A SLAVE-SHIP. 
345 
There is something very exhilarating in ap¬ 
proaching land, or entering a friendly port, after a 
long voyage; and the pleasure we felt on this 
occasion was so much increased by the novel and 
delightful landscapes incessantly opening to our 
view, as we sailed along the bay, that we were 
unwilling for a moment to leave the deck. Our 
enjoyment was, however, interrupted by a spec¬ 
tacle adapted to awaken sensations very different 
indeed from those inspired by the loveliness and 
peace of the scenery around us. 
We had proceeded about half way to the 
anchorage, when we approached a brig sailing also 
into the harbour, which, as we came alongside of 
her, appeared to be a slave-ship returning from 
the coast of Africa. The morning was fine, and 
the air refreshing, and this had probably induced 
the cruel keepers to bring their wretched captives 
up from the dungeons of pestilence and death in 
which they had been confined. The central part of 
the deck was crowded with almost naked Africans, 
constituting part of the cargo of the gloomy look¬ 
ing vessel. 
Though their ages appeared various, the majo¬ 
rity seemed to have just arrived at that period of 
human life, when the prospects of man are 
brightest, and the hopes of future happiness more 
distinct and glowing, than during any other por¬ 
tion of his existence : they were most of them, so 
far as we could judge, from fourteen to eighteen 
or twenty years of age; some were younger. 
We regarded them with a degree of melancholy 
interest, which for a time rendered us insensible 
to the beauties of nature every where spread 
before our eyes. Our passing, however, appeared 
to affect them but little. The greater part of 
