Now, as the coast was closely watched on the African side, to prevent
the embarkation of slaves, as it was on the Brazilian side, to prevent
their being landed, the poor wretches were frequently waiting for weeks
on the seashore undergoing every species of torment.

At last the vessel to carry off a portion of them arrived, when they
were rushed on board and thrown into the hold regardless of sex, like
bags of sand, and the slaver started on her voyage for the Brazils.
Perhaps while on her way she was chased by an English cruiser, in which
case, so it has often been known to happen, a part of the living cargo
would be thrown overboard, trusting that the horror of leaving human
beings to be drowned would compel the officers of the English cruiser to
slacken their speed while picking the poor wretches up, and thus give
the slaver a better chance of escape. (This I have seen done myself,
fortunately unavailingly.)

I will now ask the reader to bring his thoughts back to the coast of
Brazil, where a good look-out was being kept for such vessels as I have
mentioned as leaving the African coast with live cargo on board bound
for the Brazilian waters. Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, was the
headquarters of the principal slave-owners. It was there that all
arrangements were made regarding the traffic in slaves, the despatch of
the vessels in which they were to be conveyed, the points on which they
were to land, &c., and it was at Rio that the slave-vessels made their
rendezvous before and after their voyages. It was there also that the
spies on whose information we acted were to be found, and double-faced
scoundrels they were, often giving information which caused the capture
of a small vessel with few slaves on board, while the larger vessel,
with twice the number, was landing her cargo unmolested.