Page:Slave trade.pdf/13

( 13 ) of the 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 ſeated 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, prevailes here.