Slaves girls discaharge cargo

In the French islands of the West Indies from whence we had come slavery was still in vogue, and our cargo of coal at Martinique was discharged by a party of slave girls, who seemed the very reverse of being miserable. Their shoulders were bare, as were their arms and feet, but they were all well nourished, and full of life and laughter. The coal they carried in baskets upon their heads - about 90lbs in each load - passing in single file over a long staging from the ship to the jetty singing merrily as they went. Each company of the girls was in charge of a French slave driver, who had a long whip which he flicked and cracked in the air, harmlessly. It would not have been good for his health had the lash fallen upon the girls when our English crew were there, though I must say he appeared to be a perfectly good humoured sort of person, and the lot of the French slaves was not particularly hard.



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