n. The same estimate was made for
youths over four feet four inches high; but children were rarely
purchased at the factories, though they might be advantageously traded
in the native towns.

CHAPTER X.

I was a close watcher of Mongo John whenever he engaged in the
purchase of slaves. As each negro was brought before him, Ormond
examined the subject, without regard to sex, from head to foot. A
careful manipulation of the chief muscles, joints, arm-pits and groins
was made, to assure soundness. The mouth, too, was inspected, and if a
tooth was missing, it was noted as a defect liable to deduction. Eyes,
voice, lungs, fingers and toes were not forgotten; so that when the
negro passed from the Mongo's hands without censure, he might have
been readily adopted as a good "life" by an insurance company.

Upon one occasion, to my great astonishment, I saw a stout and
apparently powerful man discarded by Ormond as utterly worthless. His
full muscles and sleek skin, to my unpractised eye, denoted the height
of robust health. Still, I was told that he had been medicated for the
market with bloating drugs, and sweated with powder and lemon-juice to
impart a gloss to his skin. Ormond remarked that these jockey-tricks
are as common in Africa as among horse-dealers in Christian lands; and
desiring me to feel the negro's pulse, I immediately detected disease
or excessive excitement. In a few days I found the poor wretch,
abandoned by his owner, a paralyzed wreck in the hut of a villager at
Bangalang.

[Illustration: INSPECTION AND SALE OF A NEGRO.]

When a slave becomes useless to his master in the interior, or
exhibits signs of failing constitution, he is soon disposed of to a
peddler or broker. These men call to their aid a quack, familiar with
drugs, who, for a small compensation, undertakes to refit an impaired
body for the temptation of green-horns. Sometimes the cheat is
successfully effected; but experienced slavers detect it readily by
the yellow eye, swollen tongue, and feverish skin.

After a few more lessons, I was considered by the Mongo sufficiently
learned in the slave traffic to be intrusted with the sole management
of his stores. This exemption from commerce enabled him to indulge
more than ever in the use of ardent spirits, though his vanity to be
called "king," still prompted him to attend faithfully to all the
"country palavers;"--and, let it be said to his credit, his decisions
were never defective