Slaves, Free Men, Citizens - CIFAS

68 Whites in a Slave kietyno other rights than those of duty, let him dread, while d wptically exercising thea rights, to disregard those of hi.yconsort; his example could be followed.It follows from their loving disposition, that the loss ofthe man to whom they were tied leads almost immediatelyto a new engagement. Hence, we can apply to them whatM. Thibault de Chanvallon has said about hole womenof another colony: "There is no widow who, despite heraffection for her children, does not soon erase by a newmamage the name and memory of the man whom sheseemed to love so desperately." Perhaps there is no othercountry where sewnd mamaga are as common as in Saint-Domingue, and women are to be seen there who have hadseven husbands.The Ckeole woman's attachment is mixed with jealousy,and in spite of her indifference toward a husband who ishers by convention alone, she cannot forgive his unfaithfulness.She becomes furiously angry at everything she canpossibly suspect. Jealousy [which afEicts the Universe] haskilled Creole women who could not bear inconstancy in themen they doted upon. They are even capable of priferringthe death of the beloved to his love; so much does this detestablepassion distort everything, even the very sentimentfrom which it springs!Frenetic dancing is so attractive to Creole women thatthey surrender to it entirely, despite the heat and their weakconstitutions. This exercise seems to brighten their existence,and they know only too well what new charms it ad&to an expressive face and to a graceful figure, no that they8cek it ardently. It makes them forget the languidna they8eem to cherish. l%ey can even be heard beaLg time withstrict precision, but without sWess. Fiially, such is thestate of trance into which dancing throw8 them that a foreign spectator would think that this pleasure utterly dominatestheir sods. Moreover, in seeing at a ball that the departureof a few women becomes a signal for the othersto stop dancing, one could imagine that, forming only a singIefamily, they enpy this entertainment only to the extentthey all share it. How lamentable that thh impulse of apparent &&ion requires a new ball to reappear1h l e women love to sing. Their soft voicea arc admirablysuited to light and tender tuna; but the nentimental balladpleasea them most. It8 plaintive tones seem made toencourage beir languid disposition and they accentuatethem with a sincerity that seduces the heart after havingcharmed the ear.Solitude is very pleasing to Creole women, who williiglylive alone, even in the middle of the city. It gives them anexpression of timidity which d m not leave them when inwmpany, where they eabit few charms, unless they havelearned in France to appreciate an amiabiity which theyknow how to render &ecting.Creole women are very temperak. Chocolate, ca~dies,especially wffee with milk: that is their nourisbment. Buta taste that seems stronger than their will still inducea themto refuse healthy foods and to prefer salted meat imprkdfrom Europe, together with the local dishes, prepared ina biie fashion and known by even more V i e names.Fresh water is their usual beverage, but they sometima prefera lemonade made of sugar syrup and lemon juice.Creole women eat hardly at all ddng meals, but innatelywhenever they feel like it, giving way to the mostdepraved appeti-.Protracted sleep, the inactivity in which they live, allmanner of lapses from the regular regime, ill-choaen food,intense passions almost always in play; such am the wamccaof the evils that menace Creole women, and the reasonstheir charms witber so quickly. Radiant like 50wem, theyalso last only 8s long.Another caw of the rapidity with which Creole womenbbbhummpl-andWuWthhthewnicioucustom of m g them before nature has completedtheir growth. Mothera before they have become maturewomen, they give life only by shortening their own.Generally fertile, sustaining pregnancy without disease andchildbii without accident, they deceive themlvea about