Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/300

 large as possible, for then the escape of one cargo out of three will amply re- pay the dealer. Accordingly, the negroes now are packed in the slave ships literally (and this is the comparison always used) like herring in a barrel. They have neither standing room, nor sitting room, nor lying room; and as for change of position during the voyage, the thing is impossible. They are cooped up anyhow, squeezed into crevices, or jammed up against the curved planks. The following is a brief description given by an eye-witness of the unloading of a captured slaver which had been brought into Sierra Leone: "The captives were now counted; their numbers, sex, and age, written down, for the information of the court of mixed commission. The task was repulsive. As the hold had been divided for the separation of the men and the women, those on deck were first counted; they were then driven forward, crowded as much as possible, and the women were drawn up through the small hatchway t rom their hot, dark confinement. A black boatswain seized them one by one, dragging them before us for a moment, when the proper officer, on a glance, decided the age, whether above or under fourteen; and they were instantly swung again by their arm into their loathsome cell, where another negro boat- swain sat, with a whip or stick, and forced them to resume the bent and pain- ful attitude necessary for the stowage of so large a number. The unfortunate women and girls, in general, submitted with quiet resignation, when absence of disease and the use of their limbs permitted. A month had made their condi- tion familiar to them. One or two were less philosophical, or suffered more acutely than the rest. Their shrieks rose faintly from their hidden prison, as violent compulsion alone squeezed them into their nook against the curve of the ship's side. I attempted to descend in order to see the accommodation. The height between the floor and ceiling was about twenty-two inches. The agony of the position of the crouching slaves may be imagined, especially that of the men, whose heads and necks are bent down by the boarding above them. Once so fixed, relief, by motion or change of posture, is unattainable. The body frequently stiffens in a permanent curve; and in the streets of Freetown I have seen liberated slaves of every conceivable state of distortion. One I remember who trailed along his body, with his back to the ground, by means of his hands and ankles. Many can never resume the upright posture."

One item of the enormous mortality during the passage consists of negroes thrown overboard when the slaver is chased, or when a storm arises. Many thousands perish annually in this way. Very frequently it is decided, upon trial, that the capture of the vessel has been illegal; and then the slaver sails away triumphantly, the poor negroes on board having only been tantalized with the hope of freedom. A remarkable case of this kind is told by Mr. Rankin in his account of a visit to Sierra Leone, in 1834:

"On the morning after my arrival at Sierra Leone," says Mr. Rankin, "I was indulging in the first view of the waters of the estuary glittering in the hot sun, and endeavoring to distinguish from the many vessels at anchor the bark which had brought me from England. Close in-shore lay a large schooner, so remarkable from the low, sharp cut of her black hull, and the