AN
ACCOUNT
OF THE
SLAVE TRADE
ON THE
COAST OF AFRICA.
BY
ALEXANDER FALCONBRIDGE,
LATE SURGEON IN THE AFRICAN TRADE.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY J. PHILLIPS, GEORGE YARD, LOMBARD-STREET.
MDCCLXXXVIII.
PREFACE.
The following sheets are intended to lay before the public the present
state of a branch of the British commerce, which, ever since its
existence, has been held in detestation by all good men, but at this
time more particularly engages the attention of the nation, and is
become the object of general reprobation.
Leaving to abler pens to expatiate more at large on the injustice and
inhumanity of the _Slave Trade_, I shall content myself with
giving some account of the hardships which the unhappy objects of it
undergo, and the cruelties they suffer, from the period of their being
reduced to a state of slavery, to their being disposed of in the West
India islands; where, I fear, their grievances find little alleviation.
At the same time, I shall treat of a subject, which appears not to have
been attended to in the manner its importance requires; that is, the
sufferings and loss of the seamen employed in this trade; which, from
the intemperature of the climate, the inconveniencies they labour under
during the voyage, and the severity of most of the commanders, occasion
the destruction of great numbers annually.
And this I shall endeavour to do by the recital of a number of facts
which have fallen under my own immediate observation, or the knowledge
of which I have obtained from persons on whose veracity I can depend.
And happy shall I esteem myself, if an experience obtained by a series
of inquiries and observations, made during several voyages to the
coast of Africa, shall enable me to render any service to a cause,
which is become the cause of every person of humanity.
Before I proceed to the methods of obtaining the slaves, and their
subsequent treatment, the treatment of the sailors, and a concise
account of the places on the coast of Africa where slaves are obtained,
(which I purpose to annex,) it may not be unnecessary to give a short
sketch of the usual proceedings of the ships employed in the slave
trade.
AN
ACCOUNT
OF THE
SLAVE TRADE, &c.
Proceedings during the Voyage.
On the arrival of the ships at Bonny, and New Calabar, it is customary
for them to unbend the sails, strike the yards and topmasts, and begin
to build what they denominate _a house_. This is effected in the
following manner. The sailors first lash the booms and yards from mast
to mast, in order to form a _ridge-pole_. About ten feet above the
deck, several spars, equal in length to the ridge pole, are next lashed
to the standing rigging, and form a wall-plate. Across the ridge-pole
and wall-plate, several other spars or rafters are afterwards laid
and lashed, at the distance of about six inches from each other. On
these, other rafters or spars are laid length-wise, equal in extent
to the ridge-pole, so as to form a kind of lattice or net-work, with
interfaces of six inches square. The roof is then covered with mats,
made of rushes of very loose texture, fastened together with rope-yarn,
and so placed, as to lap over each other like tiles. The space between
the deck and the wall-plate, is likewise enclosed with a kind of
lattice, or net-work, formed of sticks, lashed across each other, and
leaving vacancies of about four inches square. Near the main-mast, a
partition is constructed of inch deal boards, which reaches athwart the
ship. This division is called a _barricado_. It is about eight
feet in height, and is made to project near two feet over the sides of
the ship. In this barricado there is a door, at which a centinel is
placed during the time the negroes are permitted to come upon deck. It
serves to keep the different sexes apart; and as there are small holes
in it, wherein blunderbusses are fixed, and sometimes a cannon, it
is found very convenient for quelling the insurrections that now and
then happen. Another door is made in the lattice or net-work at the
ladder, by which you enter the ship. This door is guarded by a centinel
during the day, and is locked at night. At the head of the ship there
is a third door, for the use of the sailors, which is secured in the
same manner as that at the gangway. There is also in the roof a large
trap-door, through which the goods intended for barter, the water
casks, &c. are hoisted out or in.
The design of this house is to secure those on board from the heat of
the sun, which in this latitude is intense, and from the wind and rain,
which at particular seasons, are likewise extremely violent. It answers
these purposes however but very ineffectually. The slight texture of
the mats admits both the wind and the rain, whenever it happens to be
violent, though at the same time, it increases the heat of the ship
to a very pernicious degree, especially between decks. The increased
warmth occasioned by this means, together with the smoke produced
from the green mangrove, (the usual firewood) which, for want of a
current of air to carry it off, collects itself in large quantities,
and infests every part of the ship, render a vessel during its stay
here very unhealthy. The smoke also, by its acrimonious quality, often
produces inflammations in the eyes, which terminates sometimes in the
loss of sight.
Another purpose for which these temporary houses are erected, is, in
order to prevent the purchased negroes from leaping overboard. This,
the horrors of their situation frequently impel them to attempt; and
they now and then effect it, notwithstanding all the precautions that
are taken, by forcing their way through the lattice work.
