Sketches and Recollections of the West Indies

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Smith, Elder, & Company, 1828 - Black people - 330 pages

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Page 260 - That through a determined, and persevering, but at the same time, judicious, and temperate enforcement of such measures, this House looks forward to a progressive improvement in the character of the slave population, such as may prepare them for a participation in those civil rights and privileges which are enjoyed by other classes of His Majesty's subjects.
Page 301 - Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore : let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them : ye shall not diminish aught thereof : for they be idle ; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein ; and let them not regard vain words.
Page 245 - What do you mean by shadow-catcher?' 'Him ha coffin, (a little coffin produced), him set for catch dem shadow.' 'What shadow do you mean?' 'When him set obeah for summary (somebody), him catch dem shadow, and dem go dead'; and too surely they were soon dead, when he pretended to have caught their shadows, by whatever means it was effected. Two other causes, besides the law, have contributed to make this now a crime of much less frequent occurrence, — the influence of Christianity, and the end put...
Page 261 - That this House is anxious for the accomplishment of this purpose, at the earliest period that shall be compatible with the well-being of the slaves themselves, with the safety of the colonies, and with a fair and equitable consideration of the interests of private property.
Page 244 - Obeah man occasioned by working on the imaginations of their superstitious countrymen, and by poison, certainly were not 'fanciful,' whatever their pretended supernatural powers might be. "I was present some years ago, at a trial of a notorious Obeah man, driver on an estate in the parish of St. David, who, by the overwhelming influence he had acquired over the minds of his deluded victims, and the more potent means he had at command to accomplish his ends, had done great injury among the slaves...
Page 260 - ... 2. That, through a determined and persevering, but judicious and temperate enforcement of such measures, this House looks forward to a progressive improvement in the character of the slave population ; such as may prepare them for a participation in those civil rights and privileges...

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