98 
MISSIONARY LIFE 
board. So great was the stench coming from the 
hold when the hatches were opened that none 
could endure it long. Perhaps none hut crews of 
slave-vessels would have endured it at all. On the 
passage a man was kept at the top of the main- 
mast all the time to look out for cruisers and other 
vessels, so as to avoid detection. The vessel came 
near being taken by a man-of-war on the American 
coast, and was kept from taking on board the 
cargo of slaves for six weeks, by a man-of-war on 
the African coast. 
After the slaves were landed, the vessel was 
burned ; but with the loss of it, and of the three hun- 
dred slaves on the passage, five thousand dollars 
were still cleared for the owners. The captain 
was offered great wages to make a second trip, hut 
refused, giving ae a reason, that he could not be 
so inhuman, so utterly sold to cruelty, as those of 
necessity must he who traffic in slaves on the high 
seas. He also told me that he was closely pursued 
hy officers in this country, and would have been 
taken in all probability had he not fied to another. . 
The only reason why I refer to this circum- 
stance is to show that cruelty is inseparably 
connected with the system of slavery, and that for 
gain white men are quite as inhuman as are 
African heathens. The love of power and money, 
connected with the system of slavery, has wrung 
