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Show 132 ON THE SLAvERY ANu CoMMERcr. them being thrown into the fea, becaufe it was fuppofcd that, by this trick, their value could be recovered from the infurers. But if the {hip ihould arrive fafe at its deil:ined port, a circumil:ance which does not always happen, (for fame have been blown up, and many loll:) the wretched Africans do not find an alleviation of their farrow. Here they are again expo fed to £1lc. Here they are again fuhjected to the infpection of other brutal recei'Uers, who examine and treat them with an inhumanity, at which even avarice Qwuld blua1. To this mortifying circumil:ance is added another, that they arc picked out, as the purchafer pleafes, without any confideratio11 whether the wife is feparated from her hulband, or the mother from her fan : and if thefe cruel inil:ances of feparation a1ould happen; if relations, when they find themfelves about to be parted, ihould cling together; or if filial, conjugal, or parental affection, Qwuld detain them but a moment longer in each other's arms, than thefe ficond receivers fuould think fufficient, the laQl infiantly fevers them from their embraces. We OF TilE HuMAN SPECIES. 133 We cannot clofe our account of the treatment which the wretched Africans undergo wi1ilc in the hands of the .firfl 1-eceivers, without mentioning an infiance of wanton barbaritv, which happened fame time ago; particularly as it may be infcrted with propriety in the prefent place, and may give the reader a better idea of the cruelties, to which they are continually expofed, than any that he may have yet conceived. To avoid making a miil:akc, we Qn ll take the l iberty that has been allowed us, and tran fcribe it from a li ttle manufc ript account, with which we have been favoured by a * perfon of the firicteil: integrity, and who was at that t ime in the place where the tranfaction happened. " Not long " after," fays he, (continuing his account) • This gentleman i• at prcfcnt refidcnt in England. The author of this Efl'ay applied to him for fame information on the trc:~.tmcnt of ll ;~.vcs , fa far as his own knowledge was concerned. He was fo obliging as to furnilll him with the written account alluded tO, intcrfperfed only with fuch infiances, as he himfclf could undertake to anfwer for. The author~ as he has never met with thcfe in fiances before, and as they are of fuch high authority, intends to tranfcribc two or three of them, and infcrt them in the fourth chapter. They will be found in inverted commas. I 3 " the |