d turned their face to their country, as if to
take a last adieu, and, with arms uplifted to the sky, were making the
very atmosphere resound with their prayers and imprecations.

* * * * *

CHAP. II.

The foregoing scene, though it may be said to be imaginary, is strictly
consistent with fact. It is a scene, to which the reader himself may
have been witness, if he has ever visited the place, where it is
supposed to lie; as no circumstance whatever has been inserted in it,
for which the fullest and most undeniable evidence cannot be produced.
We shall proceed now to describe, in general terms, the treatment which
the wretched Africans undergo, from the time of their embarkation.

When the African slaves, who are collected from various quarters, for
the purposes of sale, are delivered over to the _receivers_, they
are conducted in the manner above described to the ships. Their
situation on board is beyond all description: for here they are crouded,
hundreds of them together, into such a small compass, as would scarcely
be thought sufficient to accommodate twenty, if considered as _free
men_. This confinement soon produces an effect, that may be easily
imagined. It generates a pestilential air, which, co-operating with, bad
provisions, occasions such a sickness and mortality among them, that not
less than _twenty thousand_[056] are generally taken off in every
yearly transportation.

Thus confined in a pestilential prison, and almost entirely excluded
from the chearful face of day, it remains for the sickly survivors to
linger out a miserable existence, till the voyage is finished. But are
no farther evils to be expected in the interim particularly if we add to
their already wretched situation the indignities that are daily offered
them, and the regret which they must constantly feel, at being for ever
forced from their connexions? These evils are but too apparent. Some of
them have resolved, and, notwithstanding the threats of the
_receivers_, have carried their resolves into execution, to starve
themselves to death. Others, when they have been brought upon deck for
air, if the least opportunity has offered, have leaped into the sea, and
terminated their miseries at once. Others, in a fit of despair, have
attempted to rise, and regain their liberty. But here what a scene of
barbarity has constantly ensued. Some of them have been instantly killed
upon the spot; some have been