agitation of my mind on this occasion, I should have made any mistake, I desired my friend George Fisher to apply to the builder for his admeasurement also.  With this he kindly complied.  When he obtained it he brought it to me.  This account, which nearly corresponded with my own, was as follows:—­In the vessel of twenty-five tons, the length of the upper part of the hold, or roof, of the room, where the seventy slaves were to be stowed, was but little better than ten yards, or thirty-one feet.  The greatest breadth of the bottom, or floor, was ten feet four inches, and the least five.  Hence, a grown person must sit down all the voyage, and contract his limbs within the narrow limits of three square feet.  In the vessel of eleven tons, the length of the room for the thirty slaves was twenty-two feet.  The greatest breadth of the floor was eight, and the least four.  The whole height from the keel to the beam was but five feet eight inches, three feet of which were occupied by ballast, cargo, and provisions, so that two feet eight inches remained only as the height between the decks.  Hence, each slave would have only four square feet to sit in, and, when in this posture, his head, if he were a full-grown person, would touch the ceiling, or upper deck.

Having now received this admeasurement from the builder, which was rather more favourable than my own, I looked upon the destination of these little vessels as yet more incredible than before.  Still the different persons, whom I occasionally saw on board them, persisted in it that they were going to Africa for slaves, and also for the numbers mentioned, which they were afterwards to carry to the West Indies themselves.  I desired, however, my friends, George Fisher, Truman Harford, Harry Gandy, Walter Chandler, and others, each to make a separate inquiry for me on this subject; and they all agreed that, improbable as the account both of their destination, and of the number they were to take, might appear, they had found it to be too true.  I had soon afterwards the sorrow to learn from official documents from the Custom-house, that these little vessels actually cleared out for Africa, and that now nothing could be related so barbarous of this traffic, which might not instantly be believed.

In pursuing my different objects there was one, which, to my great vexation, I found it extremely difficult to attain.  This was the procuring of any assurance from those, who had been personally acquainted with the horrors of this trade, that they would appear, if called upon, as evidence against it.  My friend Harry Gandy, to whom I had been first introduced, had been two voyages, as I before mentioned; and he was willing, though at an advanced age, to go to London, to state publicly all he knew concerning them.  But with respect to the many others in Bristol, who had been to the coast of Africa, I had not yet found one, who would come forward for this purpose.  There were several old Slave-Captains living there,