SILISTRIA

SIEGE OF.—In 1854.—The following is an admirable account of the siege of this place: “After the battle of Citate, so bitter a blow to the pretensions of Ru ia, the enemy’s Generals found it advisable to change their plan of operations. Adopting Foktchani as their basis, they accumulated a large amount of military stores, and finding that the Turks were not to be tempted into cro ing the Danube, calmly awaited reinforcements. When these had arrived, it was resolved to make a desperate effort to force the pa age of the river. Imperative orders arrived from St. Petersburg to pre the war vigorously, and at any cost. On the 13th of February they attacked Giurgevo, on the Wall a chi an bank of the Danube, with a considerable force, and after a vigorous resistance, the Turks were forced to evacuate their position, though not without being able to effect an orderly retreat acro the river, and establish themselves firmly in the opposite town of Rustchuk. The Ru ian Generals now resolved on concentrating their strength, and making an irresistible advance into Bulgaria. With characteristic promptne , however, Omer Pacha initiated the attack. Throwing a small column acro the Danube at Rahova, he a aulted and drove back the outposts at Kalarasch with considerable slaughter; and the Turks, after this dashing feat, retired in security to Rahova. Another attempt was made by the extreme right of the Ru ian line, on the 11th of March, to seize Kalafat; but they were energetically repulsed by the brave garrison of that renowned town. Four days later, Prince Gortschakoff made a desperate effort to wrest from its Ottoman defenders the island in the Danube between Tukurtai and Oltenitza, which had been so important a position in the battle at the latter place. The Ru ians were again driven back, but some idea of the sanguinary nature of the struggle may be formed from the fact that 2000 soldiers of the Czar left their bodies on the disputed ground. “Five days before this desperate attempt to force the pa age of the river at Oltenitza, General Luders had succeeded in cro ing, at Galatz, into the Dobrudscha. Gortschakoff, defeated as he had been, resolved upon abandoning the position he had so disastrously occupied, and shifting his ground farther to the east, effected a pa age at Tultscha, beyond the point where Luders had pa ed with his army. The two divisions were now united, and numbered about 5000 men. By a curious coincidence, the 23rd of March, the day on which Gortschakoff cro ed the river, was the same day in which Ode a was so succe fully bombarded by the allied fleets. Thus was the Ru ian succe more than counterbalanced. Four days later, England and France had officially entered into the struggle. The great object of the enemy’s movements now became apparent. Prince Paskiewitch, the veteran General, the most celebrated commander of the Ru ian army, was summoned from Poland to a ume the supreme command, and Schilders, the most accomplished general of engineers, also hastened to the scene of operations. The capture of Silistria, the strongest fortre on the southern bank of the Danube, and the key to Bulgaria, was evidently the object of the Ru ians. So important was the po e ion of this place deemed by the Czar, that the most imperative directions were forwarded to accomplish it at any cost. The plan of operations was this. Gortschakoff and Luders, having cro ed the Danube, were to advance towards Silistria, intercepting communications, and investing it on the land side; while Paskiewitch was to throw forward the main body of the army and vigorously a ault it from the northern side. The garrison of Silistria, commanded by Mou a Pacha, a General of great ability and indomitable courage, did not number more than 8000 men. “Now commenced one of the most memorable sieges which history has ever recorded. Others have exceeded it in the number of men engaged, in the length of time occupied, but none in heroic episodes and unflinching constancy. On the 14th of April, batteries were thrown up on the north bank of the Danube, opposite the devoted town, and a vigorous bombardment opened, but without much effect. On the 28th the first a ault was made, but so hot was the reception the attacking force met with, that three weeks elapsed before they had sufficiently recovered to completely invest the town. By that time 53,000 Ru ians had surrounded the fortre , and batteries had been established, commanding the most important points. On the south-west front, and consequently the land side of the town, two very important earthworks were thrown up, known as Arab Tabia and Illanii. The ground on which these works were situated rises in a series of platforms, which virtually command the town. Their defence, therefore, was of the utmost importance to the brave garrison. Again and again, for the space of ten weeks, did the enemy precipitate strong columns of men against these mounds of earth, and again and again were they driven back with enormous lo . In vain the Ru ian cannonade levelled the bastions and slaughtered the defenders; others supplied their places, and once more the works rose defiantly. The Ru ian shells swept the ground, and the Turks burrowed in the trenches, till the advancing columns of a ailants rushed to the breach. Then the undaunted