ealthy men. I knew one
instance in which a housekeeper by perseverance reduced his market-bill
from 150 dollars per month to 45 dollars; but the consequence was, that
his servants to a man left him: he could obtain no good ones in their
place, and was ultimately obliged to give in. As a set-off against this
crying evil, I may mention the practice which prevails, of the
_compradore_ (or head servant) becoming security for those under him,
and finding security on his own part to a certain amount, varying
according to circumstances; so that, if any of the under-servants steal
the plate or any other property of their master's, the _compradore_, as
a matter of course, makes good its value. The Negroes here, as in most
other parts of the world where they are met with, are slaves, poorly
fed, hard worked, and occasionally very severely flogged. Every house in
Macao occupied by a man of any substance, has its slaves; and the
Government is a large slave-holder. All the porters at the Custom-house
and other public offices are slaves. These unfortunate creatures are
brought from Papua by Portuguese vessels, which pay an annual visit to
the settlements of their countrymen on the Island of Timor. How they are
obtained from Papua, I am not aware; but that some hundreds of them are
carried to Macao every season, and sold there, is a fact beyond
contradiction. This abominable traffic received a check last season
(1843) from the Java Government. It appears that a Portuguese barque
called the _Margaretta_, the owner of which was a wealthy inhabitant of
Macao, sailed from Timor for Macao in the month of September, with some
fifty slaves on board, _all children under ten years of age_. Some
accident compelled her to call at Batavia for repairs, where her master
reported the children as having been sent by the authorities at Timor to
Macao, to be brought up in the Roman-Catholic faith. The suspicions of
the Dutch Authorities were, however, awakened, and the proceedings of
the Portuguese ship-master were narrowly watched. A few days only had
elapsed, when he was detected in endeavouring to sell two of the
unfortunate infants to a Chinese for 500 guilders (42l.) each. This led
to the examination of his bills of lading and other papers, when it was
found, that the children had been regularly shipped and _manifested_ as
slaves. The result was, the confiscation of ship and cargo, and the
liberation of the young captives, who, I presume, (though I