bean, or farina, the flour of the
cassava boiled. After each meal they are made to sing to digest their
food, and then the water is served out, the fullest nominal allowance of
which is one quart to each daily, though seldom more than a pint. Irons
are seldom used on board, only in case of a mutiny, or if closely chased
by a man-of-war, in which case the condition of the slaves becomes truly
dreadful; they are all barred below for fear of their rising, are seldom
watered till the chase be over, that may last two or three days, while
everything that can be thought of to make the vessel sail is done,
whatever misery it may cost the cargo. Often some of the unfortunate
wretches are thrown overboard in empty casks or lashed to floats, in the
hope that the cruiser will stop to pick them up, and thus delay the
chase. In many instances, when slaves have been captured, twenty or
thirty, or even more, have been found dead on board, while the rest have
been in a most horribly suffering condition. Indeed, the operation of
taking off the hatches of a captured slaver, from the effluvium which
arises, is sufficient to try the strongest stomachs, while the hearts of
the captors cannot fail to be touched by the dreadful sufferings of
their fellow-creatures which they are doomed to witness. Of late years
the slave-trade from the West Coast has been carried on chiefly by fast
steamers, but as the men-of-war engaged in the blockade are also
steamers, the slave-dealers have found the trade a losing one, so that
on the whole of the West Coast there are very few points from which
slaves are shipped. From the early part of the century, British
men-of-war have been employed on the African coast blockade, but for a
long time, as only a few 10-gun brigs, and they inefficient vessels,
were sent out, and as there were scarcely ever more than six cruisers at
a time on the coast, during twenty years, from 1819 to 1839, only 333
slave-vessels were captured; whereas after that period a superior class
of 16 and 18-gun brigs and sloops of war, and latterly fast
screw-steamers, fitted for sailing as well as for steaming, were
employed; and during the next eleven years 744 slave-vessels were
captured. As up to probably two-thirds of those engaged in the trade
escaped, we may have some idea of the vast number of blacks carried into
captivity to America and the West Indies.

As for many years to blockade a coast-line of 3000 miles and upwards,
only