an
Elysian retreat, it was now proper to institute a severe inquiry into the
truth of them. Mr. Pitt, Sir Charles Middleton, Mr. William Smith, and Mr.
Beaufoy, took a conspicuous part on this occasion, but particularly the two
latter, to whom much praise was due for the constant attention they
bestowed upon this subject. Question after question was put by these to the
witnesses; and from their own mouths they dragged out, by means of a
cross-examination as severe as could be well instituted, the following
melancholy account:

Every slave, whatever his size might be, was found to have only five feet
and six inches in length, and sixteen inches in breadth, to lie in. The
floor was covered with bodies stowed or packed according to this allowance.
But between the floor and the deck or ceiling were often platforms or broad
shelves in the mid-way, which were covered with bodies also. The height
from the floor to the ceiling, within which space the bodies on the floor
and those on the platforms lay, seldom exceeded five feet eight inches, and
in some cases it did not exceed four feet.

The men were chained two and two together by their hands and feet, and were
chained also by means of ring-bolts, which were fastened to the deck. They
were confined in this manner at least all the time they remained upon the
Coast, which was from six weeks to six months as it might happen.

Their allowance consisted of one pint of water a day to each person, and
they were fed twice a day with yams and horse-beans.

After meals they jumped up in their irons for exercise. This was so
necessary for their health, that they were whipped if they refused to do
it. And this jumping had been termed dancing.

They were usually fifteen and sixteen hours below deck out of the
twenty-four. In rainy weather they could not be brought up for two or three
days together. If the ship was full, their situation was then distressing.
They sometimes drew their breath with anxious and laborious efforts, and
some died of suffocation.

With respect to their health in these voyages, the mortality, where the
African constitution was the strongest, or on the windward coast, was only
about five in a hundred. In thirty-five voyages, an account of which was
produced, about six in a hundred was the average number lost. But this loss
was still greater at Calabar and Bonny, which were the greatest markets for
slaves. This loss, too, did not include those who died, either wh