FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87  
88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   >>   >|  
leading topics of those they suspect, and if their end is subserved, basely betray them, or, what is more usual, keep them under strict surveillance, with a view to their being detected in disseminating abolition doctrines amongst the slaves, when they are immediately made amenable to the laws, and are fined or imprisoned. On landing, I hired a sorry conveyance, driven by a creole and drawn by a mule, and had my luggage taken to a house in the suburbs, where I had been recommended to take up my residence during my stay, which, owing to the presence of the yellow fever, that daily carried off numbers of victims, I had determined, contrary to my original intention, should be short. The crowds of people on the levee, attracted by the constant arrival of steam-boats, had a motley appearance; many of these were rough-looking fellows, fit for any occupation, most of them being armed with bowie knives, the silver hilts of which could often be seen peering suspiciously from under the waistcoat, in the inner lining of which a case or scabbard of leather is sewn for the reception of the weapon. The vast proportion of blacks in the streets soon struck me. I should think they were five to one of the white population. These, for the most part, wore in wretched plight; many of them begged of the passers-by, which practice I found afterwards to be very general, especially in the suburbs of the city. Amongst the passengers on our boat, was a person, apparently of the better class, who was met at the levee by two black servants with a carriage. I noticed particularly, that, although the negroes touched their hats, and inquired how he was (by which I concluded he had been absent for some time), he did not deign to answer their inquiries. From their timidity, it was evident that he was an overbearing man, and the imperial haughtiness manifested in giving them his orders, confirmed this impression. This individual was one of those who condemned the demonstration I have noticed, when the boat first approached the levee. After a day's rest at my boarding-house, I walked through the city, and afterwards visited the calaboose, which in New Orleans is a mart for produce, as well as a place of detention and punishment for slaves. Here those owners who are averse to correcting their slaves in a rigorous manner at home, send them to be flogged. The brutal way in which this is done at the calaboose, strikes terror into the negro mind, and
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87  
88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
slaves
 

noticed

 

suburbs

 

calaboose

 

flogged

 
brutal
 
absent
 

carriage

 
inquired
 

concluded


touched

 

negroes

 
practice
 

general

 
passers
 

begged

 
wretched
 
plight
 

Amongst

 

passengers


strikes

 

person

 

apparently

 

servants

 

timidity

 

walked

 

boarding

 

visited

 

rigorous

 

manner


approached

 
Orleans
 

punishment

 

detention

 

owners

 
produce
 

correcting

 
evident
 

overbearing

 
imperial

averse
 

inquiries

 
haughtiness
 
manifested
 

impression

 

individual

 
condemned
 

demonstration

 
confirmed
 

terror