The slave ships generally lie near a mile below the town, in Bonny
River, in seven or eight fathom water. Sometimes fifteen sail, English
and French, but chiefly the former, meet here together. Soon after they
cast anchor, the captains go on shore, to make known their arrival,
and to inquire into the state of the trade. They likewise invite the
kings of Bonny to come on board, to whom, previous to breaking bulk,
they usually make presents (in that country termed _dashes_)
which generally consist of pieces of cloth, cotton, chintz, silk
handkerchiefs, and other India goods, and sometimes of brandy, wine, or
beer.
When I was at Bonny a few years ago, it was the residence of two kings,
whose names were _Norfolk_ and _Peppel_. The houses of these
princes were not distinguished from the cottages or huts of which the
town consists, in any other manner, than by being of somewhat larger
dimensions, and surrounded with warehouses containing European goods,
designed for the purchase of slaves. These slaves, which the kings
procure in the same manner as the black traders do theirs, are sold by
them to the ships. And for every negroe sold there by the traders, the
kings receive a duty, which amounts to a considerable sum in the course
of a year. This duty is collected by officers, stationed on board the
ships, who are termed _officer boys_; a denomination which it is
thought they received from the English.
The kings of Bonny are absolute, though elective. They are assisted
in the government by a small number of persons of a certain rank, who
stile themselves _parliament gentlemen_; an office which they
generally hold for life. Every ship, on its arrival, is expected to
send a present to these gentlemen, of a small quantity of bread and
beef, and likewise to treat them as often as they come on board. When
they do this, their approach to the ship is announced by blowing
through a hollow elephant’s tooth, which produces a sound resembling
that of a post-horn.
After the kings have been on board, and have received the usual
presents, permission is granted by them, for trafficking with any of
the black traders. When the royal guests return from the ships, they
are saluted by the guns.
From the time of the arrival of the ships to their departure, which
is usually near three months, scarce a day passes without some
negroes being purchased, and carried on board; sometimes in small,
and sometimes in larger numbers. The whole number taken on board,
depends, in a great measure, on circumstances. In a voyage I once made,
our stock of merchandize was exhausted in the purchase of about 380
negroes, which was expected to have procured 500. The number of English
and French ships then at Bonny, had so far raised the price of negroes,
as to occasion this difference.
The reverse (and a _happy_ reverse I think I may call it) was
known during the late war. When I was last at Bonny, I frequently
made inquiries on this head, of one of the black traders, whose
intelligence I believe I can depend upon. He informed me that only one
ship had been there for three years during that period; and that was
the _Moseley-Hill_, Captain Ewing, from Liverpool, who made an
extraordinary purchase, as he found negroes remarkably cheap from the
dulness of trade. Upon further inquiring of my black acquaintance, what
was the consequence of this decay of their trade, he shrugged up his
shoulders, and answered, _only making us traders poorer, and obliging
us to work for our maintenance_. One of these black merchants being
informed, that a particular set of people, called Quakers, were for
abolishing the trade, he said, _it was a very bad thing, as they
should then be reduced to the same state they were in during the war,
when, through poverty, they were obliged to dig the ground and plant
yams_.
I was once upon the coast of Angola also, when there had not been a
slave ship at the river Ambris for five years previous to our arrival,
although a place to which many usually resort every year; and the
failure of the trade for that period, as far as we could learn, had
not any other effect, than to restore peace and confidence among
the natives; which, upon the arrival of any ships, is immediately
destroyed, by the inducement then held forth in the purchase of slaves.
And during the suspension of trade at Bonny, as above-mentioned, none
of the dreadful proceedings, which are so confidently asserted to
be the natural consequence of it, were known. The reduction of the
price of negroes, and the poverty of the black traders, appear to have
been the only _bad_ effects of the discontinuance of trade; the
_good_ ones were, _most probably_, the restoration of peace
and confidence among the natives, and a suspension of kidnapping.
When the ships have disposed of all their merchandize in the purchase
of negroes, and have laid in their stock of wood, water, and yams, they
prepare for sailing, by getting up the yards and topmasts, reeving the
running rigging, bending the sails, and by taking down the temporary
house. They then drop down the river, to wait for a favourable
opportunity to pass over the bar, which is formed by a number of
sand-banks lying across the mouth of the river, with navigable channels
between them. It is not uncommon for ships to get upon the bar, and
sometimes they are lost.
The first place the slave ships touch at in their passage to the
West-Indies, is either the Island of St. Thomas, or Princes Island,
where they usually carry their sick on shore, for the benefit of the
air, and likewise replenish their stock of water. The former of these
islands is nearly circular, being one hundred and twenty miles round,
and lies exactly under the equator, about forty-five leagues from
the African continent. It abounds with wood and water, and produces
Indian corn, rice, fruits, sugar, and some cinnamon. The air is rather
prejudicial to an European constitution, nevertheless it is well
peopled by the Portuguese. Princes Island, which is much smaller,
lies in 1 deg. 30 min. north latitude, and likewise produces Indian
corn, and a variety of fruits and roots, besides sugar canes. Black
cattle, hogs, and goats are numerous there; but it is infested with a
mischievous and dangerous species of monkeys.
