her to lose their lives, than survive their
liberty. The person whom you see in the middle, is the father of the two
young men, who are chained to him on each side. His wife and two of his
children were killed in the attack, and his father being wounded, and,
on account of his age, _incapable of servitude_, was left bleeding
on the spot where this transaction happened."
"With respect to those who are now passing us, and are immediately
behind the former, I can give you no other intelligence, than that some
of them, to about the number of thirty, were taken in the same skirmish.
Their tribe was said to have been numerous before the attack; these
however are _all that are left alive_. But with respect to the
unhappy man, who is now opposite to us, and whom you may distinguish, as
he is now looking back and wringing his hands in despair, I can inform
you with more precision. He is an unfortunate convict. He lived only
about five days journey from the factory. He went out with his king to
hunt, and was one of his train; but, through too great an anxiety to
afford his royal master diversion, he roused the game from the covert
rather sooner than was expected. The king, exasperated at this
circumstance, immediately sentenced him to slavery. His wife and
children, fearing lest the tyrant should extend the punishment to
themselves, _which is not unusual_, fled directly to the woods,
where they were all devoured."
"The people, whom you see close behind the unhappy convict, form a
numerous body, and reach a considerable way. They speak a language,
which no person in this part of Africa can understand, and their
features, as you perceive, are so different from those of the rest, that
they almost appear a distinct race of men. From this circumstance I
recollect them. They are the subjects of a very distant prince, who
agreed with the _slave merchants, for a quantity of spirituous
liquors_, to furnish him with a stipulated number of slaves. He
accordingly surrounded, and set fire to one of his own villages in the
night, and seized these people, who were unfortunately the inhabitants,
as they were escaping from the flames. I first saw them as the merchants
were driving them in, about two days ago. They came in a large body, and
were tied together at the neck with leather thongs, which permitted
them to walk at the distance of about a yard from one another. Many of
them were loaden with elephants teeth, which had been purchased at t
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