BY ALEXANDER FALCONBRIDGE, Late Surgeon in the African Trade LONDON: Printed by J. Phillips, George Yard, Lombard-street. MDCCLXXXVIII....

The following sheets are intended to lay before the public the present state of a branch of the British commerce, which, ever since its existence, has been held in detestation by all good men, but at this time more particularly engages the attention of the nation, and is become the object of general reprobation. Leaving to abler pens to expatiate more at large on the injustice and inhumanity of the Slave Trade , I shall content myself with giving some account of the hardships which the unhappy o

On the arrival of the ships at Bonny, and New Calabar, it is customary for them to unbend the sails, strike the yards and topmasts, and begin to build what they denominate a house . This is effected in the following manner. The sailors first lash the booms and yards from mast to mast, in order to form a ridge-pole . About ten feet above the deck, several spars, equal in length to the ridge pole, are next lashed to the standing rigging, and form a wall-plate. Across the ridge-pole and wall-plate,

After permission has been obtained for breaking trade , as it is termed, the captains go ashore, from time to time, to examine the negroes that are exposed to sale, and to make their purchases. The unhappy wretches thus disposed of, are bought by the black traders at fairs, which are held for that purpose, at the distance of upwards of two hundred miles from the sea coast; and these fairs are said to be supplied from an interior part of the country. Many negroes, upon being questioned relative t

As soon as the wretched Africans, purchased at the fairs, fall into the hands of the black traders, they experience an earnest of those dreadful sufferings which they are doomed in future to undergo. And there is not the least room to doubt, but that even before they can reach the fairs, great numbers perish from cruel usage, want of food, travelling through inhospitable deserts, &c. They are brought from the places where they are purchased to Bonny, &c. in canoes; at the bottom

When the ships arrive in the West-Indies, (the chief mart for this inhuman merchandize), the slaves are disposed of, as I have before observed, by different methods. Sometimes the mode of disposal, is that of selling them by what is termed a scramble ; and a day is soon fixed for that purpose. But previous thereto, the sick, or refuse slaves, of which there are frequently many, are usually conveyed on shore, and sold at a tavern by vendue, or public auction. These, in general, are purchased by t

The evils attendant on this inhuman traffick, are not confined to the purchased negroes. The sufferings of the seamen employed in the slave-trade, from the unwholesomeness of the climate, the inconveniences of the voyage, the brutal severity of the commanders, and other causes, fall very little short, nor prove in proportion to the numbers, less destructive to the sailors than negroes. The sailors on board the Guinea ships, are not allowed always an equal quantity of beef and pork with those bel

Bonny , or Banny , is a large town situate in the Bight of Benin, on the coast of Guinea, lying about twelve miles from the sea, on the east side of a river of the same name, opposite to a town called Peter-forte-side. It consists of a considerable number of very poor huts, built of upright poles, plaistered with a kind of red earth, and covered with mats. They are very low, being only one story. The floor is made of sand, which being constructed on swampy ground, does not long retain its firmne

ESSAY on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies. By the Rev. J. Ramsay , Vicar of Teston in Kent. 4s. Boards. An INQUIRY into the Effects of putting a Stop to the African Slave Trade, and of granting Liberty to the Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies. By J. Ramsay . 6 d. A REPLY to the Personal Invectives and Objections contained in Two Answers, published by certain anonymous Persons, to an Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves, in the Bri