defenders sprang upon them, and hurled them back, covered with defeat. Every attack was made with increased numbers, and made only to be the more ignominiously defeated. Mines were stealthily advanced towards the works; but the Turks countermined, and the Ru ian sappers were blown into the air. All this while an ince ant bombardment from the river batteries poured death into the town. But the undaunted besieged never for a moment relaxed their resistance. Three master-spirits guided their operations, and infused heroic courage into their ranks. Captain James Butler, a young English man, who had volunteered for service in the army of the East, had joined the garrison, in company with Lieutenant Nasmyth, another young officer, animated by similar motives. These two gallant men were the very soul of the defence, and aided by the brave Mau a Pacha, the Ottoman Commander, succe fully defied the power of the a ailants. Butler, as the senior of the two English men, a umed a position readily acceded to him by his Turkish allies, and to him they were indebted for the admirable construction and disposition of the defensive works. Lieutenant Nasmyth proved himself a most able seconder of his friend’s exertions, and in the capacity of “special correspondent” of the Times newspaper, made all Europe acquainted with the details of this extraordinary siege. “Straining every nerve, and exhausting every resource, to become masters of the place, the Ru ian Generals summoned to their aid the larger portion of the right wing of their army, thus materially weakening their power of opposing the Turkish forces to the westward of Silistria, who, in consequence, obtained some easy succe es. On the 12th of May, a tremendous a ault was made by the besiegers on the town, and repulsed after a sanguinary struggle, in which more than 2000 Ru ians was lost. Ten days afterwards another a ault was attempted, and again was the enemy defeated. With true Ru ian wiline , overtures were secretly made to Mou a Pacha to betray his trust, and for an adequate price to deliver the fortre to the Czar. The brave man scornfully rejected the proposition, and bade the enemy to take it if they could. Meanwhile, Omer Pacha was anxiously endeavouring to succour the devoted garrison. Obstacles interposed by the stupidity, if not traitorous connivance, of officials in the ministry, had hitherto effectually tied his hands; but at length, on the 5th of July, a detachment of Turkish troops effected an entrance into the town after a smart skirmish; and on the 8th, about a you sand more literally cut their way through the Ru ians, and were added to the garrison. Aided by those welcome reinforcements, the Turks now a umed the offensive, and on the night of the 13th made a sortie, and succeeded in destroying the Ru ian works, springing their mines, and inflicting a terrible lo upon their ranks. “It was now evident to the Ru ian Commanders that, if the town were to be taken at all, it must be by a coup de main , and a grand a ault was ordered for the 28th of June. But they had miscalculated the valour of their soldiers. Daunted by the warm reception they had hitherto experienced, they absolutely refused to march again to the breach; and nothing but the threat of stopping their rations unle Silistria were taken the next day, could induce these valiant warriors to perform their duty. On the next day, the Ru ian Generals led their half-starved and unwilling forces against the redoubts of Silistria. The Commanders, Prince Paskiewitch, Count Orloff, Generals Schilders, Gortschakoff, and Luders, placed themselves in the very front of the attacking force, anxious to stimulate the soldiers by their own exposure. The a ault was attempted, and most triumphantly repulsed. The Ru ians were thrown into the utmost disorganization, and fled precipitately from the well-directed volleys of the garrison. Their leaders, too, paid dearly for their temerity. Paskiewitch himself was severely wounded; Schilders had both his legs shattered, Luders his jaw shot away, Count Orloff was killed, and Gortschakoff received a serious wound. Nor did the brave defenders escape without irreparable lo . Their gallant chief, Mou a Pacha, was struck on the head by a round shot, and expired instantly; and the noble Butler fell a sacrifice to his undaunted courage. The Turkish reinforcements outside the garrison fell upon the rear of the retreating Ru ians, and completed the rout their compatriots had so gloriously initiated. Beaten on every hand, the enemy dashed pell-mell acro the river, in confused retreat towards Foktchani. The siege was raised. More than 30,000 Ru ian soldiers had perished in the attempt to take Silistria, and the broken remnant was now in full flight, owing its safety solely to the limited number of the victorious Turks, which forbade pursuit. “With the exception of the small force which still lingered in the plague-stricken plains of the Dobrudscha, not a Ru ian remained to the south of the Danube. The mighty legions, precipitated so reckle ly acro the Danube, were dead upon the Turkish bank, or flying ignominiously from the scene. The despised Turks were the triumphant conquerors, and the great Czar had received another and a greater blow from the “sick man.” SLAUGHTER OR MASSACRE.