lest they should concert together as to the means of escape. The monk who is chief of this expedition distributes the young people among the Indians of his mission who have the most contributed to the success of the Entrados. On the Orinoco, and on the banks of the Portuguese Rio Negro, these prisoners bear the name of Poitos; and they are treated like slaves till they are of an age to marry. The desire of having Poitos and making them work for eight or ten years induces the Indians of the missions to excite the monks to these incursions, which the bishops have generally had the good sense to blame, as the means of attaching odium to religion and its ministers. In Mexico the prisoners taken in the petty warfare which is carried on almost without interruption on the frontiers of the provincias internas experience a much more unhappy fate than the Poitos. They are generally of the nation of the Mecos or Apaches, and they are dragged to Mexico, where they languish in the dungeons of a correction-house (la Cortada). Their ferocity is increased by solitude and despair. Transported to Vera Cruz and the island of Cuba, they soon perish, like every savage Indian removed from the high table-land into the lower, and consequently hotter regions. These Mecos prisoners sometimes break from their dungeos, and commit the most atrocious cruelties in the surrounding countries. It is high time that the government interested itself in these unfor.

tunate persons, whose number is small, and their situation so much the easier to be ameliorated.

It appears that at the commencement of the conquest there were a great number of these prisoners of war at Mexico, who were treated as the slaves of the conquerors. I found on this subject a very remarkable passage in the testament of Hernan Cortez, an historical monument worthy of being preserved from oblivion. This great captain, who, during the course of his victories, especially in his perfidious conduct towards the unfortunate Montezuma the Second, did not display much delicacy of consciencef, began towards

Testamento que otorgò el Excellentissimo Señor Don Hernan Cortez, Conquistador de la Nueva España hecho en Sevilla el 11 del mes de Octobre, 1547. The original of this very curious document, of which I caused a copy to be taken, exists in the archives of the house del Estado (of the Marquis del Valle) situated in the Plaza Mayor of Mexico. I found also in these archives a memoir drawn up by Cortez, shortly after the siege of Tenochtitlan, containing instructions relative to the making of roads, establishment of inns on the great roads, and other objects of general police.

+ Cortez, in his letters dated from la Ricca villa de Vera Cruz, describes the city of Tenochtitlan to the emperor Charles the Fifth as if he were speaking of the wonders of the capital of el Dorado. After transmitting to him all the information he could procure regarding the wealth "of the powerful Lord Montezuma," he assures his sovereign, that living or dead the Mexican king must fall into his hands. Certifique a Vuestra Alteza que lo habria preso o muerto o subdito a la Real Corona de Vuestra Magestad" (Lorenzana, p.

the end of his career to entertain scruples as to the legitimacy of the titles by which he possessed immense property in Mexico. He orders his son to make the most careful enquiries into the tributes levied by the Mexican lords who were proprietors of his marquisate before the arrival of the Spaniards at Vera Cruz; and he even wishes that the value of the tributes exacted in his name above the imposts formerly paid should be restored to the natives. Speaking of the slaves in the 39th and 41st articles of his testament, Cortez adds the following memorable words: "As it is doubtful if a christian can conscientiously employ as slaves Indians who have been made prisoners of war, and as this point has never been rightly cleared up till this day, I order my son, Don Martin, and those of his descendants who shall possess my property after me, to take every possible information as to the rights which may be legally exercised towards prisoners. The natives, who after paying me tribute have been forced to yield personal service, ought to be indemnified, if it shall be decided in the sequel that these personal services ought not to have been demanded." From whom should we have expected decisions on such problematical questions as these, except from a pope or a coun

39). We are to observe that this project was conceived while the Spanish general was yet on the coast, and had had no communication with the ambassadors of Montezuma.

cil? We must own that three centuries later, notwithstanding the civilization of a more enlightened age, the rich proprietors in America have less timorous consciences even on death-bed. In our days, it is not the devotees but the philosophers who call in question the justice of slavery! But the small influence which the empire of philosophy has always had induces us to believe that it would have been better for suffering humanity had this sort of scepticism still been preserved ámong believers*.

However, the slaves, who fortunately are in very small numbers in Mexico, are there, as in all the other Spanish possessions, somewhat more under the protection of the laws than the negros of the other European colonies. These laws are always interpreted in favour of liberty. The government wishes to see the number of freemen increased. A slave, who by his industry has procured a little money, may compel his master to give him his liberty on paying the moderate sum of 1500 or 2000 livrest. Liberty cannot be refused to a

* Had M. de Humboldt been acquainted with the history of the endeavours in this country to abolish the slave trade, he would have found that these endeavours were principally made by men whom he would call devotees, who acted under the influence of religious motives. The sect of quakers in particular, and this ought to cover a multitude of their absurdities, were always staunch enemies to slavery, Trans.

+621. or 831. sterling. Trans.

negro on the pretext that he cost the triple of the sum, or that he possesses a particular talent for some lucrative employment. A slave who has been cruelly used acquires on that account his freedom by the law, if the judge do justice to the cause of the oppressed; but it may be easily conceived that this beneficent law must be frequently eluded. I saw, however, even in Mexico, in the month of July, 1803, an example of two negros to whom the magistrate, who exercised the functions of alcalde de corte, gave their liberty, because their mistress, a lady from the islands, had wounded them all over the body with scissars, pins, and knives. In the course of this shocking process, the lady was accused of having, with a key, knocked out the teeth of the slaves when they complained of a fluxion in the gums, which prevented them from working. The Roman matrons were not more ingenious in their punishments. Barbarity is the same in all ages, when men can indulge their passions without restraint, and when governments tolerate an order of things contrary to the laws of nature, and, consequently, to the welfare of society.

We have enumerated the different races of men who, at present, constitute the population of New Spain. On glancing our eyes over the physical views or sections which we have drawn up of this country, we see that the greater part of a nation of six millions of inhabitants may be considered as