148 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



feed him and clothe him. Hence a negro is capital, 

 put out at a very high interest, but because of elope- 

 ment and death certainly very unstable. 



Other negroes were sold and at divers prices, from 

 120 to 160 and 180 Pd., and thus at 4-5 to 6 times the 

 average annual hire. Their value is determined by 

 age, health, and capacity. A cooper, indispensable in 

 pitch and tar making, cost his purchaser 250 Pd., and 

 his 15-year old boy, bred to the same work, fetched 

 150 Pd. The father was put up first; his anxiety lest 

 his son fall to another purchaser and be separated 

 from him was more painful than his fear of getting 

 into the hands of a hard master. " Who buys me, he 

 was continually calling out, " must buy my son too," 

 and it happened as he desired, for his purchaser, if not 

 from motives of humanity and pity, was for his own 

 advantage obliged so to do. An elderly man and his 

 wife were let go at 200 Pd. But these poor creatures 

 are not always so fortunate ; often the husband is 

 snatched from his wife, the children from their 

 mother, if this better answers the purpose of buyer or 

 seller, and no heed is given the doleful prayers with 

 which they seek to prevent a separation. 



One cannot without pity and sympathy see these 

 poor creatures exposed on a raised platform, to be 

 carefully examined and felt by buyers. Sorrow and 

 despair are discovered in their look, and they must 

 anxiously expect whether they are to fall to a hard- 

 hearted barbarian or a philanthropist. If negresses 

 are put up, scandalous and indecent questions and 

 jests are permitted. The auctioneer is at pains to en- 

 large upon the strength, beauty, health, capacity, 

 faithfulness, and sobriety of his wares, so as to obtain 