—Under this head both Ancient and Modern History abound with events which can be so called. The following are among the most remarkable, as recorded by various authors: The Carthagenians in Sicily who were totally slaughtered, 397 B.C. 2000 Tyrians crucified and 8000 put to the sword by Alexander the Great. 331 B.C. The Romans throughout Asia, women and children not exempted, cruelly butchered in one day, by order of Mithridates, King of Pontus, 88 B.C. The ma acre of Roman Senators, ., 86 B.C. That of Oct avian us Cæsar to the Manes of Julius Cæsar, 41 B.C. Jerusalem, 1,100,000 Jews cruelly put to the sword, A.D. 70. Ca ius slaughtered 400,000 of the inhabitants of Selucia, A.D. 167. Eighty Christian Fathers by order of the Emperor Gratian were put into a ship which was set on fire and then driven out to sea, A.D. 370. Belisarius ma acred 30,000 citizens of Constantinople, A.D. 552. That of the Albigenses and Waldenses, A.D. 1209. The Sicilian Vespers—all the French in Sicily butchered without distinction of age or sex, the first bell for vespers being the signal, A.D. 1282. That of St. Bartholomew’s day throughout France, August 24th, 1572. Ismael, 30,000 of the inhabitants old and young slain, December, 1790. See Ismael . Of all the whites in the Island of St. Domingo, March 29th, 1804. Ma acre of the Mamelukes in Egypt, March 1st, 1811. See account appended to this list. Sinopé during the Crime an war, 1854. Ma acres in English History. Of 300 nobles on Salisbury Plain, A.D. 474. The Danes in England, November 13th, 1002. The Jews in England, A.D. 1189. The unoffending McDonalds of Glencoe, 1692. See account appended to this list. Ma acres of Cawnpore, Delhi, and other places during the Great Indian Mutiny, 1857. See Cawnpore and Delhi . SLAUGHTER or MASSACRE OF GLENCOE.—This barbarous and diabolical ma acre, which, at the time of its commi ion, excited universal and heartfelt indignation, took place in February, 1692. About the middle of 1691, “as the Highlanders were not yet totally subdued, the Earl of Breadalbane undertook to bring them over by distributing sums of money among their chiefs; and £15,000 were accordingly remitted from England for that purpose. The clans being informed of this, suspected that the Earl’s design was to appropriate to himself the best part of the money; and when he began to treat with them, they made such extravagant demands, that he found his scheme impracticable. He had therefore to refund the sum he had received; and resolved to wreak his vengeance on those who had frustrated his intention. He who chiefly thwarted him was McDonald of Glencoe, whose opposition rose from a private circumstance, which ought to have had no effect on a treaty that regarded the public weal. McDonald had plundered the lands of Breadalbane during the course of hostilities; and the Earl insisted upon being indemnified for his lo es, from the other’s share of the money which he was employed to distribute. The Highlander, however, not only refused to acquiesce in these terms, but, by his influence among the clans, defeated the whole scheme, and, in revenge, Breadalbane devoted him to destruction. King William had, by proclamation, offered an indemnity to all those who had been in arms against him, provided they would submit and take the oaths by a certain day; and this was prolonged to the close of 1691, with a denunciation of military execution against those who should hold out after the end of December. McDonald, intimidated by this declaration, repaired, on the very last day of the month, to Fort William, and desired that the oaths might be tendered to him by Colonel Hill, governor of that fortre . As this officer was not vested with the power of a civil magistrate, he refused to administer them; and McDonald set out immediately for Inverary, the county-town of Argyle. Though the ground was covered with snow, and the weather intensely cold, he travelled with such diligence, that the term prescribed by the proclamation was but one day elapsed when he reached the place, and addre ed himself to Sir John Campbell, sheriff of the county, who, in consideration of his disappointment at Fort William, was prevailed upon to administer the oaths to him and his adherents. Then they returned to their own habitations in the valley of Glencoe, in full confidence of being protected by the government, to which they had so solemnly submitted. Breadalbane had represented McDonald at court as an incorrigible rebel, as a ruffian inured to bloodshed and rapine, who would never be obedient to the laws of his country, nor live peaceably under any sovereign. He observed, that he had paid no regard to the proclamation, and proposed that the government should sacrifice him to the quiet of the kingdom, in extirpating him, with his family and dependants, by military execution. His advice was supported by the suggestions of the other Scottish ministers; and the King, whose chief virtue was not humanity, signed a warrant for the destruction of those unhappy people, though it does not appear that he knew of McDonald’s submi ion. An order for this barbarous execution, signed and counter-signed by his majesty’s own hand, being transmitted to the master of Stair, secretary for Scotland, this minister sent particular directions to Living stone, who commanded the troops in that