chap, ii.] WEST INDIES. 
235 
CHAPTER II. 
Of negroes in ct state of slavery.—Preliminary observa¬ 
tions.—Origin of the slave trade.—Portuguese settle¬ 
ments on ike African coast.—Negroes introduced into 
Hispaniola in 1502 , and the slave trade revived at the 
instance of Barth, de las Cassas , in 1517 .— Hawkins’’s 
voyages to the coast, in 1562 and 1563 .—African Com¬ 
pany established by James I.—Second charter in 1631 
by Charles I.—Third charter in 1662 .-—Fourth char¬ 
ter in 1672 .—Effect of the Petition and Declaration of 
Rights in 1688 . —Acts of the 9th and 10 th of William 
and Mary, c. 26 .—New regulations in 1750 .— Descrip¬ 
tion of the African coast.—Forts and factories. — Ex¬ 
ports from Great Britain.—Number of negroes trans¬ 
ported annually to the British colonies.—State of the 
trade from 1771 to 1787 .—Number of negroes at this 
time exported annually by the different ■nations of 
Europe. 
r T'^HE progress of my work has now brought me 
JL to the contemplation of human nature in its 
most debased and abject state;—to the sad pros¬ 
pect of 450,000 reasonable beings (in the English 
islands only) in a state of barbarity and slavery; o 
