again, they proceed in like manner, and are at Cape Lopez in October, at Angola in November, &c.
The Manner of living among the Portugueze here is, with the utmoſt Frugality and Temperance, even to Penury and Starving; a familiar Inſtance of Proof is, in the Voracity of their Dogs, who finding ſuch clean Cupboards at home, are wild in a manner with Hunger, and tare up the Graves of the Dead for Food, as I have often ſeen: They themſelves are lean with Covetouſneſs, and that Chriſtian Vertue, which is often the Reſult of it, Selfdenyal; and would train up their Cattle in the ſame way, could they fetch as much Money, or had not they their Proviſion more immediately of Providence. The beſt of them (excepting the Governor now and then) neither pay nor receive any Viſits of Eſcapade or Recreation; they meet and ſit down at each others Doors in the Street every Evening, and as few of them, in ſo ſmall an Iſland, can have their Plantations at any greater Diſtance, than that they may ſee it every Day if they will, ſo the Subject of their Talk is moſtly how Affairs went there, with their Negroes, or their Ground, and then part with one another innocently, but empty.
The Negroes have yet no hard Duty with them, they are rather Happy in Slavery; for as their Food is chiefly Vegetables, that could no way elſe be expended, there is no Murmurs bred on that account; and as their Buſineſs is Domeſtick, either in the Services of the Houſe, or in Gardening, Sowing, or Planting, they have no more than what every Man would prefer for Health and Pleaſure; the hardeſt of their Work is the Carriage of their Pateroons, or their Wives, to and from the Plantations; this they do in Hammocks (call’d at Whydah, Serpentines) ſlung croſs a Pole, with a Cloath over, to ſcreen the Perſon, ſo carried, from Sun and