During one of the voyages I made, I was landed upon the Island of St.
Thomas, with near one hundred sick negroes, who were placed in an old
house, taken on purpose for their reception. Little benefit however
accrued from their going on shore, as several of them died there, and
the remainder continued nearly in the same situation as when they were
landed, though our continuance was prolonged for about twelve days, and
the island is deemed upon the whole healthy.
Upon the arrival of the slave ships in the West-Indies, a day is soon
fixed for the sale of their cargoes. And this is done by different
modes, and often by one they term a _scramble_, of which some
account will be given, when the sale of the negroes is treated of.
The whole of their cargoes being disposed of, the ships are immediately
made ready to proceed to sea. It is very seldom, however, that they are
not detained, for want of a sufficient number of sailors to navigate
the ship, as this trade may justly be denominated the grave of seamen.
Though the crews of the ships upon their leaving England, generally
amount to between forty and fifty men, scarcely three-fourths, and
sometimes not one-third of the complement, ever return to the port from
whence they sailed, through mortality and desertion; the causes of
which I shall speak of under another head.
The time during which the slave ships are absent from England, varies
according to the destination of the voyage, and the number of ships
they happen to meet on the coast. To Bonny, or Old and New Calabar, a
voyage is usually performed in about ten months. Those to the Windward
and Gold Coasts, are rather more uncertain, but in general from fifteen
to eighteen months.
The Manner in which the Slaves are procured.
After permission has been obtained for _breaking trade_, as it
is termed, the captains go ashore, from time to time, to examine the
negroes that are exposed to sale, and to make their purchases. The
unhappy wretches thus disposed of, are bought by the black traders at
fairs, which are held for that purpose, at the distance of upwards of
two hundred miles from the sea coast; and these fairs are said to be
supplied from an interior part of the country. Many negroes, upon being
questioned relative to the places of their nativity have asserted, that
they have travelled during the revolution of several moons, (their
usual method of calculating time) before they have reached the places
where they were purchased by the black traders. At these fairs, which
are held at uncertain periods, but generally every six weeks, several
thousands are frequently exposed to sale, who had been collected from
all parts of the country for a very considerable distance round. While
I was upon the coast, during one of the voyages I made, the black
traders brought down, in different canoes, from twelve to fifteen
hundred negroes, which had been purchased at one fair. They consisted
chiefly of men and boys, the women seldom exceeding a third of the
whole number. From forty to two hundred negroes are generally purchased
at a time by the black traders, according to the opulence of the buyer;
and consist of those of all ages, from a month, to sixty years and
upwards. Scarce any age or situation is deemed an exception, the price
being proportionable. Women sometimes form a part of them, who happen
to be so far advanced in their pregnancy, as to be delivered during
their journey from the fairs to the coast; and I have frequently seen
instances of deliveries on board ship. The slaves purchased at these
fairs are only for the supply of the markets at Bonny, and Old and New
Calabar.
There is great reason to believe, that most of the negroes shipped
off from the coast of Africa, are _kidnapped_. But the extreme
care taken by the black traders to prevent the Europeans from gaining
any intelligence of their modes of proceeding; the great distance
inland from whence the negroes are brought; and our ignorance of their
language, (with which, very frequently, the black traders themselves
are equally unacquainted) prevent our obtaining such information on
this head as we could wish. I have, however, by means of occasional
inquiries, made through interpreters, procured some intelligence
relative to the point, and such, as I think, puts the matter beyond a
doubt.
From these I shall select the following striking instances:--While
I was in employ on board one of the slave ships, a negroe informed
me, that being one evening invited to drink with some of the black
traders, upon his going away, they attempted to seize him. As he was
very active, he evaded their design, and got out of their hands. He was
however prevented from effecting his escape by a large dog, which laid
hold of him, and compelled him to submit. These creatures are kept by
many of the traders for that purpose; and being trained to the inhuman
sport, they appear to be much pleased with it.
I was likewise told by a negroe woman, that as she was on her return
home, one evening, from some neighbours, to whom she had been making
a visit by invitation, she was kidnapped; and, notwithstanding she
was big with child, sold for a slave. This transaction happened a
considerable way up the country, and she had passed through the hands
of several purchasers before she reached the ship. A man and his
son, according to their own information, were seized by professed
kidnappers, while they were planting yams, and sold for slaves. This
likewise happened in the interior parts of the country, and after
passing through several hands, they were purchased for the ship to
which I belonged.
It frequently happens, that those who kidnap others, are themselves,
in their turns, seized and sold. A negroe in the West-Indies informed
me, that after having been employed in kidnapping others, he had
experienced this reverse. And he assured me, that it was a common
incident among his countrymen.
Continual enmity is thus fostered among the negroes of Africa, and all
social intercourse between them destroyed; which most assuredly would
not be the case, had they not these opportunities of finding a ready
sale for each other.
