Sheppard, kindly lent him a boat to visit a slaver of 320 tons, which had
come into port the preceding night. The master, supposing him to be in the
imperial service, was extremely attentive, and very readily answered every
inquiry. He said the homeward-bound passage had been tolerably fortunate,
only seventy-two deaths having occurred in the cargo; and that, although
thirty of the sick were then in an unsaleable plight, the owners might
calculate upon sending into the market four hundred sound and well-grown
Africans; a number that would yield a handsome profit.

After some further conversation, Miller requested permission to see the
'tween decks, upon which the muster accompanied him below, and pointed out
the manner of securing his cargo, which was by shackling each negro by one
leg to an iron bar running a midships from stem to stern, so as to form a
double row, lying feet to feet. The air was so oppressively nauseating,
that Miller could not remain below for more than two minutes. There was
hardly a slave in the whole number who was free from festering sores,
produced by constant friction from lying on the hard and unwashed decks.
Some of them were bruised so dreadfully, that it was wonderful that they
continued to exist. Their emaciated appearance might have led to the
supposition that they had been nearly starved during the passage, did not
the varied miseries to which they were subjected, sufficiently account for
their fleshless forms. A great number of them were now upon deck, and clad
in long woollen shirts, in order to be sent to the warehouses on shore.
Miller, heartily sick of this disgusting scene, took leave of the master;
but, unable to control the indignation he felt, he inveighed with great
bitterness against all wretches concerned in so iniquitous a traffic,
letting him know at the same time that he was not in the service of the
emperor. The master, though at first taken aback by the violence of the
general's invectives, soon recovered himself, and retorted in the most
insolent terms of defiance, abusing the English for meddling in what he
styled the legitimate commerce of Brazil. The state of the vessel was such
as cannot be described, and the fetid effluvia, arising from it, offended
the senses on approaching her within fifty yards. Although Miller took a
warm bath immediately upon getting on shore, the stench of the slave ship
haunted his nostrils for many days.

There is a long narrow street in R