6 
SLAVE MARKET. 
Indeed, after England, we found the filth of St. Sebastian, and its 
inhabitants, quite disgusting. Even the Persians could exult, for with 
great truth they said that their towns were clean to what they saw here. 
It must, however, be allowed, that this is greatly owing to the negro 
community, who are so much more numerous than the other classes, 
and who, in certain emergencies, have scarcely a restriction beyond 
that of the brute creation. Of this we could too well judge, because 
the Campo di Lampedosa, the large square that was situated before our 
house, was so constantly infested by them, at all hours of the day, that 
guards were placed to keep them at a distance. 
During the time we were at the Brazils, the slave trade was in its 
full vigour, and a visit to the slave market impressed us more with the 
iniquity of this traffic, than any thing that could be said or written on 
the subject. On each side of the street where the market was held, 
were large rooms, in which the negroes were kept; and, during the 
day, they were seen in melancholy groupes, waiting to be delivered 
from the hands of the trader, whose dreadful economy might be traced 
in their persons, which at that time, were little better than skeletons. 
If such were their state on shore, with the advantages of air and space, 
what must have been their condition on board the ship that brought 
them hither? It is not unfrequent that slaves escape to the woods, 
where they are almost as frequently retaken. When this is the case, 
they have an iron collar put about their necks, with a long hooked arm 
