Page:Slave trade.pdf/14

( 14 ) Treatment of Negro Slaves before they reach the Weſt Indies.

S ſoon as the 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. 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 twigs and a ſtrict watch 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 find their ſituation in the leaſt amended. 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