One of these carried four hundred and
fifty, and buried two hundred; another carried four hundred and sixty-six,
and buried seventy-three; another five hundred and forty-six, and buried
one hundred and fifty-eight; and from the four together, after the landing
of their cargoes, two hundred and twenty died. He fell in with another
vessel, which had lost three hundred and sixty-two; but the number, which
had been bought, was not specified. Now if to these actual deaths, during
and immediately after the voyage, we were to add the subsequent loss in the
seasoning, and to consider that this would be greater than ordinary in
cargoes which were landed in such a sickly state, we should find a
mortality, which, if it were only general for a few months, would entirely
depopulate the globe.
But he would advert to what Mr. Wilson said, when examined, as a surgeon,
as to the causes of these losses, and particularly on board his own ship,
where he had the means of ascertaining them. The substance of his reply was
this--That most of the slaves laboured under a fixed melancholy, which now
and then broke out into lamentations and plaintive songs, expressive of the
loss of their relations, friends, and country.
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