r backward to work they
are whipped, but if they work hard they are well used and treated without
any mark of reproach; only the lists of them are called always at night,
and then they are shut up. They suffer no other uneasiness but this of
constant labour; for, as they work for the public, so they are well
entertained out of the public stock, which is done differently in
different places: in some places whatever is bestowed on them is raised
by a charitable contribution; and, though this way may seem uncertain,
yet so merciful are the inclinations of that people, that they are
plentifully supplied by it; but in other places public revenues are set
aside for them, or there is a constant tax or poll-money raised for their
maintenance. In some places they are set to no public work, but every
private man that has occasion to hire workmen goes to the market-places
and hires them of the public, a little lower than he would do a freeman.
If they go lazily about their task he may quicken them with the whip. By
this means there is always some piece of work or other to be done by
them; and, besides their livelihood, they earn somewhat still to the
public. They all wear a peculiar habit, of one certain colour, and their
hair is cropped a little above their ears, and a piece of one of their
ears is cut off. Their friends are allowed to give them either meat,
drink, or clothes, so they are of their proper colour; but it is death,
both to the giver and taker, if they give them money; nor is it less
penal for any freeman to take money from them upon any account
whatsoever: and it is also death for any of these slaves (so they are
called) to handle arms. Those of every division of the country are
distinguished by a peculiar mark, which it is capital for them to lay
aside, to go out of their bounds, or to talk with a slave of another
jurisdiction, and the very attempt of an escape is no less penal than an
escape itself. It is death for any other slave to be accessory to it;
and if a freeman engages in it he is condemned to slavery. Those that
discover it are rewarded--if freemen, in money; and if slaves, with
liberty, together with a pardon for being accessory to it; that so they
might find their account rather in repenting of their engaging in such a
design than in persisting in it.

"These are their laws and rules in relation to robbery, and it is obvious
that they are as advantageous as they are mild and gentle; since vice i