58 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



der of those whose hearts are united by the tenderest rela- 

 tions, husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers 

 and sisters ; the confinement in irons, on board of crowded 

 ships, in the midst of darkness, pestilence, and death ; the 

 second rending asunder of those whom mutual sufferings 

 have endeared to each other, when the promiscuous vendue 

 is made ; and the stripes, the labor, and the anguish of 

 mind which these unhappy beings endure through a life of 

 servitude, certainly form a picture of horror from which 

 a Christian ought to turn with mingled emotions of sorrow, 

 pity, and indignation. A captain of an African ship, who 

 certainly could have no motive to exaggerate, as the facts 

 which he related made directly against himself, once told 

 me the following story: 'We were sailing,' said he, 'on 

 the ocean, with a cargo of slaves, when, about midnight, the 

 moon shining clear, some of the stoutest and bravest rose 

 upon us and gained the deck. They had no fire-arms and 

 no weapons, except the loose articles which they could pick 

 up on deck. We therefore succeeded in driving them to- 

 ward the stern of the ship. As I understood something of 

 their language, I stepped forward, and told them that they 

 might take their choice, either to return peaceably into 

 the hold, or I Avould shoot the first man that refused through 

 the heart. A stout fellow, who appeared to be their leader, 

 instantly stepped out, offered his breast to my pistol, and 

 bade me shoot him for the first. I fired, and he fell 

 dead at my feet. A second and a third followed his exam- 

 ple, and met the same fate. A fourth succeeded in their 

 place, but the sight of the three men bleeding at my feet 

 was too much : I could proceed no further ; and I began to 

 feel also that I was diminishing the profits of my voyage. 

 By this time the survivors were so disheartened that they 

 surrendered at discretion, and we confined them in such a 

 manner as to prevent a repetition of the tragedy.' 



" That the above relation was given to the writer, can be 

 satisfactorily proved, if necessary. This is only one shade 



