324 



VISIT TO A SLAVE BRIG. 



[1829. 



and Browne's Point on the south. Here the water is deep ; but as we 

 advance into the bay, it suddenly becomes more shallow, until it is re- 

 duced to twenty fathoms ; it then lessens gradually to six or eight 

 fathoms. 



Half a mile from the head of this bay, on its south shore, is a deep 

 valley, which is covered with a forest of large timber, in the openings 

 of which vegetation appeared very luxuriant. At the mouth of a small 

 river which empties into the head of this bay, we saw elephants, and 

 freely communicated with the natives, who were very anxious to open 

 a trade with us, by exchanging cattle, sheep, hogs, and vegetables, for 

 cutlery of any kind, beads, and old clothes, particularly red flannel 

 shirts. 



The next conspicuous land to the south is Cape Negro, before men- 

 tioned, inlatitude 15° 41' S., long. 11° 57' E., on which is erected the 

 celebrated alabaster pillar, with the arms of Portugal ; and eight miles 

 south-west-by-south from this cape is the entrance to the port of Alex- 

 ander, already described. 



In speaking of the Bay of Cows, at Benguela, I ought to have 

 added that a sand-bank puts off from the north point of the bay to the 

 distance of one mile, which it is necessary to avoid, as there is always 

 a swell rolling in upon it, with a considerable degree of violence. The 

 south and west sides of the bay are entirely clear of dangers two 

 cables' length from the shore. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Visit to a Slave Brig — Cruelty and Suffering — Slaves flogged to Death — Strength 

 of conjugal Affection in an African — An affecting Scene — Beard the Tigers in 

 their Den — Cowardice of Guilt — How to abolish the Slave-trade — English 

 Colony of SierraLeone — United States' Colony of Liberia — Sail from Benguela — 

 Homeward-bound — Island of Ascension — The Fourth of July, and a vertical Sun 

 — Arrive at New-York — Kind Reception by the Owners, and a still kinder one 

 by somebody else. 



I have already informed the reader* that when I entered the Bay of 

 Benguela there were no less than four slave dealers from Brazil, wait- 

 ing to complete their cargoes. One of these receptacles of human 

 misery lay at anchor within fifty fathoms of the Antarctic ; and I was 

 so distressingly annoyed by the shrieks and groans of its hapless in- 

 mates, the wretched victims of unfeeling avarice, that I resolved to visit 

 the vessel, and make an offer of such medical aid as might have a 

 tendency to alleviate the anguish of the sufferers. With this determina- 

 tion I ordered a boat to be manned, and boarded the brig without 

 ceremony. 



I was received by the officers on deck with a certain degree of 

 courtesy, not unmingled with surprise ; which, when I made known the 

 object of my visit, assumed an expression of derision or contempt. 

 Firmly adhering to my original purpose, however, I insisted upon 



