OCR Text |
Show 208 CUBA. enjoyed the prt.v.l 1 e ge o f.,, full and in.t eresting. c. onv. e.r - satw. n. He I.S we ll m. formed respectmg the 1mqmt1es w' hich are practl.s ec1 a t Ha' vana. , and gave us. a sad ac. count both o f t h e sI av e trade of Cuba, and of. 1ts slavery. The comrm· ss·w ner re ckons the . num.b er of .s .l avrs. .a n- nually 1.1 nportec1 m· t o Cuba (chJCfly m the unmedmte nel.o -bbm· I woeI o f Havana) at twenty-five thousand. On" f.a rt Il er m· qu1· r),, however ' I found they are often landed m· crce k s 'a nd bays ' both. o.n the northrrn. an'd southern coas t s, out of the lumts of . om fr1end .s observati.O n; anc1 there is reason to beheve that lJJS est1· m ate J·S vas tly below the mark. I am very m.u ch m1.s tak. en, 1'f the rapid increase of the slave populatJOn, (notw1·t 1lS t amJ I' ng the notorious excess o. f deaths. over births) does not prove that the annual ImportatiOn of negroes I· n t o Cub.a, has risen to at least double the number mentioned by the commissioner .I The profits f I t de are from one hundred to two hundred 0 t 1e ra L • per. cent .,. and if only one third of the negroeCs recCJverl 1 on t l le Afn .c..t n coa·s t are brought safely to uba,. t Je specn Ia tw. n an s" •ers · Hence. it follows, that nCJ.t h.c r the risks which they run of capture by t~w BntJsh crm.s e rs , nor the deaths of a large proportion of the negroes on the voyage, are circumstances of a~y great importance to the slave-merchant-they reqmre only an insurance. · h Heckless of every consideration connected eJt er with honesty or humanity, the captains of these slavers often make piratical attacks on each other. I saw a letter from one of t h em, d escn'b 'm g to the slave ' See Sir T. F. Buxton's Letter on tlu.s subj. ect, ad d res sed lo David Turnbull. CUBA. 209 trading house in Cuba, by which he was employed; his having been forcibly robbed of all his bultos (bales); and of his having replenished his vessel, by committing, in his turn, a similar depredation. But the whole affair is one of robbery and murder. Of one feature in the slave trade and slavery of Cuba, I had no knowledge until I was on the spot. The importation consists almost entirely of men, and we were informed that on many of the estates, not a single female is to be found. Natural increase is disregarded. The Cubans import the stronger animals, like bullocks, work them up, and then seek a fresh supply. This surely is a system of most unnatural barbarity. In the afternoon, after an early dinner at the Consul's, we sallied forth on an excursion of rather a delicate nature; it was to visit the barracoons-receptaclcs where the newly imported Africans are stowed, and oft'ered for sale. Our two young friends went in one direction; M. Day and myself, under the guidance of a young Gucrnseyman, in another. He and I visited three out of six of these establishments, all of them being within two miles of the city. They have been built, and are conducted, on private speculation, and although the whole business is utterly illrgal, their proprietors set at defianee all notions of shame, or of concealment from the eye of Government. We were not very successful in our attempt. The first barracoon at which we called was empty, and after walking over it, we had only to acknowledge that it was commodious and airy-for these places, for filthy lucre's sake, arc intended to be curative of the eftccts of the middle passage. At the second, the p |