239 



scenes in the day. A part of the great square 

 is surrounded with arcades, above which is one 

 of those long wooden galleries, which are com- 

 mon in warm countries. This was the place 

 where slaves, brought from the coast of Africa, 

 were sold. Of all the European governments 

 Denmark was the first, and for a long time the 

 only power, that abolished the trade ; notwith- 

 standing which, the first negroes we saw expos- 

 ed for sale had been landed from a Danish 

 slave-ship. What are the duties of humanity, 

 national honour, or the laws of his country, to 

 a man stimulated by the speculations of sordid 

 interest ? 



The slaves exposed to sale were young men 

 from fifteen to twenty years of age. Every morn- 

 ing cocoa-nut oil was distributed among them, 

 with which they rubbed their bodies, to give 

 their skin a black polish. The persons who 

 came to purchase examined the teeth of these 

 slaves, to judge of their age and health ; forcing 

 open their mouths as we do those of horses in 

 a market. This degrading custom dates from 

 Africa, as is proved by the faithful picture, which, 

 in one of his dramatic pieces*, Cervantes, re- 

 leased from his long captivity among the Moors, 

 has drawn of the sale of the Christian slaves at 



* El Trato de Argel. Jorn. II. (Viage al Parnassa, 1784, 

 p. 316). 



