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Show 122 ON THE SLAVERY AND COMMERCE " way. They fpeak a language, which no " perfon in this part of Africa can under- !l:and, and their features, as you perceive, " are fo different from thofe of the rel1, that " they almo!l: appear a di!l:inct race of men. From this circumfiance I recollect them. They are the fubjects of a very di!l:ant prince, who agreed with the jl~ve merchants, for a quantity if jpi1·ituous liquors, to furniil1 him with a !l:ipulated number " of Oaves. He accordingly furrounded, and fet fire to one of his own villages in the night, and feized thefe people, who were unfortunately the inhabitants, as they were efcaping from the flames. I fir!l: faw them as the merchants were driving them in, about two days ago. They came in a large body, and were tied together at the neck with leather thongs, which permitted them to walk at the di!l:ance of about a yard from one another. Many of them were loaden with elephants teeth, which had been purchafed at the fame time. All of them had bags, made of ikin, upon their ilioulders; for as they " were to travel, in their way from the " great oF Tlt'E HuMAN SPECIES. 123 great mountains, through barren fands and inhofpitable woods for many days together, they were obliged to carry water and provifions with them. Notwith! l:anding this, many of them periil1ed, fome by hunger, but the greate!l: number by fatigue, as the place from whence they came, is at fuch an amazing difiance from this, and the obfl:acles, from the nature of the country, fo great, that the journey could fcarcely be completed in feven moons." When this relation was finilhed, and we had been looking !l:edfa!l:ly for fome time • on the croud that was going by, we lofl: fight of that peculiarity of feature, which we had before remarked. We then difcovered that the inhabitants of the depopulated village had all of them paired us, and that the part of the train, to which we were now oppofite, was a numerous body of kidnapped people. Here we indulged our imagination. We thought we beheld in one of them a father, in another an hufband, and in another a fon , each of whom was forced from his various and tender con-nections, |