Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1853-10-27

hkely to DO the best representatives of their
sex.
Happy is il for the poor slave. girls on their
march through the Sahara. that hev have light
hearfs. They sing touching and planive sangs.
lHhen with menories of home, laden with
thongh's Of former JOYS, laden with reccllect,ops
OF the field and huts where they spent their hap
py youth. and so they beguie their way. As
s. on as the place Of encampment is reached,
thev nrrang" everything and light fires, first for
their masters and then for themselves. The cold
of the desert is bitter at night, and the wretched
creatures wear little or no clothing Their ra
tions If food are then served to them and too
often the harlpv-meal and water which would be
scarcely sufficient for one, is divided among ten
of the rnished and squad slaves.
They may have been on foot fourteen hours:
thew NAV ba still hungry, thirsty, weary yet
as The rv-n,ng dasPens, they rise one by one to
the dance, and trip upnn the sand until the moon
grows pale. They heat their unccuth drums.
ano the Young slaves av round. often in very
modest and graceful measures. through often.
too, IN figures quite Of another character. A
peculiar, h'pping step is much in practice among
them. and it Is by no means an uncprious CIR
cumstance that we can trace manv of the tsvor-
lite negro dances in America to their origin in
the remote kingdoms Of the Sahara. They have
even preserved some of The most singular Of the
movements and evolutions, as well as many OF
the native airs, so that the spirit of Africa is
breatbed again among the sugar canes and cot
ton fields Of Alabama AMI Carolina. In such
festivities the unhappy creatures fail into forget
funess Of their lot, and seen as thongh lost by
an Indifference, which however lasts while the
merriment goes on. See them next morning
setting out, with unwilling Steps. their heads
bent. their eyes downcnst and dull. their faces
marked with sorrow, and all the illusion of the
moonlit revelry passes away, and Slavery be
comes again as cheeress and desoate thing
as the Sahara itself.
And so the caravans tolls along, now winding
in irregular files along the PLAIN, now crawling
up mountain, now bivouackIng near we'll
and on the green fields Of an oasis. As it goes,
some of the victims tail in strength, and sink
and perish on the road. The very aged espec-
ial'y leave their bonds in this manner, halfway
between their former dwelling places and the
termination of the journey TO bondage. 1t seems
u gratutous cruelty on the part of The slave
hunters TO disturb toitering old men and women,
who have nothing lett On earth but to die, and
who, If they were actually brought to market,
would not sell f,r more than one shilling, so fee
BILE and useless are they. When they expire,
a hole Is dug or rather scratched, in the sand
and they are thrown IN, and loose stone is placed
over them. Numbers of such graves mark the
four great caravan tracts ftom the kingdom Of
the Sohara to the northeast coast. Manly little
monnd|, too, mark the resting beds of children
who have died on this road the earth is hallowed
for them The moment they h"ve ceased to breathe
even before and no mother no friend can evel
come to visit the sacred place again. An un-
dlstlnguishabIe hillock remains for while upon
the spot, but the desert is soon subdued to It's
level and every sign of their existence Is gone
-Shap'S Magazine for July