xtremities. They endeavoured to force
themselves up the gratings, and to pull down a partition which had been
made for a sick-birth; when they were fired upon and repressed. The next
morning they were brought up one by one; when it appeared that a boy had
been killed, who was afterwards thrown into the sea.

The two men, however, who had forced themselves out of irons, did not
come up with the rest, but found their way into the hold, and armed
themselves with knives from a cask, which had been opened for trade. One
of them being called to in the African tongue by a black trader, who was
then on board, came up, but with a knife in each hand; when one of the
crew, supposing him yet hostile, shot him in the right side and killed
him on the spot.

The other remained in the hold for twelve hours. Scalding water mixed
with fat was poured down upon him, to make him come up. Though his flesh
was painfully blistered by these means, he kept below. A promise was
then made to him in the African tongue by the same trader, that no
injury should be done him if he would come among them. To this at length
he consented; but on observing, when he was about half way up, that a
sailor was armed between decks, he flew to him, and clasped him, and
threw him down. The sailor fired his pistol in the scuffle, but without
effect; he contrived, however, to fracture his skull with the butt end
of it, so that the slave died on the third day.

The second circumstance took place after the arrival of the same vessel
at St. Vincent's. There was a boy-slave on board, who was very ill and
emaciated. The mate, who, by his cruelty, had been the author of the
former mischief, did not choose to expose him to sale with the rest,
lest the small sum he would fetch in that situation should lower the
average price, and thus bring down[A] the value of the privileges of the
officers of the ship. This boy was kept on board, and no provisions
allowed him.

[Footnote A: Officers are said to be allowed the privilege of one or
more slaves, according to their rank. When the cargo is sold, the sum
total fetched is put down, and this being divided by the number of
slaves sold, gives the average price of each. Such officers, then,
receive this average price for one or more slaves, according to their
privileges, but never the slaves themselves.]

The mate had suggested the propriety of throwing him overboard, but no
one would do it. On the ninth day he expired, having ne