kingdom, to put the inhabitants of Glencoe to the sword, charging him to take no prisoners, that the scene might be more terrible. In the month of February, captain Campbell of Glenlyon, by virtue of an order from major Duncan son, marched into the valley of Glencoe with a company of soldiers belonging to Argyle’s regiment, on pretence of levying the arrears of the land-tax and hearth-money. When McDonald demanded whether they came as friends or enemies, he answered as friends, and promised, upon his honour, that neither he nor his people should sustain the least injury. In consequence of this declaration, he and his men were received with the most cordial hospitality, and lived fifteen days with the men of the valley in all the appearance of the most unreserved friendship. At length the fatal period approached. McDonald and Campbell having pa ed the day together, parted about seven in the evening, with mutual profe ions of the warmest affection. As soon as Campbell had retired, he received the following letter from major Duncan son, quartered at Ball a chal is, a place some distance from Glencoe. It is dated the 12th of February, 1692, and runs thus:— “ Sir ,—You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebels, the McDonalds of Glencoe, and put all to the sword under seventy years of age. You are to have especial care that the old fox and his sons do upon no account escape. This you are to put into execution at five o’clock in the morning (Saturday, the 13th) precisely; and by that time I will strive to be with you, with a stronger party. If I do not come to you at five, you are not to tarry for me, but to fall on. Secure all the avenues, that not a man may escape. This is by the King’s especial command , for the good of the country, that these miscreants may be cut off, root and branch.” This was instantly communicated to the officers and men under his command, and immediate preparations made for carrying the inhuman ma acre into effect. The younger McDonald, perceiving the guards doubled, began to suspect some treachery, and communicated his suspicion to his brother; but neither he nor the father would harbour the least doubt of Campbell’s sincerity; neverthele , the two young men went forth privately, to make farther observations. They overheard the common soldiers say they liked not the work; that though they would willingly have fought the McDonalds of the glen fairly in the field, they held it base to murder them in cold blood; but that their officers were answerable for the treachery. When the youths hasted back to apprise their father of the impending danger, they saw the house already surrounded; they heard the discharge of muskets, the shrieks of women and children; and, being destitute of arms, secured their own lives by immediate flight. The savage ministers of vengeance had entered the old man’s chamber, and shot him through the head. He fell down dead in the arms of his wife, who died next day, distracted by the horror of her husband’s fate. The laird of Auchintrincken, McDonald’s guest, who had, three months before this period, submitted to the government, and at this very time had a protection in his pocket, was put to death without question. A boy of eight years, who fell at Campbell’s feet, imploring mercy, and offering to serve him for life, was stabbed to the heart by one Drummond, a subaltern officer. Eight and thirty persons suffered in this manner, the greater part of whom where surprised in their beds, and hurried into eternity before they had time to implore the divine mercy. The design to butcher all the males under seventy years of ago that lived in the valley, the number of whom amounted to 200, was defeated by Duncan son not arriving in time to secure the pa es, so that one young man and woman had nearly succeeded in escaping, and were climbing the last rugged height of their native place, when they were discovered, and shots immediately sent after them. Struck by one of them the unfortunate young man made a convulsive spring, and fell headlong into the valley below. His companion, alarmed by the report, lost her hold, and tumbled after him. They were both killed by the fall. Campbell, having perpetrated this brutal ma acre, ordered all the houses to be burned, made a prey of all the cattle and effects that were found in the valley, and left the helple women and children, whose husbands and fathers he had murdered, naked and forlorn, without covering, food, or shelter, in the midst of the snow that covered the whole face of the country, at the distance of six long miles from any inhabited place. Distracted with grief and horror, surrounded with the shades of night, shivering with cold, and appalled with the apprehension of immediate death from the swords of those who had sacrificed their friends and kinsmen, they could not endure such a complication of calamities, but generally perished in the waste, before they could receive the least comfort or a istance. This barbarous ma acre, performed under the sanction of King William’s authority, answered the immediate purpose of the court, by striking terror into the hearts of the jacobite Highlanders; but at the same time excited the horror of all those who had not renounced every sentiment of humanity, and produced such an aversion to the