During my stay on the coast of Africa, I was an eye-witness of the
following transaction:----A black trader invited a negroe, who
resided a little way up the country, to come and see him. After the
entertainment was over, the trader proposed to his guest, to treat him
with a sight of one of the ships lying in the river. The unsuspicious
countryman readily consented, and accompanied the trader in a canoe to
the side of the ship, which he viewed with pleasure and astonishment.
While he was thus employed, some black traders on board, who appeared
to be in the secret, leaped into the canoe, seized the unfortunate man,
and dragging him into the ship, immediately sold him.
Previous to my being in this employ, I entertained a belief, as many
others have done, that the kings and principal men _breed_ negroes
for sale, as we do cattle. During the different times I was in the
country, I took no little pains to satisfy myself in this particular;
but notwithstanding I made many inquiries, I was not able to obtain
the least intelligence of this being the case, which it is more than
probable I should have done, had such a practice prevailed. All the
information I could procure, confirms me in the belief, that to
_kidnapping_, and to crimes, (and many of these fabricated as a
pretext) the slave trade owes its chief support.
The following instance tends to prove, that the last mentioned artifice
is often made use of. Several black traders, one of whom was a person
of consequence, and exercised an authority somewhat similar to that of
our magistrates, being in want of some particular kind of merchandize,
and not having a slave to barter for it, they accused a fisherman,
at the river Ambris, with extortion in the sale of his fish; and as
they were interested in the decision, they immediately adjudged the
poor fellow guilty, and condemned him to be sold. He was accordingly
purchased by the ship to which I belonged, and brought on board.
As an additional proof that kidnapping is not only the general, but
almost the sole mode, by which slaves are procured, the black traders,
in purchasing them, chuse those which are the roughest and most hardy;
alleging, that the smooth negroes have been _gentlemen_. By this
observation we may conclude they mean that nothing but fraud or force
could have reduced these smooth-skinned gentlemen to a state of slavery.
It may not be here unworthy of remark, in order to prove that the
wars among the Africans do not furnish the number of slaves they are
supposed to do, that I never saw any negroes with recent wounds;
which must have been the consequence, at least with some of them,
had they been taken in battle. And it being the particular province
of the surgeon to examine the slaves when they are purchased, such
a circumstance could not have escaped my observation. As a farther
corroboration, it might be remarked, that on the Gold and Windward
Coasts, where fairs are not held, the number of slaves procured at a
time are usually very small.
The preparations made at Bonny by the black traders, upon setting out
for the fairs which are held up the country, are very considerable.
From twenty to thirty canoes, capable of containing thirty or forty
negroes each, are assembled for this purpose; and such goods put on
board them as they expect will be wanted for the purchase of the number
of slaves they intend to buy. When their loading is completed, they
commence their voyage, with colours flying and musick playing; and in
about ten or eleven days, they generally return to Bonny with full
cargoes. As soon as the canoes arrive at the trader’s landing-place,
the purchased negroes are cleaned, and oiled with palm oil; and on the
following day they are exposed for sale to the captains.
The black traders do not always purchase their slaves at the same rate.
The speed with which the information of the arrival of ships upon the
coast is conveyed to the fairs, considering it is the interest of the
traders to keep them ignorant, is really surprising. In a very short
time after any ships arrive upon the coast, especially if several make
their appearance together, those who dispose of the negroes at the
fairs are frequently known to increase the price of them.
These fairs are not the only means, though they are the chief, by which
the black traders on the coast are supplied with negroes. Small parties
of them, from five to ten, are frequently brought to the houses of
the traders, by those who make a practice of kidnapping; and who are
constantly employed in procuring a supply, while purchasers are to be
found.
When the negroes, whom the black traders have to dispose of, are shewn
to the European purchasers, they first examine them relative to their
age. They then minutely inspect their persons, and inquire into the
state of their health; if they are afflicted with any infirmity, or
are deformed, or have bad eyes or teeth; if they are lame, or weak in
the joints, or distorted in the back, or of a slender make, or are
narrow in the chest; in short, if they have been, or are afflicted
in any manner, so as to render them incapable of much labour; if any
of the foregoing defects are discovered in them, they are rejected.
But if approved of, they are generally taken on board the ship the
same evening. The purchaser has liberty to return on the following
morning, but not afterwards, such as upon re-examination are found
exceptionable.
The traders frequently beat those negroes which are objected to by the
captains, and use them with great severity. It matters not whether they
are refused on account of age, illness, deformity, or for any other
reason. At New Calabar, in particular, the traders have frequently been
known to put them to death. Instances have happened at that place,
that the traders, when any of their negroes have been objected to,
have dropped their canoes under the stern of the vessel, and instantly
beheaded them, in sight of the captain.
