Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/35

 Some indeed will dare the terrors of the boiling cauldron, ſome attach themſelves to trees and doors, ſome plunge into the rapid torrent, and ſome will end their deſperate exiſtence with a knife. The Eboe negroes are particularly addicted to ſuicide, and a very trifling anticipation of miſery will make them ruſh, almoſt by families, at once into eternity. Great tenderneſs ſhould therefore be ſhewn to ſlaves of this deſcription;—they ſhould be bought young; and in the choice of women, from whatever country they might come, I would ſelect thoſe (although they be not thought to be the moſt valuable) who ſeem to be in a fair way to become mothers. The immediate indulgence which that ſituation requires, and the time allowed after the period of delivery will be the means of preparing them by degrees to their expectted labour; they will inſtantly make acquaintances, or form connections with thoſe who have been before purchased from their own country, and it will reconcile them by a gentle progreſs to the diſcipline, manners, and climate: but the principal advantage to the maſter will be the