amine horses. In some of the
slave states the law prohibits the separation of families, but this
prohibition is little attended to, as the slave has no possibility of
coming in contact with any dispensers of justice but the magistrates of
the state, who, being slave-holders themselves, instead of redressing his
grievances, would be more likely to order him a lashing, for presuming to
complain. Many melancholy instances occur here, which clearly illustrate
the evils of slavery and its demoralizing influence on the human
character. The arguments against slavery are deduced from self-evident
propositions, and must carry conviction to every well organized mind; yet
from their application being of too general a character, they seldom
interest the feelings, and in the end leave less impression than the
simple statement of a particular occurrence. During my stay, a Doctor
---- came down the river with thirty slaves, among which were an old negro
and negress, each between sixty and seventy years of age; this unfortunate
old woman had borne twenty-one children, all of whom had been at different
times sold in the Orleans market, and carried into other states, and into
distant parts of Louisiana. The Doctor said, in order to induce her to
leave home quietly, that he was bringing her into Louisiana for the
purpose of placing her with some of her children--"and now," says the old
negress, "aldo I suckle my massa at dis breast, yet now he sell me to
sugar planter, after he sell all my children away from me." This gentleman
was a strict Methodist, or "saint," and is, I was informed, much esteemed
by the preachers of that persuasion, because of his liberal contributions
to their support.

Negresses, when young and likely, are often employed as wet nurses by
white people, as also by either the planter or his friends, to administer
to their sensual desires--this frequently as a matter of speculation, for
if the offspring, a mulatto, be a handsome female, from 800 to 1000
dollars may be obtained for her in the Orleans market.[11] It is an
occurrence of no uncommon nature to see the Christian father sell his own
daughter, and the brother his own sister, by the same father. Slaves do
not marry, but pair at discretion; and the more children they produce, the
better for their masters.

On the Levee at New Orleans, are constantly exhibited specimens of the
white man's humanity, in the persons of runaway slaves. When such an
unfortunate negro