OCR Text |
Show 128 O N THE SLAVERY A ND C oMMERC>: C H A P. II. T he foregoing fcen e, though it may be faid to be imag inary, is firittly conlifient with fact . It is a fcene, to which the reader himfelf may have been witnefs, if he has ever vifited the place, where it is fuppofed to lie; as no ci rcumfiance whatever has been inf.:rted in it, for which the f ullefi and molt undeni able evidence cannot be produced. We !hall proceed now to defcribe, in general terms, the treatment which the wretched Africans undergo, from the time of their embarkation . When the African fiave s, who arc collected from various quarters, for the purpofes of fal e, are delivered over to the receivers, they are conducted in the manner above defcribed to the fhip s. Their lituation on board is beyond all defcri ption : for here they are crouded, hundreds of them together, into fuch a fmall compafs, as would fcarcely be thought fufficient to accommodate twenty, if conlidered as free men. This confinement foon produces an effect, that may oF THE HuMAN SPECIES . 129 may be eafily imag ined. It generates a pefi ilenti al air, which, co-operating with bad provifions, occafions fuch a licknefs and mor tality among them, that not lefs th an * t"venty thouflmd are generally taken off in every yearly tran fpot tation. Thus confin ed in a pefii len tial prifon, and almofi entirely excluded from the chearf ul face of day, it remains for the fi ckly furvivors to lin ger out a mife rable exifie ncc, till the voyage is fi ni(hcd. But are no farther evils to be expected in the interim particul arly if we ad d to their already wretched fitu ation the ind ignities that are daily offe red them, and the regret which · they mufi confiantly feel, at being for ever forced from their con nexions ? Thefe evils are but too apparent. Some of them have refolved, and, notwithfianding the threats • It is univcrfally allowed, th:l.t at Je:dl one fifth of the exported negroes pcri fh in the paff.'Lgc. This cftima tc is made from the time in which they arc put on board, to the time when they arc difpofcd of in the colonies. The French :ue fuppofed to lofe the grcatc fl: number in the voyage, but particularly from th is circumftancc, becaufe their llave fl1ips are in general fo very large, that many of the flaves that have been put on board fick ly, die before the cargo can be completed. I of |