again under the table.

"The fact is, captain, they are accustomed to come in at breakfast-time;
they are only shut out to-day because I have company. That door behind
me leads into the nursery-yard."

"The nursery-yard!"

"Yes, I'll show it you by-and-bye; there's plenty of them there."

"Oh, pray let us have them in--I wish to see them, and should be sorry
to be the cause of their being disappointed."

"Open the door, Boy Jack." As soon as it was open, about twenty black
children, from seven to three years old, most of them naked, with their
ivory skins like a polished table, and quite pot-bellied from good
living, tumbled into the room, to the great amusement of Newton and the
party. They were followed by seven or eight more, who were not yet old
enough to walk; but they crawled upon all-fours almost as fast as the
others who could walk erect after the image of their Maker.

The company amused themselves with distributing to the children the
contents of the dishes on the table--the elder ones nestling alongside
of the planter and his friends with the greatest familiarity, while the
younger sat upright on the floor, laughing as they devoured their
respective portions.

"Of course, these are all slaves?" observed Mr Berecroft.

"Yes, bred them all myself," replied the planter; "indeed, out of two
hundred and fifteen which I have on the estate, I think that there are
not more that twelve who were not born on this property, during my
father's time or mine. Perhaps, as breakfast is over, you will like to
inspect my nursery."

The planter led the way into the yard from which the children had
entered. It was a square, of about two roods of ground, three sides of
which were enclosed by rows of small houses, of two rooms each; and most
of them were occupied by female slaves, either nursing children at the
breast, or expecting very soon to have that duty to perform. They received
their master with a smiling face, as he addressed a question to each of
them when he entered their abode.

"Now these are all my _breeding_ women; they do no work, only take care
of the children, who remain here until they are eight or nine years old.
We have a surgeon on the estate, who attends them as well as the other
slaves when they are sick. Now, if you feel inclined, we will go round
the works."

The old planter, in a few minutes' walk, brought them to an extensive
row of detached cottages, each centred in a piece of garden-ground,