A. Brue, the French director, gives much the same account, and says,[A] "That having received goods, he wrote to the King, that if he had a sufficient number of slaves, he was ready to trade with him. This Prince, as well as the other Negroe monarchs, has always a sure way of supplying his deficiencies, by selling his own subjects, for which they seldom want a pretence. The King had recourse to this method, by seizing three hundred of his own people, and sent word to the director, that he had the slaves ready to deliver for the goods." It seems, the King wanted double the quantity of goods which the factor would give him for these three hundred slaves; but the factor refusing to trust him, as he was already in the company's debt, and perceiving that this refusal had put the King much out of temper, he proposed that he should give him a licence for taking so many more of his people, as the goods he still wanted were worth but this the King refused, saying "It might occasion a disturbance amongst his subjects."[B] Except in the above instance, and some others, where the power of the Negroe Kings is unlawfully exerted over their subjects, the slave-trade is carried on in Guinea with some regard to the laws of the country, which allow of none to be sold, but prisoners taken in their national wars, or people adjudged to slavery in punishment for crimes; but the largeness of the country, the number of kingdoms or commonwealths, and the great encouragement given by the Europeans, afford frequent pretences and opportunities to the bold designing profligates of one kingdom, to surprize and seize upon not only those of a neighbouring government, but also the weak and helpless of their own;[C] and the unhappy people, taken on those occasions, are, with impunity, sold to the Europeans. These practices are doubtless disapproved of by the most considerate amongst the Negroes, for Bosman acquaints us, that even their national wars are not agreeable to such. He says,[D] "If the person who occasioned the beginning of the war be taken, they will not easily admit him to ransom, though his weight in gold should be offered, for fear he should in future form some new design against their repose."
[A]: Collection vol. 2. p. 29.
[B]: Note, This Negroe King thus refusing to comply with the factor's wicked proposal, shews, he was sensible his own conduct was not justifiable; and it likewise appears, the factor's only concern was to procure the greatest number of slaves, without any regard to the injustice of the method by which they were procured. This Andrew Brue, was, for a long time, principal director of the French African factory in those parts; in the management of which, he is in the collection said to have had extraordinary success. The part he ought to have acted as a christian towards the ignorant Africans seems quite out of the question; the profit of his employers appears to have been his sole concern. At page 62, speaking of the country on the Senegal river, he says, "It was very populous, the soil rich; and if the people were industrious, they might, of their own produce, carry on a very advantageous trade with strangers; there being but few things in which they could be excelled; but (he adds) it is to be hoped, the Europeans will never let them into the secret." A remark unbecoming humanity, much more christianity!
[C]: This inhuman practice is particularly described by Brue, in collect. vol. 2. page 98, where he says, "That some of the natives are, on all occasions, endeavouring to surprize and carry off their country people. They land (says he) without noise, and if they find a lone cottage, without defence, they surround it, and carry off all the people and effects to their boat, and immediately reimbark." This seems to be mostly practised by some Negroes who dwell on the sea coast.
[D]: Bosman, p. 155.
CHAP. XI.
An account of the shocking inhumanity, used in the carrying on of the slave-trade, as described by factors of different nations, viz. by Francis Moor, on the river Gambia; and by John Barbot, A. Brue, and William Bosman, through the coast of Guinea. Note. Of the large revenues arising to the Kings of Guinea from the slave-trade.
First, Francis Moor, factor for the English African company, on the river Gambia,[A] writes, "That there are a number of Negro traders, called joncoes, or merchants, who follow the slave-trade as a business; their place of residence is so high up in the country as to be six weeks travel from James Fort, which is situate at the mouth of that river. These merchants bring down elephants teeth, and in some years two thousand slaves, most of which, they say, are prisoners taken in war. They buy them from the different Princes who take them; many of them are Bumbrongs and Petcharies; nations, who each of them have different languages, and are brought from a vast way inland. Their way of bringing them is tying them by the neck with leather thongs, at about a yard distant from each other, thirty or forty in a string, having generally a bundle of corn or elephants teeth upon each of their heads. In their way from the mountains, they travel thro' very great woods, where they cannot for some days get water; so they carry in skin bags enough to support them for a time. I cannot (adds Moor) be certain of the number of merchants who follow this trade, but there may, perhaps, be about an hundred, who go up into the inland country, with the goods which they buy from the white men, and with them purchase, in various countries, gold, slaves, and elephants teeth. Besides the slaves, which the merchants bring down, there are many bought along the river: These are either taken in war, as the former are, or men condemned for crimes; or else people stolen, which is very frequent.—Since the slave-trade has been used, all punishments are changed into slavery; there being an advantage on such condemnation, they strain for crimes very hard, in order to get the benefit of selling the criminal."