ugh they were ready enough to enter into other trades.

[Footnote A: I abstain from mentioning the names of the captain of this
or of other vessels, lest the recording of them should give pain to
relatives who can have had no share in their guilt.]

The relation of these circumstances made me acquainted with two things,
of which I had not before heard; namely, the aversion of seamen to
engage, and the bad usage of them when engaged in this cruel trade; into
both which I determined immediately to inquire.

I conceived that it became me to be very cautious about giving ear too
readily to reports; and therefore, as I could easily learn the truth of
one of the assertions which had been made to me, I thought it prudent to
ascertain this, and to judge, by the discovery I should make concerning
it, what degree of credit might be due to the rest. Accordingly, by
means of my late friend, Truman Harford, the eldest son of the
respectable family of that name, to which I have already mentioned
myself to have been introduced, I gained access to the muster-roll of
the ship Brothers. On looking over the names of her last crew, I found
the melancholy truth confirmed, that thirty-two of them had been placed
among the dead.

Having ascertained this circumstance, I became eager to inquire into the
truth of the others, but more particularly of the treatment of one of
the seamen, which, as it was reported to me, exceeded all belief. His
name was John Dean; he was a black man, but free. The report was, that
for a trifling circumstance, for which he was in no-wise to blame, the
captain had fastened him with his belly to the deck, and that, in this
situation, he had poured hot pitch upon his back, and made incisions in
it with hot tongs.

Before however I attempted to learn the truth of this barbarous
proceeding, I thought I would look into the ship's muster-roll, to see
if I could find the name of such a man. On examination I found it to be
the last on the list. John Dean, it appeared, had been one of the
original crew, having gone on board, from Bristol, on the twenty-second
day of July, 1785.

On inquiring where Dean was to be found, my informant told me that he
had lately left Bristol for London. I was shown, however, to the house
where he had lodged. The name of his landlord was Donovan. On talking
with him on the subject, he assured me that the report I had heard was
true; for that while he resided with him he had heard an account