Upon the Windward Coast, another mode of procuring slaves is pursued;
which is, by what they term _boating_; a mode that is very
pernicious and destructive to the crews of the ships. The sailors, who
are employed upon this trade, go in boats up the rivers, seeking for
negroes, among the villages situated on the banks of them. But this
method is very slow, and not always effectual. For, after being absent
from the ship during a fortnight or three weeks, they sometimes return
with only from eight to twelve negroes. Numbers of these are procured
in consequence of alleged crimes, which, as before observed, whenever
any ships are upon the coast, are more productive than at any other
period. Kidnapping, however, prevails here.
I have good reason to believe, that of one hundred and twenty negroes,
which were purchased for the ship to which I then belonged, then lying
at the river Ambris, by far the greater part, if not the whole, were
kidnapped. This, with various other instances, confirms me in the
belief that kidnapping is the fund which supplies the thousands of
negroes annually sold off these extensive Windward, and other Coasts,
where boating prevails.
Treatment of the Slaves.
As soon as the wretched Africans, purchased at the fairs, fall into
the hands of the black traders, they experience an earnest of those
dreadful sufferings which they are doomed in future to undergo. And
there is not the least room to doubt, but that even before they can
reach the fairs, great numbers perish from cruel usage, want of food,
travelling through inhospitable deserts, &c. They are brought from the
places where they are purchased to Bonny, &c. in canoes; at the bottom
of which they lie, having their hands tied with a kind of willow twigs,
and a strict watch is kept over them. Their usage in other respects,
during the time of the passage, which generally lasts several days, is
equally cruel. Their allowance of food is so scanty, that it is barely
sufficient to support nature. They are, besides, much exposed to the
violent rains which frequently fall here, being covered only with mats
that afford but a slight defence; and as there is usually water at the
bottom of the canoes, from their leaking, they are scarcely ever dry.
Nor do these unhappy beings, after they become the property of the
Europeans (from whom, as a more civilized people, more humanity might
naturally be expected) find their situation in the least amended. Their
treatment is no less rigorous. The men negroes, on being brought aboard
the ship, are immediately fastened together, two and two, by hand-cuffs
on their wrists, and by irons rivetted on their legs. They are then
sent down between the decks, and placed in an apartment partitioned
off for that purpose. The women likewise are placed in a separate
apartment between decks, but without being ironed. And an adjoining
room, on the same deck, is besides appointed for the boys. Thus are
they all placed in different apartments.
But at the same time, they are frequently stowed so close, as to
admit of no other posture than lying on their sides. Neither will
the height between decks, unless directly under the grating, permit
them the indulgence of an erect posture; especially where there are
platforms, which is generally the case. These platforms are a kind of
shelf, about eight or nine feet in breadth, extending from the side
of the ship towards the centre. They are placed nearly midway between
the decks, at the distance of two or three feet from each deck. Upon
these the negroes are stowed in the same manner as they are on the deck
underneath.
In each of the apartments are placed three or four large buckets, of a
conical form, being near two feet in diameter at the bottom, and only
one foot at the top, and in depth about twenty-eight inches; to which,
when necessary, the negroes have recourse. It often happens, that those
who are placed at a distance from the buckets, in endeavouring to get
to them, tumble over their companions, in consequence of their being
shackled. These accidents, although unavoidable, are productive of
continual quarrels, in which some of them are always bruised. In this
distressed situation, unable to proceed, and prevented from getting
to the tubs, they desist from the attempt; and, as the necessities
of nature are not to be repelled, ease themselves as they lie. This
becomes a fresh source of broils and disturbances, and tends to render
the condition of the poor captive wretches still more uncomfortable.
The nuisance arising from these circumstances, is not unfrequently
increased by the tubs being much too small for the purpose intended,
and their being usually emptied but once every day. The rule for doing
this, however, varies in different ships, according to the attention
paid to the health and convenience of the slaves by the captain.
About eight o’clock in the morning the negroes are generally brought
upon deck. Their irons being examined, a long chain, which is locked
to a ring-bolt, fixed in the deck, is run through the rings of the
shackles of the men, and then locked to another ring-bolt, fixed
also in the deck. By this means fifty or sixty, and sometimes more,
are fastened to one chain, in order to prevent them from rising,
or endeavouring to escape. If the weather proves favourable, they
are permitted to remain in that situation till four or five in the
afternoon, when they are disengaged from the chain, and sent down.
The diet of the negroes, while on board, consists chiefly of
horse-beans, boiled to the consistence of a pulp; of boiled yams and
rice, and sometimes of a small quantity of beef or pork. The latter
are frequently taken from the provisions laid in for the sailors. They
sometimes make use of a sauce, composed of palm-oil, mixed with flour,
water, and pepper, which the sailors call _slabber-sauce_. Yams
are the favourite food of the Eboe, or Bight negroes, and rice or corn,
of those from the Gold and Windward Coasts; each preferring the produce
of their native soil.
In their own country, the negroes in general live on animal food and
fish, with roots, yams, and Indian corn. The horse-beans and rice,
with which they are fed aboard ship, are chiefly taken from Europe.
