Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-12-04
CONDITION OF THE AFRICANS ON
BOARD THE NIAGARA.

A letter from st. Vincent, Cape dc Verd Isl md,
to the London Times, announces the arrival there
Of the U. S. frigate Niagara, having on board the
Africans rescued by the Dolphin from the slave
brig Echo. The writer was permitted to see a
private letter from DR.. Rainey, the special agent
Of the Government of the United States, to a
friend in England, in which he says:
We have had n difficult and somewhat unusual
service to perform in restoring a few unfortunate
Africans to their own land. The Niagara pro-
ceeded to Charleston, where | Joined her on the
9th Of September. The yellow fever raging with
great violence in shat city at the time, the negroes
had been landed at Fort S%umpter, a few miles be-
low the city, where they were necessarily greatly
exposed and badly fed. They ate freely the she'll
fish wbich collected around the fort and died rap
idly. Their condition on leaving the brig Echo
was painful and disgusting in the extreme. They
had been huddled together closer THAI cattle,
and slept at night In as close contact as spoons
when packed together. Privation Of every kind.
coupled with disease, hal reduced all of them to
the fnerest skeletons, and to such a state of dcsue.
tude and debility. that, on entering the fort, they
could not so much as step over a small beam, one
foot high. 10 the doorway, but were compelled to
sit on il and balance themselves over. 1t is i'm.
possible for you to imagine their sad and distress
ed condition. ] ven now, on board Of our ship,
after one month of kind treatment, good food and
pure air, they appear CHASTITY in the extreme.
The Echo took on board ass at Kabenda. One
hundred and ~forty,one died on the passage, eight
died after the capture. thirty five died in Charles.
ton, and ffty'seven have died on board our frigate.
We received on board oil; Of these, 226 were men
and boys, 43 girls and women. and two infants.
Consequently, PA only remain, and many Of these
doubtless will die before we reach the coast. But
one woman has died CT the whole lot-a fact H.
Illustrative Of the greater fortitude of the female
sex. Yet, their number being smaller, and our
nation being gallant in all cases, their treatment
has been somewhat better than that of tho men.
Thus, 24l, or considerably more than half of these
poor creatures have died-a sad commentary on
the traffic, and paralleled perhaps only in the in.
fernal trade of coolies.
They are extremely filthy, and much prefer
nudity to dress. We have adopted the plan of
having q large hose turned on them twice a week,
with strong men at the engine. They appear we'll
enough satisfied with the bath, but cannot, even
by the lash, which we are compelled to employ
freely, be made to observe any other sanitary o,
decent habit. 1t requires a good large crew o.
men to keep the spar deck, where they are located
clean. When clothing was put on them in Char
.%eston, of which the negro slaves in the city con,
tributed several dray loads, they Immediately tore
it of, and rolled in the sand, and basked in the
sun.
know but few cases in which they NANTES,
any sympathy for one another, except to help
scratch each others backs. They give no atten
ton or sympathy whatsoever to the sick and dy
ing. When one is dead, the body may lie fol
hours among them in immediate contact, yet un
noticed. But as soon us the soul has fed, they
steal the blanket of the deceased, and most I'm
tremendously proceed to appropriate his bread
spoons and bag. During the process Of burial
they never manifest the slightest concern. A moIt
ssolid, brutalized, pitiable set Of human beings
never beheld.
All of them take medicine without a word o
objection, yet whenever one sickens he is almos
certain 10 die. We found them with scurvy, diar
rhea. aud ophthalmia, and relieved very mucl
with the former and latter. They now have alst
catarrh, influenza, scurvy and diarrhna. 1t il
wholly impossible to intelligently diagnos,
their symptoms, or to provide for them MS on,
would wish. We have given them all the aid tina
money literally expended. and directed by intelli
gent Christian sympathies. could dictate. Blu
they are a set of poor, miserable beings. who viii
probably soon relapse into their old state. l an
sure they would have been much happier as slave
in America /; but the curse would be upon US, 70
slavery always operates far more disadvantageou
y on the white owners than on the negroes them
selves.