According to Mawe, Mandango was the "greatest of the diamond works," and employed "about a thousand negroes." (p. 219) Here, under the supervision of four overseers, numerous slaves work one next to another in a long line. Each slave is bent deep over his individual trough, and rakes through sediment in search of diamonds. As Mawe explained,"there is no particular regulation respecting the dress of the negroes: they work in the clothes most suitable to the nature of their employment, generally in a waistcoast and a pair of drawers, . . . . While washing they change their posture as often as they please, which is very necessary, as the work requires them to place their feet on the edges of the trough, and to stoop considerably." (p. 225), Frontispiece for John Mawe's Travels in the Interior of Brazil (London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster-Row, 1812)., Engraving is probably the work of J.G. Warnicke who completed another large plate showing a mining scene set in the bed of the River Jigitonhonha (p. 220)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Work Scenes.
Date
[1812]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1812 Mawe 1555.Q frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2719
Engraving accompanies Section VII. (Bahia de Todos los Sanctos), in which Montanus describes sugar-cane planting and sugar-making in Brazil. Scene features a hydo-powered sugar-mill, which, as Montanus explains, "consist[s] of three great Iron Bars, between which the Canes are squeez'd." Here, under the inspection of two European planters, several slaves feed stalks of sugar cane into the mill. The extracted juice (which Montanus calls Caldo) runs through a gutter into a keetle, where it is boiled. Afterwards, the sugary syrup is boiled a second and third time until nears the consistency of sugar. As Montanus noted, the "dross which remains" is given to the slaves, "which work for half a year together Night and Day like Horses." (p. 504), Illustration Arnoldus Montanus's America: Being the Latest, and Most Accurate Description of the New World; Containing the Original of the Inhabitants, and the Remarkable Voyages Thither. . . (London: Printed by the author [i.e. translator], and are to be had at his house in White Fryers, M.DC.LXXI. (1671)], p. 504., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Works Scenes.
Date
[1671]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1671 Mon 15.F p 504, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2660
