earch of pepper, when a large _proa_, or Malay
canoe, arrived at the landing crammed with prisoners, from one of the
islands. The unfortunate victims were to be sold _as slaves_. They
were the _first slaves_ I had seen! As the human cargo was
disembarked, I observed one of the Malays dragging a handsome young
female by the hair along the beach. Cramped by long confinement in the
wet bottom of the canoe, the shrieking girl was unable to stand or
walk. My blood was up quickly. I ordered the brute to desist from his
cruelty; and, as he answered with a derisive laugh, I felled him to
the earth with a single blow of my boat-hook. This impetuous
vindication of humanity forced us to quit Quallahbattoo in great
haste; but, at the age of seventeen, my feelings in regard to slavery
were very different from what this narrative may disclose them to have
become in later days.

When my apprenticeship was over, I made two or three successful
voyages as mate, until--I am ashamed to say,--that a "disappointment"
caused me to forsake my employers, and to yield to the temptations of
reckless adventure. This sad and early blight overtook me at
Antwerp,--a port rather noted for the backslidings of young seamen.
My hard-earned pay soon diminished very sensibly, while I was
desperately in love with a Belgian beauty, who made a complete fool of
me--for at least three months! From Antwerp, I betook myself to Paris
to vent my second "disappointment." The pleasant capital of _la belle
France_ was a cup that I drained at a single draught. Few young men of
eighteen or twenty have lived faster. The gaming tables at Frascati's
and the Palais Royal finished my consumptive purse; and, leaving an
empty trunk as a recompense for my landlord, I took "French leave" one
fine morning, and hastened to sea.

The reader will do me the justice to believe that nothing but the
direst necessity compelled me to embark on board a _British_ vessel,
bound to Brazil. The captain and his wife who accompanied him, were
both stout, handsome Irish people, of equal age, but addicted to
fondness for strong and flavored drinks.

My introduction on board was signalized by the ceremonious bestowal
upon me of the key of the spirit-locker, with a strict injunction from
the commander to deny more than three glasses daily either to his wife
or himself. I hardly comprehended this singular order at first, but,
in a few days, I became aware of its propriety. About eleven o'clock
he