For five years after this I remained in his house, and almost daily received the same harsh treatment.  At length he put me on board a sloop, and to my great joy sent me away to Turk’s Island.  I was not permitted to see my mother or father, or poor sisters and brothers, to say good bye, though going away to a strange land, and might never see them again.  Oh the Buckra people who keep slaves think that black people are like cattle, without natural affection.  But my heart tells me it is far otherwise.

We were nearly four weeks on the voyage, which was unusually long.  Sometimes we had a light breeze, sometimes a great calm, and the ship made no way; so that our provisions and water ran very low, and we were put upon short allowance.  I should almost have been starved had it not been for the kindness of a black man called Anthony, and his wife, who had brought their own victuals, and shared them with me.

When we went ashore at the Grand Quay, the captain sent me to the house of my new master, Mr. D——­, to whom Captain I——­had sold me.  Grand Quay is a small town upon a sandbank; the houses low and built of wood.  Such was my new master’s.  The first person I saw, on my arrival, was Mr. D——­, a stout sulky looking man, who carried me through the hall to show me to his wife and children.  Next day I was put up by the vendue master to know how much I was worth, and I was valued at one hundred pounds currency.

My new master was one of the owners or holders of the salt ponds, and he received a certain sum for every slave that worked upon his premises, whether they were young or old.  This sum was allowed him out of the profits arising from the salt works.  I was immediately sent to work in the salt water with the rest of the slaves.  This work was perfectly new to me.  I was given a half barrel and a shovel, and had to stand up to my knees in the water, from four o’clock in the morning till nine, when we were given some Indian corn boiled in water, which we were obliged to swallow as fast as we could for fear the rain should come on and melt the salt.  We were then called again to our tasks, and worked through the heat of the day; the sun flaming upon our heads like fire, and raising salt blisters in those parts which were not completely covered.  Our feet and legs, from standing in the salt water for so many hours, soon became full of dreadful boils, which eat down in some cases to the very bone, afflicting the sufferers with great torment.  We came home at twelve; ate our corn soup, called blawly, as fast as we could, and went back to our employment till dark at night.  We then shovelled up the salt in large heaps, and went down to the sea, where we washed the pickle from our limbs, and cleaned the barrows and shovels from the salt.  When we returned to the house, our master gave us each our allowance of raw Indian corn, which we pounded in a mortar and boiled in water for our suppers.

We slept in a long shed, divided into narrow slips, like the stalls used for cattle.  Boards fixed upon stakes driven into the ground, without mat or covering, were our only beds.  On Sundays, after we had washed the salt bags, and done other work required of us, we went into the bush and cut the long soft grass, of which we made trusses for our legs and feet to rest upon, for they were so full of the salt boils that we could get no rest lying upon the bare boards.