334 
HISTORY OF THE [book iv. 
and sale, was no more than sixty-nine, or not quite 
three-fourths per cent. Enough therefore hath been 
effected to demonstrate, that it is by no means im¬ 
possible, nor indeed a very difficult matter, to render 
the conveyance of negroes from Africa to the West 
Indies, as little prejudicial to their healths, as the 
transportation of any other body of people across the 
ocean in any part of the world. Few voyages were 
more destructive to the seamen than that of lord 
Anson, and none less so than those of captain Cook; 
an incontestable proof that the mortality, which has 
commonly occurred at sea, has at all times arisen 
from ill-constructed ships, and neglect, or impro¬ 
per management on board.* 
Concerning the West India planters, as they are 
entirely innocent and ignorant of the manner in 
which the slave trade is conducted, (having no other 
concern therein than becoming purchasers of what 
British acts of parliament have made objects of sale), 
so it is equally consonant to their interests and their 
wishes, that effectual means should be pursued for 
preserving the health of the negroes, by securing to 
them proper and reasonable accommodation on the 
passage. The assembly of Jamaica, instead of re¬ 
monstrating against that augmentation in the price 
* Perhaps no plan is so likely to save the lives and preserve the 
healths of the negroes at sea, as that of limiting the slave-ships to two 
hundred tons burthen, and allowing them to receive on board only 
two, or two and and a half to a ton. Small vessels are soon loaded ; 
and from a multitude of examples that I have seen, it appears to me 
that the gfeatest mortality happens in the larger ships. 
