The truth was, that, for the
sake of exercise, these miserable wretches, loaded with chains and
oppressed with disease, were forced to dance by the terror of the lash, and
sometimes by the actual use of it. "I," said one of the evidences, "was
employed to dance the men, while another person danced the women." Such
then was the meaning of the word _promoted_; and it might also be observed
with respect to food, that instruments were sometimes carried out, in order
to force them to eat; which was the same sort of proof, how much they
enjoyed themselves in this instance also. With respect to their singing, it
consisted of songs of lamentation for the loss of their country. While they
sung they were in tears: so that one of the captains, more humane probably
than the rest, threatened a woman with a flogging because the mournfulness
of her song was too painful for his feelings. Perhaps he could not give a
better proof of the sufferings of these injured people during their
passage, than by stating the mortality which accompanied it. This was a
species of evidence which was infallible on this occasion. Death was a
witness which could not deceive them; and the proportion of deaths would
not only confirm, but, if possible, even aggravate our suspicion of the
misery of the transit.
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