Page:Abstract of the evidence for the abolition of the slave-trade 1791.djvu/98

( 64 ), from those which have been mentioned of the town.

It is usual for those, says Mr. Coor, who do not come into the field in time to be punished. In this case a few steps before they join the gang they throw down the hoe, clap both hands on their heads, and patiently take ten, fifteen, or twenty lashes.

The mode of punishment, as seen by Captain Smith and several others (and which is the general mode) was as follows: — A negro was stretched on his belly on the ground, with a slave to hold each hand and leg, or each hand and leg was fastened to a stake. The punishment was inflicted by a negro with a long whip tapering from the size of a man's thumb to a small lash. At every stroke a piece of flesh was drawn out, and that with much unconcern to the director of the punishment.

There is another mode described by Mr. Coor. About eight o'clock, says he, the overseer goes to breakfast, and if he has any criminals at home, he orders a black man to follow him; for it is then usual to take such out of the stocks, and flog them before the over- seer's house. The method is generally this:— The delinquent is stripped and tied on a ladder, his legs on the sides and his arms above his head, and sometimes a rope is tied round his middle. The driver whips him on the bare skin, and if the overseer thinks he does not lay it on hard enough, he sometimes knocks him down with his own hand, or makes him change places with the delinquent, and be severely whipped. Mr. Coor has known many receive on the ladder, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty lashes, and some two cool hundreds, as they are generally called. He has known many returned to confinement, and in one, two or three days, brought to the ladder, and receive the same compliment, or thereabouts, as before. They seldom take them off the ladder, until all the skin, from the hams to the small of the back, appears only raw flesh and blood, and then they wash the parts with salt pickle. This