( 30 )
further cultivation, and throw themſelves back upon the indulgence of the maſter, who refers them to the overſeer, and the overſeer perhaps to puniſhment. There is no doubt that many negroes, even upon properties that are abundant in proviſions, abſolutely die, or contract incurable complaints from a want of food; and here it is in vain for the doctor to preſcribe; for his ſkill cannot, although his remonſtrances might, if attended to, have helped to avert the horrors of want. I am ſorry to obſerve, that much reform is wanting, where one ſhould hope that fellow-feeling would rather anticipate, than wait for the ſlow progreſs of thoſe complaints, which cannot fail to bring the unhappy ſufferer to an early grave. It is melancholy to ſee the more than brutal inſenſibility with which the patient negroes are often times in ſickneſs treated—it is more inexcuſable, as their ſilence and reſignation under, and the fortitude with which they bear the moſt excruciating bodily ſufferings, and profeſſional pain, would paſs among divines for a chriſtian obedience to what they feel; and among zealots entitle them to the appellation of
