r building, and carrying it down from the mountains
to the shore.

Doubtless Father Dan made the worst of the misery he saw: it was not
to the interest of the owners to injure their slaves, who might be
ransomed or re-sold, and, at any rate, were more valuable in health
than in weakness and disease. The worst part of captivity was not the
physical toil and blows, but the mental care, the despair of release,
the carking ache of proud hearts set to slave for taskmasters. Cruelty
there certainly was, as even so staunch an apologist for the Moors as
Joseph Morgan admits, but it can hardly have been the rule; and the
report of another French priest who visited Algiers and other parts of
Barbary in 1719 does not bear out Dan's statements: nor is there any
reason to believe that the captives were worse treated in 1634 than
in 1719.[70] The latter report, with some of Morgan's comments, may be
summarized thus[71]:--

The slaves at Algiers are not indeed so unhappy as those in the hands
of the mountain Moors. The policy of those in power, the interests of
individuals, and the more sociable disposition of the townspeople,
make their lot in general less rigorous: still they are slaves, hated
for their religion, overtaxed with work, and liable to apostasy. They
are of two sorts: Beylik or Government slaves, and those belonging to
private persons. When a Corsair has taken a prize and has
ascertained, by the application of the bastinado, the rank or
occupation and proficiency of the various captives, he brings them
before the governor to be strictly examined as to their place in the
captured vessel, whether passengers or equipage: if the former, they
are claimed by their consuls, who attend the examination, and as a
rule they are set free; but if they served on board the ship for pay
they are enslaved. Drawn up in a row, one in eight is chosen by the
Dey for his own share, and he naturally selects the best workmen, and
the surgeons and ship's masters, who are at once sent to the
Government bagnio. The rest are to be divided equally between the
owners and the equipage, and are taken to the Besist[=a]n and marched
up and down by the _dell[=a]ls_ or auctioneers, to the time of their
merits and calling, till the highest bid is reached. This is, however,
a merely formal advance, for the final sale must take place at the
Dey's palace, whither the captives and their would-be purchasers now
resort. The second auction always realizes a much