government, as all the arts of a ministry could never totally surmount. A detail of the particulars was published at Paris, with many exaggerations, and the jacobites did not fail to expatiate upon every circumstance, in domestic libels and private conversation. The King, alarmed at the outcry which was raised on this occasion, ordered an inquiry to be set on foot, and dismi ed the master of Stair from his employment of secretary; he likewise pretended that he had subscribed the order amidst a heap of other papers, without knowing the purport, of it; but as he did not severely punish those who made his authority subservient to their own cruel revenge, the imputation stuck fast to his character; and the Highlanders, though terrified into silence and submi ion, were inspired with the most implacable resentment against his person and administration.” SLAUGHTER or MASSACRE OF THE MAMELUKES, March 1st, 1811.—“It has been related, that one of the chief means employed by Mahomet Ali in civilizing Egypt, or in improving the state of the country, was the destruction of the Mamelukes—a cla of hired foreign soldiers, who, as usual in such cases, were opposed to all changes in the government. It was only by resorting to a barbarous stratagem in one of his campaigns, that the sanguinary blow was struck. The following is an account of this sanguinary affair: “The chiefs of the Mamelukes, with their adherents, being a embled, by invitation from the Pacha of Egypt, within the citadel of Cairo, after a time, according to eastern custom, coffee was brought, and, last of all, the pipes; but at the moment when these were presented, as if from etiquette, or to leave his guests more at their case, Mahomet Ali rose and withdrew, and, sending privately for the captain of his guard, gave orders that the gates of the citadel should be closed; adding, that as soon as Siam Bey and his two a ociates should come out for the purpose of mounting, they should be fired upon till they dropped, and that at the same signal the troops posted throughout the fortre should take aim at, every Mameluke within their reach, while a corresponding order was sent down at the same time to those in the town, and to such even as were encamped without, round the foot of the fortre , to pursue the work of extermination on all stragglers that they should find, so that not one of the proscribed body might escape. Siam Bey, and his two brothers in command, finding that the Pacha did not return to them, and being informed by the attendants that he was gone into his harem (an answer that precluded all farther inquiry), judged it time to take their departure. But no sooner did they make their appearance without, and were mounting their horses, than they were suddenly fired upon from every quarter, and all became at once a scene of confusion, and dismay, and horror, similar volleys being directed at all the rest, who were collected round, and preparing to return with them, so that the victims dropped by hundreds. Siam himself had time to gain his saddle, and even to penetrate to one of the gates of the citadel; but all to no purpose, for he found it closed like the rest, and fell there pierced with innumerable bullets. Another chief, Amim Bey, who was the brother to Elfi, urged the noble animal which he rode to an act of greater desperation, for he spurred him till he made him clamber upon the rampart; and preferring rather to be dashed to pieces than to be slaughtered in cold blood, drove him to leap down the precipice, a height that has been estimated at from thirty to forty feet, or even more; yet fortune so favoured him, that though the horse was killed in the fall, the rider escaped. An Albanian camp was below, and an officer’s tent very near the spot on which he alighted. Instead of shunning it, he went in, and throwing himself on the rites of hospitality, implored that no advantage might be taken of him; which was not only granted, but the officer offered him protection, even at his own peril, and kept him concealed so long as the popular fury and the exce es of the soldiery continued. Of the rest of that devoted number, thus shut up and surrounded, not one went out alive; and even of those who had quietly remained in the town, but very few found means to elude the activity and greedy search that was made after them—a high price being set upon every Mameluke’s head that should be brought. All Cairo was filled with wailing and lamentations; and, in truth, the confusion and horrors of that day are indescribable; for not the Mamelukes alone, but others also, in many instances wholly unconnected with them, either from mistake, or from malice, or for plunder, were indiscriminately seized on and put to death; so that great as the number was that perished of that ill-fated body, it yet did not comprehend the total of the victims. The strange fact of the leap and escape of Amim Bey, and of his asylum in the officer’s tent, reached at last the Pacha’s ears, who sent instantly to demand him; and when the generous Albanian found that it would be impo ible any longer to shelter or screen his fugitive, he gave him a horse, and recommended him to fly with all speed into Asia, where, in the palace of Suleyman Pacha at Acre, he found safety.” SLAVE TRADE.