Page:The American Slave Trade (Spears).djvu/83

 from the interior having brought some product to the beach for sale was asked to visit the ship lying off shore and get a free drink of rum. He went, but when there found that his guide had sold him, and stay he must.

James Town, a ship carpenter, in the Parliamentary inquiry, testified that he saw a dealer sell a slave on board a ship, in the Gallinas, but when the dealer paddled to the beach with his goods, four men came from the brush, seized him, robbed him of his goods and then carried him, in his own canoe, to the slave-ship, where they sold him to the captain, who had seen the whole doings.

While the British slaver Briton was lying in the Benin River a native chief known as Captain Lemma came on board to get the usual presents. A few minutes later a canoe with three negroes was seen crossing the river, and the chief sent his followers to bring it to the ship. The three proved to be members of another tribe than the chief's, and they were at once offered for sale. Two were purchased, but the third, an elderly man, was refused as unsalable. At that the old man was taken over the rail and there his head was cut off.

Off Piccaninni Sestus, on the windward coast, in 1769, Mr. William Dove saw a noted native slaver named Ben Johnson bring off a girl he had stolen. Just as Johnson was leaving the ship on one side two very excited men came to the other to inquire about the girl. On learning her fate they went in chase of Johnson, captured him, and, bringing him to the ship, offered him for sale.

"You won't buy me, whom you know to be a great