erected huge water-casks called
leaguers, on these are stowed the provisions, wood, etcetera; above this
is the slave-deck. Thirty-six inches may be considered a medium height,
but they sometimes measure 4 feet 6 inches, though occasionally only 14
or 18 inches, intended for the stowage of children. The upper-deck is
generally clear, except of the sweeps or oars for calms, there is a
covered sleeping-place, about 6 feet long by 3 feet wide, on each side,
for the captain and pilot. Some used to carry guns, but of late years
few do so. They mostly have but one small boat. The sails, on account
of the frequency and force of the tornados, are very low and bent broad.
Thus, the foreyard of a brig of about 140 tons, taken by H.M. ship
_Dolphin_, was 76 feet long, and her ropes so beautifully racked aloft
that after a cannonade of sixty shot, in which upwards of fifty had
taken effect, not one sail was lowered. The following are the articles
by which a slaver can be condemned if found on board:--A slave-deck, or
planks ready for a deck; slave irons and slave coppers, which are a
large cooking apparatus for the slaves and crew, standing generally
amidships on the upper-deck; an extra quantity of farina, rice, water,
or other provisions, which cannot be accounted for. The horrors of a
full slaver almost defy description. Arrived on the coast and the port
reached, if no man-of-war be on the coast, two hours suffice to place
400 human beings on board. On the slaves being received, the largest
men are picked out as head-men, and these dividing the slaves into
gangs, according to the size of the vessel, of from ten to twenty, keep
them in order. A slave-deck is divided into two unequal parts, the
larger for the men, the other for women and children. The stowage is
managed entirely by the head-men, who take care that the strongest
slaves should be farthest from the ship's side, or from any position in
which their strength might avail them to secure a larger space than
their neighbours. The form of stowage is that the poor wretch shall be
seated on the beams, and the head thrust between the knees, so close
that when one moves the mass must move also. The slaves feed twice
a-day, and in order to give room, one-half are allowed at a time on deck
at the hour of the meal. They are arranged into messes, and when all is
ready, at a signal from the head-men, they commence. The food consists
of either rice, carabansas, a kind of