The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-11-11
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beneath the upper one Having slowed .he bar
Tels of food and water in the hold q
occupy Is LITTLE space possible. row OF stanch
ions, fore and aft the keelson, and rising
just above the barrels, was erected These wer
connected by a ridge pole. and from this ridge
pole rafters were extended to the sides of th
ship. On the raftgrs unp,aned board
| wee laid. Thus deck laid that could b.
easily removed on occasion.
| The space between this deck and the uppe
! one was rarely, if ever, more than three fec
high. and cases on record where it was con
siderably Ices than two feet-in this country ever
as little eighteen inches.
! Most of the vessels used after the trade wa
outlawed were o! the small. single dccked class
Because the trade unlawful these SLAYER:
had TO be prepared TO pass as palm-oil buyer
when they were overhauled by cruiser. ant
they could not do that if they had a slave-deci
laid. Accordingly the slave-deck was not lais
! until the slaves the beach ready to EN-
bark. Being then in great haste the SLAYER die
not usually go To the trouble of erecting stanch
| ions and building his deck substantially. He
! merely laid his raftcrs timbCrs on the barrels
| as best h. might; epread the boards them
with nail driven in here and there. perhaps
but sometimes with never nail to hold then
| in place, and then the slaves brought or
board and damned into the thin space with les
| regard for their comfort than is shown now foI
hogs shipped in a twc-deck stock car.
But the limit of deviish ingenuity in slowing
slaves was not reached until the trade was out
lawed. To increase the number of slaves on tn,
deck they were then compelled to lie theil
sides, breast TO back. spoon fashion to use
the term then common. Where the 'tween-dech
space MAS two feet or more the slaves were
slowed ditting up in rows one crowded into tn,
lap of another, and with legs on legs, like rders
on crowded toboggan In storms the sailors
had TO put on the matches and seal tight the
| openings into the internal cesspool. II was as.
! serted by the naval officers who stationed
/ on the coast to stop the traffic that in certain
| states of the weather they could detect the odor
of SLAYER further away than they could see her
| on clear night. The odor often unmistak-
able at distance of five miles down wind.
One of the most horrible records of the
trade is that given by Drake in his "Reve-
lations Of Slave Smuggler," a part Of
which is quotednby the author. A Fart
of the sufferings of the slaves was due
to the necessities of an unlawful traffic:
others were caused by the malignant cru
city Of the captains. Mr.. Spears says:
How men and women were fogged to death; how
+, they died smiling under the blows, saying soon
| We shall be free:" how they leaped overheard and
eSutingly babe farewell to friends. who rejoiced
in their escape-all this has been told over and
| over again by the SLAYER captains themselves
The elaver captain knew how much
| brooding over their wrongs tended TO promote
| on deck was to cheer them. He wanted them to
sing and dance, and he saw that they did it, too
! he applied the lash not only 10 make them eat,
but to make them sing. There they stood in rows
and as the brawny SLAYER, whip in hand, paced
| to and fro, they sang their home-songs. and
danced, each with his free foot slapping the
| deck.
Like other abuses, this horrible traffic
| went on long after the mass Of the people
in civilized countries had outgrown such
cruelty. The horrors Of the Middle Pas
sage were ignored or unknown by the
public liz general. In connection with
American traffic, Mr.. Spears notes that
present Constitution, delegates from Del
aware, Maryland, and Virginia all de-
nounced the traffic, and but for the dele
gates from Georgia and South Carolina,
the trade would have been prohibited in
the Constitution. Georgian financial in
terests had suffered in the days when the
proprietary government prohibited slave
| holding, and this influenced her decision;
while South Carolina held out against
| such a provision on the general princi-
pie that 1t was the right Of the State
and not of the General Government to
prohibit the trade.
Admiral Andrew Hull Foote, who was
for some time engaged in suppressing
the slave trade. declares that the yellow
fever was first generated from dead
slaves in the harbor of Rio Janeiro, and
the author corroborates the statement,
which has been made by other authori-
ties, that this terrible scourge is beyond
question the offspring of the slave trade.
1t is said that the fever has never been
known to originate in any place not
slave port. From these cities It has
spread by infection. That as Mr.. Spears
remarks, is a proof Of the universal law
OF compensation.
Altogether, this book is one of the most
interesting historical works of the year.
The illustrations, by Walter Appleton
Clark, add much to its gloomy fascina-
ton. 1t is not a pleasant book to read;
1t is the kind of story which is more like
a nightmare of the tropics than like a
record Of real events; yet 1t is irrefutably
and indisputably true, as is shown by the
documents which the author has cited in
proof OF every point: and it is good some
times to understand what were the abuses
Of past age, and how the civilization CT
today came into being. In reading of the
horrors of the Middle Passage It is i'm
possible to avoid seeing that such hard
ships must have resulted in the wedding
out of all except the strongest and rlcst
enduring human specimens. and that thus
the individuals of the African race who
reached America were the surviyals OF a
rigorous system OF artificial selection.
This, together with the sufferings en-
dured during the voyage. which must have
made permanent impression upon the
character Of the victims. has had its inev-
table effect upon the nature Of the Ameri-
can negro of today. He Is in so far as
this experience had Its effect. a different
being from his African ancestor. 1t should
be remembered, also, that the descendants
of the men who carried on ard condoned
this traffic are still among us, and the char
acter developed by the hardening of their
sensibilities also had It's effect upon their
posterity. 1t is well known that some of
the wealth OF New England and New York
had its origin in the slave trade. The
North carried the slaves; the South bought
and kept them: and the system had its ef-
feet on both sections. The peTplexing prob
lem which confronts the American people
today is the result of this maintenance of a
wrong theory-the theory that it is right
under some circumstances 10 hold fellow
being in slavery. The study Of this episode
in the worlds history should teach the
Americans of the present day to avoid any
such delusion IL 1t comes cropping up In
different form in the future New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons. $1,000
Minor Fiction.
"Mooswa," by W. A. Fraser Is a col
lection of animal stories dealing with the
wild life of the Canadian Northwest In