suddenly surprise the unsuspecting
natives; at other times the victims are decoyed on board the vessel,
under some kind pretence or other, and then lashed to the mast, or
chained in the hold. Is it not very natural for the Africans to say
"devilish white?"

All along the shores of this devoted country, terror and distrust
prevail. The natives never venture out without arms, when a vessel is in
sight, and skulk through their own fields, as if watched by a panther.
All their worst passions are called into full exercise, and all their
kindlier feelings smothered. Treachery, fraud and violence desolate the
country, rend asunder the dearest relations, and pollute the very
fountains of justice. The history of the negro, whether national or
domestic, is written in blood. Had half the skill and strength employed
in the slave-trade been engaged in honorable commerce, the native
princes would long ago have directed their energies towards clearing
the country, destroying wild beasts, and introducing the arts and
refinements of civilized life. Under such influences, Africa might
become an earthly paradise;--the white man's avarice has made it a den
of wolves.

Having thus glanced at the miserable effects of this system on the
condition of Africa, we will now follow the poor _slave_ through his
wretched wanderings, in order to give some idea of his physical
suffering, his mental and moral degradation.

Husbands are torn from their wives, children from their parents, while
the air is filled with the shrieks and lamentations of the bereaved.
Sometimes they are brought from a remote country; obliged to wander over
mountains and through deserts; chained together in herds; driven by the
whip; scorched by a tropical sun; compelled to carry heavy bales of
merchandise; suffering with hunger and thirst; worn down with fatigue;
and often leaving their bones to whiten in the desert. A large troop of
slaves, taken by the Sultan of Fezzan, died in the desert for want of
food. In some places, travellers meet with fifty or sixty skeletons in
a day, of which the largest proportion were no doubt slaves, on their
way to European markets. Sometimes the poor creatures refuse to go a
step further, and even the lacerating whip cannot goad them on; in such
cases, they become the prey of wild beasts, more merciful than white men.

Those who arrive at the seacoast, are in a state of desperation and
despair. Their purchasers are so well aware of this, an