s, I
must explain to you that the coloured population are composed of various
African tribes, and each tribe keeps comparatively separate from the
others; they then form a kind of club among their own tribe, for the
purpose of purchasing the freedom of some of their enslaved brethren,
who, I believe, receive assistance in proportion as they contribute to
the funds, and bear such a character as shall interpose no obstacle to
their ransom being permitted. A portion of their funds is frequently
employed in the purchase of lottery-tickets, and a deep spirit of
gambling is the natural consequence; for though the stake entered is
dollars, the prize, if won, is freedom. These lotteries date back to
1812; and if they have always been kept up as before explained, they
must have contributed something like ten millions sterling to the
Government during their forty years' working.

A friend told me of a shameful instance of injustice connected with
these lotteries. A poor slave who had saved enough money to buy a
ticket, did so; and, drawing a small prize, immediately went off to his
master, and presented it to him as a part of his redemption-money. The
master having ascertained how he obtained it, explained to him that, as
a slave, he could not hold property; he then quietly pocketed it, and
sent poor Sambo about his business. What a beautiful commentary this is
on the law respecting Coartados, which I inserted a few pages back. I
must, however, remark that, from the inquiries I made, and from my own
observations of their countenances and amusements, the impression left
on my mind is, that the slaves are quite as happy here as in the United
States; the only disadvantage that they labour under being, that the
sugar harvest and manufacture last much longer in Cuba, and the labour
thereof is by far the hardest drain upon the endurance of the slave. The
free negroes I consider fully as well off as those in the Southern
States, and immeasurably more comfortable than those who are domiciled
in the Northern or Free States of the Union. The number of free negroes
in Cuba amounts to one-fourth of the whole coloured population, while in
the United States it only amounts to one-ninth--proving the great
facilities for obtaining freedom which the island offers, or the higher
cultivation of the negro, which makes him strive for it more
laboriously. I will not attempt to draw any comparison between the
scenes of horror with which, doubtless, bot