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Show 206 <.:UllA· The following day, Fourth month (April) lOth, was one of memorable but painful interest. We were engaged to breaktitst with the British consul; but, before going to his house, we availed ourselves of the cool air of the early morning, in order to visit "El jardin del Obispo"-the villa and gardens of the late archbishop-which are quite as worthy of inspection as those of the Governor Tacon. The objects which chiefly attracted us there, were the shady avenues of mango trees, a living alligator kept in a small reservoir, and the greater rarity, in a tropical climate, of a cold stream of clear water, in which it was a luxury to bathe. At the Consul's we met Capt. Hawkins, of the Romney man-of-war, which is stationed in the port of Havana, for the reception of the Africans who may be taken out of slave-ships condemned by the Court of Mixed Commission. As the slave trade of Cuba is now rarely carried on under Spanish colors, neither the judges of that court, nor our friend Capt. Hawkins, have much if any business; but they are useful, nevertheless, as watchers of the iniquities of Cuba. After breakfast we accompanied Capt. Hawkins, and one of his friends, to his house on the waters, and were well satisfied with the ample accommodations which it is calculated to afford the rescued Africans, whenever such an asylum may be required. The captain and his friend are deeply and honestly inter· ested in the cause of freedom-no frequent virtue, and no slight praise, in any one who even sojourns at Ha· van a! After we had examined the ship, he conveyed CUBA. 207 us in. his boat, o. n a . cruise. about the h arb or, 1· n order to gtve us a qu~et vtew of the slavers. Five of them were _then stattoned there, in the open face of day, noto.n ously. fitted u.p for the traffic • and re ac1 y t o sr ·t p off for Afnca, for fresh supplies of bultos (bales-so the slave merchants call the negroes) so soon as a d~rk or ston~y night s~~uld afford them an opportunity of escapmg the vtgtlance of the British cruiser Snake, then in port at Havana. They consisted of two brigs, one of which had already landed three hundred and fifty slaves, the Socorro ship built for one thousand; the Grandes Antillas, for twelve hundred; and lastly, the notorious Venus, now called La Ducheza de Braganza, Baltimore-built, which had taken in eleven hundred slaves on the coast of Africa, and, after losing two hundred and forty in the middle passage, had landed eight hundred and sixty in Cuba. We understood that the three larger of these vessels were intended for Mozambique, on the eastern coast of Africa-a voyage of great length, for which their size peculiarly adapts them. They are fitted up with guns, and, like the brigs or schooners, are constructed with consummate art for the purpose of swift sailing. They are utterly unsuitable for a legitimate commerce. The painful compression of the wretched negroes, in the holds of these vessels, during their voyage across th~ Atlantic, is too horrible to be described. Surely thts traffic is the most odious wickedness that ever disgraced or afflicted mankind! On om return to the shore, Captain Hawkins con-ducted us to the offi ce o f t h e B n·t t·s 1 1 commt·s s·t oner Kennedy, with whom, together with his secretary, w |