Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/106

 Calistro assured me he buys slaves, but never sells any, except as the last punishment for incorrigibly bad conduct. ‘They have holidays on all the principal saints’ days and festivals, which are pretty often, and on these occasions an ox is killed for them, and a quantity of rum given, to make themselves merry. Every evening, as they come round, they prefer their several petitions: one wants a little coffee and sugar for his wife, who is unwell ; another requires a new pair of trousers or a shirt; a third is going with a canoe to Pará, and asks for a milrei to buy something. ‘These requests are invariably granted, and Senhor Calistro told me that he never had cause for refusal, because the slaves never begged for anything unreasonable, nor asked favours when from bad conduct they did not deserve them. In fact, all seemed to regard him in quite a patriarchal view, at the same time he was not to be trifled with, and was pretty severe against absolute idleness. When picking rice, all had a regular quantity to bring in, and any who were considerably deficient several times, from idleness alone, were punished with a moderate flogging. He told me of one Negro he had bought, who was incorrigibly lazy, though quite strong and healthy. ‘The first day he was set a moderate task, and did not near complete it, and received a moderate flogging. ‘The next day he was set a much larger task, with the promise of a severe flogging if he did not get through it: he failed, saying it was quite beyond his ability, and received the flogging. ‘The third day he was set a still larger amount of work, with the promise of a much severer flogging if he failed to finish it ; and so, finding that the two former promises had been strictly kept, and that he was likely to gain nothing by carrying out his plan any longer, he completed the work with ease, and had ever since done the same quantity, which was after all only what every good workman did on the estate. Every Sunday morning and evening, though they do not work, they are required to appear before their master, unless they have special leave to be absent: this, Senhor Calistro told me, was to prevent their going to a great distance to other plantations to steal, as, if they could go off after work on Saturday evening, and not return till Monday morning, they might go to such a distance to commit robbery as to be quite free from suspicion.

In fact, Senhor Calistro attends to his slaves just as he