“‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘I am an Englishman; but I do not intend to purchase. I am travelling about for information, and I shall feel obliged by your letting me know the prices at which negro servants are sold.’
“‘I will do so with much pleasure,’ was the answer; ‘do you mean field-hands or house-servants?’
“‘All kinds,’ I replied; ‘I wish to get all the information I can.’
“With much politeness, the gentleman stepped to his desk, and began to draw up a note of prices. This, however, seemed to require careful consideration; and while the note was preparing, a lanky person, in a wide-awake hat, and chewing tobacco, entered, and took the chair just vacated. He had scarcely seated himself, when, on looking towards the door, I observed the subjects of sale—the man and boy indicated by the paper on the red flag—enter together, and quietly walk to a form at the back of the shop, whence, as the day was chilly, they edged themselves towards the fire, in the corner where I was seated. I was now between the two parties—the white man on the right, and the old and young negro on the left—and I waited to see what would take place.
“The sight of the negroes at once attracted the attention of Wide-awake. Chewing with vigour, he kept keenly eyeing the pair, as if to see what they were good for. Under this searching gaze, the man and boy were a little abashed, but said nothing. Their appearance had little of the repulsiveness we are apt to associate with the idea of slaves. They were dressed in a gray woollen coat, pants, and waistcoat, coloured cotton neckcloths, clean shirts, coarse woollen stockings, and stout shoes. The man wore a black hat; the boy was bareheaded. Moved by a sudden impulse, Wide-awake left his seat, and rounding the back of my chair, began to grasp at the man’s arms, as if to feel their muscular capacity. He then examined his hands and fingers; and, last of all, told him to open his mouth and show his teeth, which he did in a submissive manner. Having finished these examinations, Wide-awake resumed his seat, and chewed on in silence as before.
“I thought it was but fair that I should now have my turn of investigation, and accordingly asked the elder negro what was his age. He said he did not know. I next inquired how old the boy was. He said he was seven years of age. On asking the man if the boy was his son, he said he was not—he was his cousin. I was going into other particulars, when the office-keeper approached, and handed me the note he had been preparing; at the same time making the observation that the market was dull at present, and that there never could be a more favourable opportunity of buying. I thanked him for the trouble which he had taken; and now submit a copy of his price-current:
| Best Men, 18 to 25 years old | 1200 to 1300 | dollars. |
| Fair Men, 18 to 25 years old | 950 to 1050 | ” |
| Boys, 5 feet | 850 to 950 | ” |
| Boys, 4 feet 8 inches | 700 to 800 | ” |
| Boys, 4 feet 5 inches | 500 to 600 | ” |
| Boys, 4 feet | 375 to 450 | ” |
| Young Women | 800 to 1000 | ” |
| Girls, 5 feet | 750 to 850 | ” |
| Girls, 4 feet 9 inches | 700 to 750 | ” |
| Girls, 4 feet | 350 to 450 | ” |
(Signed) _________________________
Richmond, Virginia.
“Leaving this document for future consideration, I pass on to a history of the day’s proceedings. It was now ten minutes to ten o’clock, and Wide-awake and I being alike tired of waiting, we went off in quest of sales further up the street. Passing the second office, in which also nobody was to be seen, we were more fortunate at the third. Here according to the announcement on the paper stuck to the flag, there were to be sold, ‘A woman and three children; a young woman, three men, a middle-aged woman, and a little boy.’ Already a crowd had met, composed, I should think, of persons mostly from the cotton-plantations of the South. A few were seated near a fire on the right-hand side, and others stood round an iron stove in the middle of the apartment. The whole place had a dilapidated appearance. From a back window, there was a view into a ruinous court-yard; beyond which, in a hollow, accessible by a side lane, stood a shabby brick house, on which the word Jail was inscribed in large black letters on a white ground. I imagined it to be a depôt for the reception of negroes.