The Express.
London, England, 1847-05-25 00:00:00

sirk agisingfor brelkfilst, sad two hones
gobs middle of the day to Mk* net end feed, ex-
erg tles months of grinding, what they tide their
pfd how they beat can. Their week at Ws steam is very
hard, and it is common to me than alternately sleeping and
g, without interferiog with their occupations; the
„.. hi the =toilers' (a mat behind the hones of a cattle
1.5), fearing to be observed, get into the habit of sleeping
for a mooed of time only, and of reusing themselves saffl-
cimui to whip the horses, when they have another nap no
logger than the first ; the black who terries away the cane
wash from the mill, may often be observed taking a similar
asp in the act of stooping to join the ends of the cone home
round his bundle ; and it appear that they derive rest
from dates continual momentary snatches of sleep
daring
their nights labour. Some masters allow the
and one or two holidays in the year ; but during the time of
ragar•rnahing very kw allow them Sunday. The blacks
are generally insufficiently clothed ; the men are allowed
...re year a pair of mares cotton drawers, • shirt, and ge-
Wsi, a hat also, and a poses of red beim to cover them-
ode., et night the women have • similar allowance : their
food consists of two pounds of dried beef, called ' cane de
per week, and a measure of farinha de mandises every
io quantity being about as much as would fill a wine-
bottle ; the dried beef is very salt, and comas from Rio
Grande do Sul. The email mode of cooking it is,
throwing it on the hot saber. until it is burnt outeide; this
is Wen the only food of the slave daring the whale year,
eseept, perhaps., fresh beef on Christmas-day ; the food is
sometime, mried by giving them melted ood•llsk ; to this
p
salient-we of salt food added to hard work, may be attributed
umay of the bad diseases of the skin, to which they are
subject: a slight watch, particulatly in the legs and
ket, often turnsnt the mast obstit sore. On
those engenhoo, where the slaves are notna oveer-worked, •
number of creoles will be rem, and the general appearance
of the blanks, healthy and cheerful, while on the other the
young blacks are all of new importation, end a considerable
portion of the profits of the owner must go yearly in pur-
chasing slaves to supply the place of those who die. When
they ere very well treated, the stock is kept up by those
bred upon the estate. If there were not, however, a constant
supply from the wart of Africa, the slave population would
rapidly diminish, and many sugar engenhos, in a very few
years, would be unable to continue their operations. Many
Senhors d'Eogenho already hod their ' fabrics.' decreasing
yearly, on a.xount of the difficulty of procuring and °Dose.
euent high price of new blacks. A strong healthy field
Uldt le now worth as much as 601. or 701, sterling; before
the slave treaty he could be bought for 251. sterliog.
" In • geosrel view of the agriculture of this province, it
will be seen ihat nature is very little assisted in her labour;
in Pernambuco, it is true, that the earth Is tilled, planted,
and cleared, upon the best estates, in an efficient mariner,
but the choice of lands and the change of mope, manuring,
the formation of roads and bridges From the plantations to
the mills, are very little attended to. In Alagoas this is in a
still mere backward state ; piougha. and other European im-
plements of h wbandry, are unknown there, and, indeed, they
are not much used in Pernambuco. I have only one
plough in operation, notwithstanding that the ' of the
ground would be no less benefited here by their use that
of Europe. The hoe is the favourite agricultural imple-
ment: in planting, it is the spade and plough, in cleaning,
the mite and harrow—and cotton, sugar. mandioea, maim,
and ell the other productions owe their existence to it."