aside to seek evidences:  he will very readily observe the red flag of the auctioneer floating over the slave pen, on which he may read in large letters, waving in the pure air of heaven, “SLAVES, HORSES, AND OTHER CATTLE, in lots to suit purchasers!” He may halt a moment, and look at the multitude, collecting under the folds of that infamous banner, where will be found a few gentlemanly appearing slave holding planters, superbly mounted, and perhaps with their servants in waiting; but the larger number he will find to be drunken, coarse, brutal looking men, swaggering about in the capacity of slave-traders.

Let him enter the low, dingy, filthy building, occupied by human merchandize, and he will there behold husbands and wives, parents and children, about to be sold, and perhaps separated forever!  See the trader, as he examines with inhuman indifference the bones and sinews, the teeth and joints of the articles on hand, even of females, and hear him make inquiries concerning her capabilities, that would make a savage blush!  And see the miserable woman lift her red and swollen eyes to the face of the heartless trader, and the next moment cast a despairing glance over the motley crowd, in search of a compassionate look—­a pitying eye.  Should she see one countenance wearing a kind, humane expression, it will most likely bring her frantically to his feet, where, kneeling, with uplifted hands, she pleads:  “Oh, Massa, do buy me!  Do buy me and little Sam!  He be all of the chil’ens I got left!  O, Lord!  O, Lord!  Do, Massa, buy me, and this one baby!  Oh, do Massa!” But the weight of the cow-hide drives her to the auction block, where in mock solemnity she is represented as “an article of excellent breed, a good cook, a good seamstress, and withal a good Christian, a ra’al genewine lamb of the flock!”—­and then she is struck off to the highest bidder, who declares that he “won’t have the young’un any how, ’cause he’s gwine to drive her down to Lousianny.”

He may see, too, the wild, despairing look of some frightened young slave girl, passing under the lustful gaze of some lordly libertine, who declares himself “in search of a fancy article for his own use!”

One after another is taken from the block, until all are disposed of, amid the agonized wail of heartbroken wives and mothers, husbands and fathers, and the piercing screams of helpless children, torn from a parent’s embrace, to be consigned to the care of strangers.

Nor need I inform our traveler of the inhuman method generally approved, in hunting with trained blood-hounds, kept and advertised for the purpose of recapturing any poor slave who may attempt to escape from this cruel bondage.  He may perchance, come across the mangled and lifeless body of some fugitive, which has just been run down and torn in pieces by the dogs of the hunter!  Should he stop a few moments, he will soon see a hole dug in the ground, and the remains of the slave pitched into it, covered sufficiently to hide the unsightly mass from view, and there will be an end of the whole matter!  “Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?”