The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast, was the
sea, and a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo.The noise and clamor with which this is
attended, and the eagerness visible in the countenances of the buyers, serve not
a little to increase the apprehension of terrified Africans, who may well be
supposed to consider them as the ministers of that destruction to which they
think themselves devoted.One day, when we had a smooth sea
and moderate wind, two of my wearied countrymen who were chained
together (I was near them at the time), preferring death to such a life of misery,
somehow made through the nettings and jumped into the sea; immediately,
another quite dejected fellow, who, on account of his illness, was suffered to be
out of irons, also followed their example; and I believe many more would very

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The Americans (C) McDougal Littell Inc.Are the dearest friends and relations now rendered more dear by their
separation from their kindred, still to be parted from each other, and thus
prevented from cheering the gloom of slavery, with the small comfort of being
together, and mingling their sufferings and sorrows?I had never experienced anything of this kind
before, and, although not being used to the water, I naturally feared the
element the first time I saw it, yet, nevertheless, could I have got over the
nettings, I would have jumped over the side, but I could not; and besides, the
crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained down to the decks,
lest we should leap into the water; and I have seen some of these poor African
prisoners most severely cut, for attempting to do so, and hourly whipped for
not eating.The
closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the
ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself,
almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon
became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought
on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died....
One day they had taken a number of fishes; and when they had killed and
satisfied themselves with as many as they thought fit, to our astonishment who
were on deck, rather than give any of them to us to eat, as we expected, they
tossed the remaining fish into the sea again, although we begged and prayed for
some as well as we could, but in vain; and some of my countrymen, being
pressed by hunger, took an opportunity, when they thought no one saw them,
of trying to get a little privately; but they were discovered, and the attempt
procured them some very severe floggings.When I looked round the ship too,
and saw a large furnace of copper boiling, and a multitude of black people of
every description chained together, every one of their countenances expressing
dejection and sorrow, I no longer doubted of my fate; and, quite overpowered
with horror and anguish, I fell motionless on the deck and fainted.I now saw myself deprived of all chance of returning to my native country, or
even the least glimpse of hope of gaining the shore, which I now considered as
friendly; and I even wished for my former slavery in preference to my present
situation, which was filled with horrors of every kind, still heightened by my
ignorance of what I was to undergo.They told me I was not, and one of the crew brought me a small portion of
spirituous liquor in a wine glass; but, being afraid of him, I would not take it out

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The Americans (C) McDougal Littell Inc.I then was a little revived, and thought, if it
were no worse than working, my situation was not so desperate; but still I
feared I should be put to death, the white people looked and acted, as I
thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen among any people such
instances of brutal cruelty; and this not only shown towards us blacks, but also
to some of the whites themselves.Indeed, such were the horrors of my views
and fears at the moment, that, if ten thousand worlds had been my own, I
would have freely parted with them all to have exchanged my condition with
that of the meanest slave in my own country.One white man in particular I saw, when we
were permitted to be on deck, flogged so unmercifully with a large rope near
the foremast, that he died in consequence of it; and they tossed him over the
side as they would have done a brute.The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably
loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us
had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole
ship's cargo were confined together, it became absolutely pestilential....thus aggravates distress, and adds fresh
horrors even to the wretchedness of slavery.One of the blacks, therefore, took it from him and gave it to me,
and I took a little down my palate, which, instead of reviving me, as they
thought it would, threw me into the greatest consternation at the strange feeling
it produced, having never tasted any such liquor before.I then asked where were their

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The Americans (C) McDougal Littell Inc.O ye nominal
Christians!of his hand.