Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/146

 Dollars     Cents

Hens and Ducks,                              12-1/2

Eggs per dozen,                     —       12-1/2

Butter per lb.                      —           25

Cheese, ditto,                      —           18

Whisky per gallon,                  —           40

Tobacco, per 100 lbs. 5          —

Hemp,                                8           —

Wool, per lb                            33-1/3

The indolence and disorderly conduct of slaves, together with their frequent elopements, occasion much uneasiness to their holders. It is not uncommon to hear the master, in ill humour, say that he wishes there was not a slave in the country; but the man who is tenacious of this sort of stock, or who purchases it at a high price, will always find it difficult to convince other people, that his pretensions to humanity towards slaves are in earnest. Some say that the fault is with the British, who first introduced them. Others reprobate the practice; but affirm that, while the laws of the country permit it, and while slaves must be somewhere, we may have them as well as our neighbours; and there are a few who vindicate both principle and practice, by declaring, that the negro is a being of an inferior species formed for servitude: and allege that slave-keeping has the divine sanction, as in the case of the Jews.

Negroes, even in America, are said to be more prolific than the white variety of the species. They do not delay marriage because they are not in possession of lands, slaves, horses, and the other essentials of their masters: nor does the support of {116} their progeny give them much concern; the coloured children being held as the property of the owner of the mother. By him they are reared with more or less tenderness, or sold to another, as he thinks fit.