r husband and
children, and having no desire to live without them, in the agony of her
soul jumped overboard, and drowned herself. She was not chained.

It was almost impossible to keep that part of the boat clean.

On landing at Natchez, the slaves were all carried to the slave-pen, and
there kept one week, during which time, several of them were sold. Mr.
Walker fed his slaves well. We took on board, at St. Louis, several
hundred pounds of bacon (smoked meat) and corn-meal, and his slaves were
better fed than slaves generally were in Natchez, so far as my
observation extended.

At the end of a week, we left for New Orleans, the place of our final
destination, which we reached in two days. Here the slaves were placed
in a negro-pen, where those who wished to purchase could call and
examine them. The negro-pen is a small yard, surrounded by buildings,
from fifteen to twenty feet wide, with the exception of a large gate
with iron bars. The slaves are kept in the buildings during the night,
and turned out into the yard during the day. After the best of the stock
was sold at private sale at the pen, the balance were taken to the
Exchange Coffee House Auction Rooms, kept by Isaac L. McCoy, and sold at
public auction. After the sale of this lot of slaves, we left New
Orleans for St. Louis.

CHAPTER VI.

On our arrival at St. Louis, I went to Dr. Young, and told him
that I did not wish to live with Mr. Walker any longer. I was heart-sick
at seeing my fellow-creatures bought and sold. But the Dr. had hired me
for the year, and stay I must. Mr. Walker again commenced purchasing
another gang of slaves. He bought a man of Colonel John O'Fallon, who
resided in the suburbs of the city. This man had a wife and three
children. As soon as the purchase was made, he was put in jail for safe
keeping, until we should be ready to start for New Orleans. His wife
visited him while there, several times, and several times when she went
for that purpose was refused admittance.

In the course of eight or nine weeks Mr. Walker had his cargo of human
flesh made up. There was in this lot a number of old men and women, some
of them with gray locks. We left St. Louis in the steamboat Carlton,
Captain Swan, bound for New Orleans. On our way down, and before we
reached Rodney, the place where we made our first stop, I had to prepare
the old slaves for market. I was ordered to have the old men's whiskers
shaved off, and the grey hairs plu