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What those uses were, a moment's observation showed me. In the middle of the floor, which was mostly rotted away, a space about fifteen feet square was covered with thick pine planking, strongly nailed to the beams. In the centre of this planking an oaken block was firmly bolted, and to it was fastened a strong iron staple that held a log-chain, to which was attached a pair of shackles. Above this, was a queer frame-work of oak, somewhat resembling the contrivance for drying fruit I have seen in Yankee farm-houses. Attached to the rafters by stout pieces of timber, were two hickory poles, placed horizontally, and about four feet apart, the lower one rather more than eight feet from the floor. This was the whipping-rack, and hanging to it were several stout whips with short hickory handles, and long triple lashes. I took one down for closer inspection, and found burned into the wood, in large letters, the words 'Moral Suasion.' I questioned the appropriateness of the label, but the Colonel insisted with great gravity that the whip is the only 'moral suasion' a darky is capable of understanding. When punishment is inflicted on one of the Colonel's negroes, his feet are confined in the shackles, his arms tied above his head, and drawn by a stout cord up to one of the horizontal poles; then, his back bared to the waist, and standing on tip-toe, with every muscle stretched to its utmost tension, he takes 'de lashes.' A more severe but more unusual punishment is the 'thumb-screw.' In this a noose is passed around the negro's thumb and fore-finger, while the cord is thrown over the upper cross-pole, and the culprit is drawn up till his toes barely touch the ground. In this position the whole weight of the body rests on the thumb and fore-finger. The torture is excruciating, and strong, able-bodied men can endure it but a few moments. The Colonel naively told me that he had discontinued its practice, as several of his _women_ had nearly lost the use of their hands, and been incapacited for field labor, by its too frequent repetition. 'My ---- drivers,'[L] he added, 'have no discretion, and no humanity; if they have a pique against a nigger, they show him no mercy.' The old shanty I have described was now the place of the Overseer's confinement. Open as it was at top, bottom, and sides, it seemed an unsafe prison-house; but Jim had rendered its present occupant secure by placing 'de padlocks on him.' 'Where did you ca
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