and happiness 
enjoyed by the slaves of (Plantation) Profit. Mr. Dargan* not only 
grants them many little indulgences and studies to make them happy 
but he generously fosters them with with a father's care ; and they 
sensible of his tenderness towards them, look to their revered master as 
a kind and affectionate parent, and with undivided, unsophisticated 
attachment cheerfully devote to him their labour and their lives." 
" Not satisfied with bestowing upon his slaves mere food and rai- 
ment, Mr. Dargan establishes for them a kind of right. He assures to 
them certain property, endeavours to excite feelings of emulation 
among them, and to inspire them with a spirit of neatness and order 
not commonly known among slaves ; and, I am happy to add, that the 
effect of his friendly attentions towards them are strongly manifested 
in their persons, their dwellings, and their general demeanour. Per- 
haps it were not too much to say, that the negro yard at Profit forms 
one of the happiest villages within the wide circle of the globe ! The 
labouring poor of Europe can attain to no state adequate to such slavery, 
for, had they equal comforts, still they could never be equally free from 
care." 
" The slaves are not only fed, and clothed, and tenderly watched in 
sickness, without any personal thought or concern, but each has his 
appropriate spot of ground and his cottage, in which he feels a right 
as sacred as if secured to him by all the seals and parchments of the 
Lord High Chancellor of England and his court." 
" Happy and contented, the slave of Profit sees all his wants sup- 
plied. Having never been in a state of freedom, he has no desire for 
it ; not having known liberty, he feels not the privation of it ; nor is it 
within the powers of his mind either to conceive or comprehend the 
sense we attach to the term. Were freedom offered to him, he would 
refuse to accept it, and would only view it as a state fraught with certain 
difficulties and vexations, but offering no commensurate good. ' Who 
gib me for gnyhaamf Massa ? ' he asks, ' if me free , who gib me 
clothes ? Who send me doctor when me sick ?' " 
* The owner. 
\ Gnyhaatn, usually contracted into nyam, i.e. ' to eat,' 
E 
