f being murdered.'

"`At night we were ordered to lie down before the fire, with a strong
guard placed over us. We were generally amply fed, in order that our
strength might be kept up. Although we passed through several
thickly-populated districts, no one dared to help us for fear of the
Arabs. At length we reached the bank of a river, near the sea-coast,
where we found a large vessel ready to receive us. We were at once
ordered to go on board, when we were placed on a bamboo deck, packed
close to each other, with our chins resting on our knees. As soon as
some fifty or more of us were stowed on the lower deck, another deck was
placed over our heads, preventing us even from sitting upright. On this
another layer of slaves was stowed in the same way that we were. A
third deck was placed above them, which was also crowded with
unfortunate captives. We could hear the voices of those above us, and
frequently their cries, as the Arabs beat them in order to make them sit
closer. A narrow passage was left down the centre of the deck, along
which the Arabs could pass to bring us our food. We were thus kept a
couple of days in the river, either waiting for a fair wind, or because
our masters were afraid of being caught by some of the ships of the
white men. Our condition was bad enough in smooth water, but we were to
find it considerably worse when we got into the open sea. My only
consolation was that my wife and little boy had escaped. I knew that
they would be mourning for me, whom they were never to see again. I
then wished that they were dead, that their grief might come to an end;
and sometimes a terrible thought came to me that they too might some day
be captured and carried off to the same horrible slavery which I was
doomed, as I thought, to bear. There were not only men on board, but
women and children, to be taken to a far distant country, of which we
had never before heard. Where it was we could not tell, but we knew, by
one telling the other, that it was inhabited by the same sort of people
as the Arabs, and we supposed that they would beat and otherwise cruelly
treat us if we did not obey them. The younger women and children were
better cared for than we men were, and wore well fed, to make them look
plump and healthy. The vessel had one great nearly triangular sail, and
the after part rose high out of the water, while the bows seemed as if
they would dip under it. At last, the wind being fair, w