The weekly ration for a slave of ten years old and upwards consists of
five Paris pints of manioc meal, or three cassava loaves, each weighing
two and a half pounds, with two pounds of salt beef, or three of fish,
or other things in proportion, but never any tafia[P] in the place of a
ration; and no master can avoid giving a slave his ration by offering
him a day for his own labor. Weaned children to the age of ten are
entitled to half the above ration. Each slave must also have two suits
of clothes yearly, or cloth in proportion.
[Footnote P: A coarse rum distilled from the sugar-cane.]
Slaves who are not properly nourished and clothed by their masters can
lodge a complaint against them. If it be well-founded, the masters can
be prosecuted without cost to the slave.
Slaves who are old, infirm, diseased, whether incurable or not, must be
supported. If they are abandoned by masters, they are to be sent to the
hospital, and the masters must pay six sols daily for their support.
A slave's testimony can be received as a statement to serve the courts
in procuring light elsewhere; but no judge can draw presumption,
conjecture, or proof therefrom.
The slave who strikes his master or mistress, or their children, so as
to draw blood, or in the face, may be punished even with death; and all
excesses or offences committed by slaves against free persons shall be
severely punished, even with death, if the case shall warrant.
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