The character and capacity of the negro vary very much in the different nations. Those from the northern parts of Africa are by far the finest races. The slaves of Bahia are more difficult to manage than those of any other part of Brazil, and more frequent attempts at revolt have taken place there than elsewhere. The cause of this is obvious. Nearly the whole of the slave population of that place is from the Gold Coast. Both the men and the women are not only taller and more handsomely formed than those from Mozambique, Benguela, and the other parts of Africa, but have a much greater share of mental energy, arising, perhaps, from their near relationship to the Moor and the Arab. Among them there are many who both read and write Arabic. They are more united among themselves than the other nations, and hence are less liable to have their secrets divulged when they aim at a revolt. To sum up these observations, I have had ample opportunity, since I left South America, for contrasting the condition of the slave of that country with that of the coolie in the Mauritius and in India, but more particularly in Ceylon; and were I asked to which I would give the preference, I should certainly decide in favour of the former, although, at the same time I could not but exclaim with Sterne, “still, Slavery! still thou art a bitter draught!” A general rise of the black population is much dreaded in Brazil, which is not unreasonable, when the great proportion it bears to the white is taken into consideration. Were they all united by one common sympathy, this would have happened long ago, but the hostile prejudices existing among the different races of Africans, have hitherto prevented it. In the northern and interior provinces, considerable encouragement to their insubordination has been offered, by the general feeling that animates a large proportion of the free class, who are mostly of mixed blood, and who desire to throw off the yoke of monarchy and replace it by a republican form of government, a feeling which I know to be general, not only among the lower orders, but among the magistrates, priests, officers in the army, and owners of landed property, and hence I believe the time is not far distant, when Brazil will share the fate of the other South American states. In such an event the white population will be sure to suffer from the savage rapacity of the mixed races, especially those who have African blood in them: for it is to be remarked, that the worst of criminals spring from this class, who inherit in some degree the superior intellect of the white, while they retain much of the cunning and ferocity of the black; they are mostly free, and bear no good will towards the whites, who form the smaller part of the entire population. It should be observed, however, that in the class of wealthier landed proprietors and commercial men, who have received the benefits of a more liberal education, especially those nearer the capital, and