The latter, indeed, is sometimes purchased on the coast, being far
superior to any other.
The Gold Coast negroes scarcely ever refuse any food that is offered
them, and they generally eat larger quantities of whatever is placed
before them, than any other species of negroes, whom they likewise
excel in strength of body and mind. Most of the slaves have such an
aversion to the horse-beans, that unless they are narrowly watched,
when fed upon deck, they will throw them overboard, or in each other’s
faces when they quarrel.
They are commonly fed twice a day, about eight o’clock in the morning
and four in the afternoon. In most ships they are only fed with their
_own food_ once a day. Their food is served up to them in tubs,
about the size of a small water bucket. They are placed round these
tubs in companies of ten to each tub, out of which they feed themselves
with wooden spoons. These they soon lose, and when they are not
allowed others, they feed themselves with their hands. In favourable
weather they are fed upon deck, but in bad weather their food is given
them below. Numberless quarrels take place among them during their
meals; more especially when they are put upon short allowance, which
frequently happens, if the passage from the coast of Guinea to the
West-India islands, proves of unusual length. In that case, the weak
are obliged to be content with a very scanty portion. Their allowance
of water is about half a pint each at every meal. It is handed round in
a bucket, and given to each negroe in a pannekin; a small utensil with
a strait handle, somewhat similar to a sauce-boat. However, when the
ships approach the islands with a favourable breeze, they are no longer
restricted.
Upon the negroes refusing to take sustenance, I have seen coals of
fire, glowing hot, put on a shovel, and placed so near their lips, as
to scorch and burn them. And this has been accompanied with threats,
of forcing them to swallow the coals, if they any longer persisted in
refusing to eat. These means have generally had the desired effect. I
have also been credibly informed, that a certain captain in the slave
trade, poured melted lead on such of the negroes as obstinately refused
their food.
Exercise being deemed necessary for the preservation of their health,
they are sometimes obliged to dance, when the weather will permit their
coming on deck. If they go about it reluctantly, or do not move with
agility, they are flogged; a person standing by them all the time with
a cat-o’-nine-tails in his hand for that purpose. Their musick, upon
these occasions, consists of a drum, sometimes with only one head; and
when that is worn out, they do not scruple to make use of the bottom
of one of the tubs before described. The poor wretches are frequently
compelled to sing also; but when they do so, their songs are generally,
as may naturally be expected, melancholy lamentations of their exile
from their native country.
The women are furnished with beads for the purpose of affording them
some diversion. But this end is generally defeated by the squabbles
which are occasioned, in consequence of their stealing them from each
other.
On board some ships, the common sailors are allowed to have intercourse
with such of the black women whose consent they can procure. And some
of them have been known to take the inconstancy of their paramours so
much to heart, as to leap overboard and drown themselves. The officers
are permitted to indulge their passions among them at pleasure, and
sometimes are guilty of such brutal excesses, as disgrace human nature.
The hardships and inconveniencies suffered by the negroes during the
passage, are scarcely to be enumerated or conceived. They are far
more violently affected by the sea-sickness, than the Europeans. It
frequently terminates in death, especially among the women. But the
exclusion of the fresh air is among the most intolerable. For the
purpose of admitting this needful refreshment, most of the ships in
the slave-trade are provided, between the decks, with five or six
air-ports on each side of the ship, of about six inches in length, and
four in breadth; in addition to which, some few ships, but not one in
twenty, have what they denominate _wind-sails_. But whenever the
sea is rough, and the rain heavy, it becomes necessary to shut these,
and every other conveyance by which the air is admitted. The fresh air
being thus excluded, the negroes rooms very soon grow intolerably hot.
The confined air, rendered noxious by the effluvia exhaled from their
bodies, and by being repeatedly breathed, soon produces fevers and
fluxes, which generally carries off great numbers of them.
During the voyages I made, I was frequently a witness to the fatal
effects of this exclusion of the fresh air. I will give one instance,
as it serves to convey some idea, though a very faint one, of the
sufferings of those unhappy beings whom we wantonly drag from their
native country, and doom to perpetual labour and captivity. Some wet
and blowing weather having occasioned the port-holes to be shut,
and the grating to be covered, fluxes and fevers among the negroes
ensued. While they were in this situation, my profession requiring it,
I frequently went down among them, till at length their apartments
became so extremely hot, as to be only sufferable for a very short
time. But the excessive heat was not the only thing that rendered their
situation intolerable. The deck, that is, the floor of their rooms, was
so covered with the blood and mucus which had proceeded from them in
consequence of the flux, that it resembled a slaughter-house. It is not
in the power of the human imagination, to picture to itself a situation
more dreadful or disgusting. Numbers of the slaves having fainted, they
were carried upon deck, where several of them died, and the rest were,
with great difficulty, restored. It had nearly proved fatal to me also.
