496 



APPEXDIX III. 



faculties of speech, hearing, &c., that there is no disease 

 present, and that the slave does not snore in sleeping, 

 which is counted a very great fault, next proceeds to 

 examine the person : the mouth and teeth are first 

 inspected, and afterwards every part of the body in 

 succession, not even excepting the breasts, &c., of the 

 girls, many of whom T have seen handled in the most 

 indecent manner in the public market by their purchasers ; 

 indeed, there is every reason to believe that the slave- 

 dealers almost universally force the young females to 

 submit to their lust previous to their being disposed of. 

 The slave is then made to run or walk a little way, to 

 show there is no defect about the feet ; and after which, 

 if the price be agreed to, they arc stripped of their finery 

 and delivered over to their future master. I have 

 frequently counted between twenty and thirty of these 

 files in the market, some of which contained about thirty. 

 Women with children newly- born, hanging at their 

 breasts, and others so old tluy can scarcely walk, are 

 sometimes seen dragged about in this numner. T observed 

 they had in general a very dejected look ; some groups 

 appeared so ill- fed that their bones seemed as if ready to 

 penetrate the skin. From such scenes one turns away 

 with pity and indignation, and while he execrates the 

 conductor of this infamous traffic, blushes that his country 

 should ever have sanctioned such iniquity, and remembers 

 with exultation the men who freed her from so great a 

 disgrace. 



The number of inhabitants on the island may bo 

 estimated at 200,000 (Note 22), three-fourths of whom at 

 least are slaves. The Souallee tribe appears to have sprung 

 from a mixture of Galla negroes, Arabs, natives of India, 