—The following is a good description of this horrible trade now nearly at an end:— “On our return from Brazil, we fell in with a slave-ship. She had taken in, on the coast of Africa, 336 males and 226 females, making in all 562, and had been out seventeen days, during which she had thrown overboard 55. The slaves were all enclosed under grated hatchways, between decks. The space was so low, that they sat between each other’s legs, and stowed so close together, that there was no po ibility of their lying down, or at all changing their position, by night or day. As they belonged to, and were shipped on account of different individuals, they were all branded, like sheep, with the owners’ marks, of different forms. These were impre ed under their breasts, or on their arms, and, as the mate informed me, with perfect indifference, “ queimados pelo ferro quento —burnt with the red-hot iron.” Over the hatchway stood a ferocious-looking fellow, with a scourge of many twisted thongs in his hand, who was the slave-driver of the ship; and whenever he heard the slightest noise below, he shook it over them, and seemed eager to exercise it. As soon as the poor creatures saw us looking down at them, their dark and melancholy visages brightened up. They perceived something of sympathy and kindne in our looks, which they had not been accustomed to, and feeling, instinctively, that we were friends, they immediately began to shout and clap their hands. One or two had picked up a few Portuguese words, and cried out, “Viva! viva!” The women were particularly excited. They all held up their arms; and when we bent down and shook hands with them, they could not contain their delight; they endeavoured to scramble upon their knees, stretching up to ki our hands; and we understood that they knew we had come to liberate them. Some, however, hung down their heads in apparently hopele dejection; some were greatly emaciated, and some, particularly children, seemed dying. But the circumstance which struck us most forcibly, was, how it was po ible for such a number of human beings to exist, packed up and wedged together as tight as they could cram, in low cells, three feet high, the greater part of which, except that immediately under the grated hatchways, was shut out from light or air, and this when the thermometer, exposed to the open sky, was standing in the shade, on our deck, at 89 deg. The space between decks was divided into compartments, three feet three inches high; the size of one was sixteen feet by eighteen, and of the other, forty by twenty-one; into the first were crammed the women and girls; into the second, the men and boys: 226 fellow-creatures were thus thrust into one space 288 feet square, and 336 into another space 800 feet square, giving to the whole an average of twenty-three inches, and to each of the women not more than thirteen inches, though many of them were pregnant. We also found manacles and fetters of different kinds; but it appeared that they had all been taken off before we boarded. The heat of these horrid places was so great, and the odour so offensive, that it was quite impo ible to enter them, even had there been room. They were measured, as above, when the slaves had left them. The officers insisted that the poor suffering creatures should be admitted on deck, to get air and water. This was opposed by the mate of the slaver, who, from a feeling that they deserved it, declared they would murder them all. The officers, however, persisted, and the poor beings were all turned up together. It is impo ible to conceive the effect of this eruption—507 fellow-creatures, of all ages and sexes, some children, some adults, some old men and women, all in a state of total nudity, scrambling out together to taste the luxury of a little fresh air and water. They came swarming up, like bees from the aperture of a hive, till the whole deck was crowded to suffocation, from stem to stern, so that it was impo ible to imagine where they could all have come from, or how they could all have been stowed away. On looking into places where they had been crammed, there were found some children next the sides of the ship, in the places most remote from light and air; they were lying nearly in a torpid state, after the rest had turned out. The little creatures seemed indifferent as to life or death; and when they were carried on deck, many of them could not stand. After enjoying for a short time the unusual luxury of air, some water was brought; it was then that the extent of their sufferings was exposed in a fearful manner. They all rushed like maniacs towards it. No entreaties, or threats, or blows, could restrain them; they shrieked and struggled, and fought with one another, for a drop of this precious liquid, as if they grew rabid at the sight of it. There is nothing which slaves, in the middle pa age, suffer from so much as the want of water. It is sometimes usual to take out casks filled with sea-water as ballast, and when the slaves are received on board, to start the casks and refill them with fresh. On one occasion, a ship from Bahia neglected to change the contents of the casks, and on the mid-pa age found, to their horror, that they were filled with nothing but salt water. All the slaves on board perished! We could judge of the extent of their sufferings from the afflicting sight we now saw.”