The climate was too warm to admit the wearing of any clothing but a
shirt, and that I had pulled off before I went down; notwithstanding
which, by only continuing among them for about a quarter of an hour, I
was so overcome with the heat, stench, and foul air, that I had nearly
fainted; and it was not without assistance, that I could get upon deck.
The consequence was, that I soon after fell sick of the same disorder,
from which I did not recover for several months.
A circumstance of this kind, sometimes repeatedly happens in the course
of a voyage; and often to a greater degree than what has just been
described; particularly when the slaves are much crowded, which was not
the case at that time, the ship having more than a hundred short of the
number she was to have taken in.
This devastation, great as it was, some few years ago was greatly
exceeded on board a Leverpool ship. I shall particularize the
circumstances of it, as a more glaring instance of an insatiable
thirst for gain, or of less attention to the lives and happiness even
of that despised and oppressed race of mortals, the sable inhabitants
of Africa, perhaps was never exceeded; though indeed several similar
instances have been known.
This ship, though a much smaller ship than that in which the event I
have just mentioned happened, took on board at Bonny, at least six
hundred negroes; but according to the information of the black traders,
from whom I received the intelligence immediately after the ship
sailed, they amounted to near _seven hundred_. By purchasing so
great a number, the slaves were so crowded, that they were even obliged
to lie one upon another. This occasioned such a mortality among them,
that, without meeting with unusual bad weather, or having a longer
voyage than common, nearly one half of them died before the ship
arrived in the West-Indies.
That the publick may be able to form some idea of the almost incredible
small space into which so large a number of negroes were crammed, the
following particulars of this ship are given. According to Leverpool
custom she measured 235 tons. Her width across the beam, 25 feet.
Length between the decks, 92 feet, which was divided into four rooms,
thus:
Store room, in which there were not any }
negroes placed } 15 feet
-------
Negroes rooms--mens room-- about 45 feet
womens ditto about 10 feet
boys ditto about 22 feet
-------
Total room for negroes 77 feet
-------
Exclusive of the platform before described, from
8 to 9 feet in breadth, and equal in length to
that of the rooms.
It may be worthy of remark, that the ships in this trade, are usually
fitted out to receive only one third women negroes, or perhaps a
smaller number, which the dimensions of the room allotted for them,
above given, plainly shew, but in a greater disproportion.
One would naturally suppose, that an attention to their own interest,
would prompt the owners of the Guinea ships not to suffer the captains
to take on board a greater number of negroes than the ship would
allow room sufficient for them to lie with ease to themselves, or, at
least, without rubbing against each other. However that may be, a more
striking instance than the above, of avarice, completely and deservedly
disappointed, was surely never displayed; for there is little room to
doubt, but that in consequence of the expected premium usually allowed
to the captains, of 6_l._ per cent. sterling on the produce of the
negroes, this vessel was so thronged as to occasion such a heavy loss.
The place allotted for the sick negroes is under the half deck, where
they lie on the bare planks. By this means, those who are emaciated,
frequently have their skin, and even their flesh, entirely rubbed off,
by the motion of the ship, from the prominent parts of the shoulders,
elbows, and hips, so as to render the bones in those parts quite bare.
And some of them, by constantly lying in the blood and mucus, that
had flowed from those afflicted with the flux, and which, as before
observed, is generally so violent as to prevent their being kept clean,
have their flesh much sooner rubbed off, than those who have only to
contend with the mere friction of the ship. The excruciating pain
which the poor sufferers feel from being obliged to continue in such a
dreadful situation, frequently for several weeks, in case they happen
to live so long, is not to be conceived or described. Few, indeed, are
ever able to withstand the fatal effects of it. The utmost skill of the
surgeon is here ineffectual. If plaisters be applied, they are very
soon displaced by the friction of the ship; and when bandages are used,
the negroes very soon take them off, and appropriate them to other
purposes.
The surgeon, upon going between decks, in the morning, to examine the
situation of the slaves, frequently finds several dead; and among
the men, sometimes a dead and living negroe fastened by their irons
together. When this is the case, they are brought upon the deck, and
being laid on the grating, the living negroe is disengaged, and the
dead one thrown overboard.
It may not be improper here to remark, that the surgeons employed in
the Guinea trade, are generally driven to engage in so disagreeable
an employ by the confined state of their finances. An exertion of the
greatest skill and attention could afford the diseased negroes little
relief, so long as the causes of their diseases, namely, the breathing
of a putrid atmosphere, and wallowing in their own excrements, remain.
When once the fever and dysentery get to any height at sea, a cure is
scarcely ever effected.
Almost the only means by which the surgeon can render himself useful
to the slaves, is, by seeing that their food is properly cooked, and
distributed among them. It is true, when they arrive near the markets
for which they are destined, care is taken to polish them for sale, by
an application of the lunar caustic to such as are afflicted with the
yaws. This, however, affords but a temporary relief, as the disease
most assuredly breaks out, whenever the patient is put upon a vegetable
diet.
