There are men who profess to be catchers of runaway negroes, and frequently detain and ill use them when they are proceeding upon their employment, keep them confined during a night, conduct them home tied with ropes, and pretend they have detected them running away, for which they demand certain charges and a recompense. I was present when two of those fellows brought a poor negro girl whom they had detained, and it was proved that they stopped her when she was really in pursuit of her occupation. They failed in receiving the recompense they so basely sought, but they ought to have been made a severe example of. It is painful to observe, that if a negro is stopped, or forced away, or in any manner ill-treated, nobody takes his part or believes his story. A great many persons live entirely in idleness, upon the earnings of one, two, or three slaves, who are denominated “_negros de ganho_,” and stroll about the streets for employment: they are distinguished by a large basket which they carry; others of both sexes are employed in carrying water in tubs, from the fountains, for the supply of the inhabitants; the fountains are crowded all day, and are attended by a couple of soldiers to preserve order. The streets after dark are most offensively filled with negroes, carrying tubs of soil to empty at the beach, a water-closet, or privy, not being known in this city. If these negroes do not bring a certain sum of money to their owners at night, the penalty is generally a severe castigation. Many of the negro slaves are remarkably well formed, particularly some of those who labour at the custom-house, and exhibit much muscular strength about their whole frames, combined with such symmetry of form, that the lineaments and swelling muscles of their naked bodies reminded me of some fine antique models. They wear cotton trowsers, the rest of the body being exposed. The principal part of the importations are removed from the custom-house by them, and their dreadful shoutings and yellings, as a stimulus under their burdens, resound through the streets and suburbs all day. Few waggons are used, and those of a rude construction; the axle-trees, revolving with the wheels, produce a loud and discordant noise.