332 HISTORY OF THE [book iv. 
of room, is added the necessary provision of a re¬ 
gularly qualified surgeon; to whom, as well as to 
the ship master, very liberal encouragement is 
given, to induce both of them to exert every pro¬ 
vident endeavour in preserving their unfortunate 
captives in health and spirits: the sum of one hun¬ 
dred pounds being allowed to the master, and fifty 
pounds to the surgeon, if the loss on the voyage 
amounts to no more than two in the hundred, and 
half of those sums if the loss shall not exceed three 
in the hundred. 
Of the full effect which this system of restric¬ 
tion and encouragement hath hitherto produced in 
all the British colonies, I am not informed; but 
judging by returns which I have obtained from one 
of the principal marts in the West Indies, it would 
seem to have been found, in a very eminent de¬ 
gree, advantageous and salutary. At the port of 
Montego-Bay, in Jamaica, the negroes imported 
between the 18th day of November 1789 and the 
15th of July 1791, were 9,993, in 38 ships; the 
mortality at sea, exclusive of the loss of 54 ne¬ 
groes in a mutiny on the coast, was 746, which is 
somewhat under seven per cent, on the whole 
number of slaves. This, though much less, I be¬ 
lieve, than the average loss which commonly hap¬ 
pened before the regulating law took place, is, I 
admit, sufficiently great; and, had it prevailed in 
any degree equally on the several ships concerned, 
might, perhaps, have been considered as a fair es¬ 
timate of the general mortality consequent on the 
