el as she
lay, and though threatened day and night by the natives, who kept up a
constant fire from the neighbouring heights and seemed preparing to
board us, maintained our hold upon the craft until the happy arrival of
my ship, which, with a few rounds of grape, soon cleared the
neighbourhood of our assailants. I may mention that, in the event of our
having been boarded, we had prepared a warm reception for our enemies in
the shape of buckets of boiling oil mixed with lime, which would have
been poured on their devoted heads while in the act of climbing up the
side. As they kept, however, at a respectful distance, our remedy was
not tried. The vessel, a splendid brig of 400 tons, was then pulled off
her rocky bed, and I was sent in charge of her to Rio de Janeiro. And
now comes the strangest part of my adventures on this occasion.

On the early morning after I had parted company with my commanding
officer, before the dawn, I ran accidentally right into a schooner
loaded with slaves, also coming from Africa, bound to the same place as
had been the brig, my prize.

Without the slightest hesitation, before the shock and surprise caused
by the collision had given time for reflection or resistance, I took
possession of this vessel, put the crew in irons, and hoisted English
colours. There were 460 Africans on board, and what a sight it was!

The schooner had been eighty-five days at sea. They were short of water
and provisions; three distinct diseases--namely, small-pox, ophthalmia,
and diarrhoea in its worst form--had broken out while coming across among
the poor doomed wretches.

On opening the hold we saw a mass of arms, legs, and bodies all crushed
together. Many of the bodies to whom these limbs belonged were dead or
dying. In fact, when we had made some sort of clearance among them we
found in that fearful hold eleven dead bodies lying among the living
freight. Water! water! was the cry. Many of them as soon as free jumped
into the sea, partly from the delirious state they were in, partly
because they had been told that, if taken by the English, they would be
tortured and eaten. The latter I fancy they were accustomed to, but the
former they had a wholesome dread of.

Can Mrs. Beecher Stowe beat this? It is, I can assure my readers, a very
mild description of what I saw on board the first cargo of slaves I made
the acquaintance of, and by which I was so deeply impressed, that I have
ever since been sceptical of