Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/299

 feet success. It is stated, upon good authority, that in 1844, more slaves were can-id away from Africa in ships than in 1744, when the trade was legal and in full vigor. The legal trade, pursued openly, has been changed into a contraband trade, pursued secretly; and the profits, determined from a number of random cases, have averaged from 180 to 200 per cent. Accordingly, a vigorous traffic has been carried on by French, Spanish, Portuguese, British and American crews. Spaniards and Portuguese, however, predominate, and the wages are large. They carry their cargoes to Brazil, Cuba, Porto Rico, &c.; and it has been charged that some are landed secretly in the United States, as there arc slaves in the extreme southern States who cannot speak English. But Brazil and Cuba are the principal slave-importing countries. Sir Fowell Buxton, in 1835, calculated that "Brazil imports annually about 80,000, and Cuba about 60,000 slaves. If we add 10,000 for all other places, the annual delivery of negroes into the slave-using countries of America will amount to 150,000." Africa, however, loses far more than America gains. According to his estimates, the whole wastage or tare of the traffic is seven-tenths; that is to say, for every ten negroes whom Africa parts with, America receives only three; the other seven die. This enormous wastage may be divided into three portions — the wastage in the journey from the interior of Africa to the coast, the wastage in the passage across the Atlantic, and the wastage in the process of seasoning after landing. The first is estimated at one-half of the original number brought from the interior, the second at one-fourth of the number shipped, and the third at one-fifth of the number landed. In other words, if 400,000 negroes are collected in the interior of Africa, then of these one-half will die before reaching the coast, leaving only 200,000 to be shipped; of these one-fourth will die in the passage across the Atlantic, leaving only 150,000 to be landed; and of these one-fifth will die in the process of seasoning, leaving only 120,000 available for labor in America.

While the trade was legal, the ships designed for carrying slaves were, in a great measure, constructed like other vessels; though, in order to make the cargo as large as possible, the negroes were packed very closely together. The number of negroes which a vessel was allowed to carry was fixed by law. British vessels of 150 tons and under, were not to carry more than five slaves to every three tons of measurement. In 1189, a parliamentary committee engaged in inquiries connected with Sir W. Dolben's bill, found, by actual measurement of a slave ship, that, allowing every man six feet by one foot four inches, every woman five feet by one foot four inches, every boy five feet by one foot two inches, and every girl four feet six inches by one foot, the ship would hold precisely 450 negroes. The actual number carried was 454; and in previous voyages she had carried more. This calculation, illustrated as it was by an engraving, caused an immense sensation at the time, and assisted in mitigating the miseries of the passage. In order to escape the cruisers, all slave ships now are built on the principle of fast sailing. The risk of being captured takes away all inducement, from mere selfish motives, to make the cargo moderate; on the contrary, it is an object now to make the cargo as