It has been asserted, in favour of the captains in this trade, that
the sick slaves are usually fed from their tables. The great number
generally ill at a time, proves the falsity of such an assertion. Were
even a captain _disposed_ to do this, how could he feed half the
slaves in the ship from his own table? for it is well known, that
_more than half_ are often sick at a time. Two or three perhaps
may be fed.
The loss of slaves, through mortality, arising from the causes just
mentioned, are frequently very considerable. In the voyage lately
referred to (not the Leverpool ship before-mentioned) one hundred
and five, out of three hundred and eighty, died in the passage. A
proportion seemingly very great, but by no means uncommon. One half,
sometimes two thirds, and even beyond that, have been known to perish.
Before we left Bonny River, no less than fifteen died of fevers and
dysenteries, occasioned by their confinement. On the Windward Coast,
where slaves are procured more slowly, very few die, in proportion to
the numbers which die at Bonny, and at Old and New Calabar, where they
are obtained much faster; the latter being of a more delicate make and
habit.
The havock made among the seamen engaged in this destructive
commerce, will be noticed in another part; and will be found to make
no inconsiderable addition to the unnecessary waste of life just
represented.
As very few of the negroes can so far brook the loss of their liberty,
and the hardships they endure, as to bear them with any degree of
patience, they are ever upon the watch to take advantage of the
least negligence in their oppressors. Insurrections are frequently
the consequence; which are seldom suppressed without much bloodshed.
Sometimes these are successful, and the whole ship’s company is cut
off. They are likewise always ready to seize every opportunity for
committing some act of desperation to free themselves from their
miserable state; and notwithstanding the restraints under which they
are laid, they often succeed.
While a ship, to which I belonged, lay in Bonny River, one evening, a
short time before our departure, a lot of negroes, consisting of about
ten, was brought on board; when one of them, in a favourable moment,
forced his way through the net-work on the larboard side of the vessel,
jumped overboard, and was supposed to have been devoured by the sharks.
During the time we were there, fifteen negroes belonging to a vessel
from Leverpool, found means to throw themselves into the river; very
few were saved; and the residue fell a sacrifice to the sharks. A
similar instance took place in a French ship while we lay there.
Circumstances of this kind are very frequent. On the coast of Angola,
at the River Ambris, the following incident happened:----During the
time of our residing on shore, we erected a tent to shelter ourselves
from the weather. After having been there several weeks, and being
unable to purchase the number of slaves we wanted, through the
opposition of another English slave vessel, we determined to leave
the place. The night before our departure, the tent was struck; which
was no sooner perceived by some of the negroe women on board, than
it was considered as a prelude to our sailing; and about eighteen of
them, when they were sent between decks, threw themselves into the sea
through one of the gun ports; the ship carrying guns between decks.
They were all of them, however, excepting one, soon picked up; and that
which was missing, was, not long after, taken about a mile from the
shore.
I once knew a negroe woman, too sensible of her woes, who pined for a
considerable time, and was taken ill of a fever and dysentery; when
declaring it to be her determination to die, she refused all food and
medical aid, and, in about a fortnight after, expired. On being thrown
overboard, her body was instantly torn to pieces by the sharks.
The following circumstance also came within my knowledge. A young
female negroe, falling into a desponding way, it was judged necessary,
in order to attempt her recovery, to send her on shore, to the hut
of one of the black traders. Elevated with the prospect of regaining
her liberty by this unexpected step, she soon recovered her usual
chearfulness; but hearing, by accident, that it was intended to take
her on board the ship again, the poor young creature hung herself.
It frequently happens that the negroes, on being purchased by the
Europeans, become raving mad; and many of them die in that state;
particularly the women. While I was one day ashore at Bonny, I saw a
middle aged stout woman, who had been brought down from a fair the
preceding day, chained to the post of a black trader’s door, in a state
of furious insanity. On board a ship in Bonny River, I saw a young
negroe woman chained to the deck, who had lost her senses, soon after
she was purchased and taken on board. In a former voyage, on board a
ship to which I belonged, we were obliged to confine a female negroe,
of about twenty-three years of age, on her becoming a lunatic. She was
afterwards sold during one of her lucid intervals.
One morning, upon examining the place allotted for the sick negroes,
I perceived that one of them, who was so emaciated as scarcely to be
able to walk, was missing, and was convinced that he must have gone
overboard in the night, probably to put a more expeditious period to
his sufferings. And, to conclude on this subject, I could not help
being sensibly affected, on a former voyage, at observing with what
apparent eagerness a black woman seized some dirt from off an African
yam, and put it into her mouth; seeming to rejoice at the opportunity
of possessing some of her native earth.
From these instances I think it may be clearly deduced, that the
unhappy Africans are not bereft of the finer feelings, but have a
strong attachment to their native country, together with a just sense
of the value of liberty. And the situation of the miserable beings
above described, more forcibly urge the necessity of abolishing a trade
which is the source of such evils, than the most eloquent harangue, or
persuasive arguments could do.
Sale of the Slaves.