To detail the accounts which he gave me at this and at subsequent
interviews, relative to the different branches of this trade, would fill no
ordinary volume. Suffice it to say in general terms, as far as relates to
the slaves, that he confirmed the various violent and treacherous methods
of procuring them in their own country; their wretched condition, in
consequence of being crowded together, in the passage; their attempts to
rise in defence of their own freedom, and, when this was impracticable, to
destroy themselves by the refusal of sustenance, by jumping overboard into
the sea, and in other ways; the effect also of their situation upon their
minds, by producing insanity and various diseases; and the cruel manner of
disposing of them in the West Indies, and of separating relatives and
friends.

With respect to the seamen employed in this trade, he commended captain
Frazer for his kind usage to them, under whom he had so long served. The
handsome way in which be spoke of the latter pleased me much, because I was
willing to deduce from it his own impartiality, and because I thought I
might infer from it also his regard to truth as to other parts of his
narrative. Indeed I had been before acquainted with this circumstance.
Thompson, of the Seven Stars, had informed me that Frazer was the only man
sailing out of that port for slaves, who had not been guilty of cruelty to
his seamen: and Mr. Burges alluded to it, when he gave me advice not to
proceed against the captain of the Alfred; for he then said, as I mentioned
in a former chapter, "that he knew but one captain in the trade, who did
not deserve long ago to be hanged." Mr. Falconbridge, however, stated, that
though he had been thus fortunate in the Tartar and Emilia, he had been as
unfortunate in the Alexander; for he believed there were no instances upon
naval record, taken altogether, of greater barbarity, than of that which
had been exercised towards the seamen in this voyage. In running over
these, it struck me that I had heard of the same from some other quarter,
or at least that these were so like the others, that I was surprised at
their coincidence. On taking out my notes, I looked for the names of those
whom I recollected to have been used in this manner; and on desiring Mr.
Falconbridge to mention the names of those also to whom he alluded, they
turned out to be the same. The mystery, however, was soon cleared up, when
I told him from whom I had received