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A Short Guide to Writing
about Biology
ninth Edition
Jan A. Pechenik
Biology Department
Tufts University
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For permission to use copyrighted material, grateful acknowledgment is made to the copyright
holders which appear on the appropriate page within the text.
PEARSON, ALWAYS LEARNING, is an exclusive trademark, in the United States and/or other
countries, of Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates.
Unless otherwise indicated herein, any third-party trademarks that may appear in this work
are the property of their respective owners and any references to third-party trademarks, logos,
or other trade dress are for demonstrative or descriptive purposes only. Such references are
not intended to imply any sponsorship, endorsement, authorization, or promotion of Pearson’s
products by the owners of such marks, or any relationship between the owner and Pearson
Education, Inc., or its affiliates, authors, licensees, or distributors.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pechenik, Jan A.
A short guide to writing about biology/Jan A. Pechenik.—Ninth edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-321-98425-8 (student edition) — ISBN 978-0-321-98428-9 (exam copy)
ISBN 978-0-13-397017-3 (coursesmart)
1. Biology—Authorship. 2. Report writing. I. Title.
QH304.P43 2016
808'.06657—dc23
2014036651
Preface vii
iii
iv Contents
6—Revising 77
What Lies Ahead? 77
Preparing the Draft for Surgery: Plotting Idea Maps 79
Revising for Content 82
Revising for Clarity 86
Revising for Completeness 91
Revising for Conciseness 93
Revising for Flow 98
Revising for Teleology and Anthropomorphism 102
Revising for Spelling Errors 102
Revising for Grammar and Proper Word Usage 103
Contents v
vii
viii Preface
Organization
The first 6 chapters cover general issues that apply to all types of writing (and
reading) in biology. In Chapter 1, I emphasize the benefits of learning to write
well in biology, describe the sorts of writing that professional biologists do,
and review some key principles that characterize all sound scientific w
riting. In
Chapter 2, I describe how to locate useful sources using computerized indexing
services, online journals, and the Internet. Chapter 3 e mphasizes the struggle
for understanding that must precede any concern with how something is said.
In it, I explain how to read the formal scientific literature, including graphs
and tables; how to take useful notes; and how to take notes in ways that pre-
vent unintentional plagiarism. Chapter 4 talks about the use and interpretation
Preface ix
Acknowledgments
This edition has benefited greatly from the suggestions of many people
who took the time to read and comment on the previous edition, including
Dr. Fredric R. Govedich, Southern Utah University; Valerie Haywood,
Case Western Reserve University; Carl Smeller, Texas Wesleyan University;
Dr. Kaci Thompson, University of Maryland; and Christopher M Trimby,
Ph.D., New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Previous editions benefited greatly from sage advice given by the following
readers: Andrea Aspury, Vickie Backus, Alison Brody, Diane Caporale-Hartleb,
Bob Dick, Jean-Marie Kauth, Kirk A Stowe, Alexa Tullis, Barbara Frase, Caitlin
Gabor, Blanche Haning, Jean-Marie Kauth, Michael J. Klein, Angie Machniak,
R. Brent Thomas, Cathy Tugmon, Christine E. Jungklaus, Scott Kinnes, Chris
Maher, Kay McMurry, William R. Morgan, Regina Raboin, Linda L. Tichenor,
Cheryl L. Watson, Virginia Anderson, Tina Ayers, Sylvan Barnett, Arthur
Buikema, Edward H. Burtt, Robert Chase, Maggie de Cuevas, Robert Curry,
John R. Diehl, George F. Edick, Stephen Fuller, Louis Gainey, Jr., Sharon Hanks,
Marcia Harrison, Jared Haynes, Joseph Kelty, Scott Kinnes, Anne Kozak,
George Labanick, Martin Levin, Sara Lewis, Barbara Liedl, John W. Munford,
Colin Orians, Peter Pederson, Laurie Sabol, Carl Schaefer, Christopher Schardl,
Stephen van Scoyoc, Barbara Stewart, Gwynne Stoner, Denise Strickland, Marcia
Stubbs, David Takacs, Briana Crotwell Timmerman, and Janice Voltzow.
I am grateful to all of these people for their comments and suggestions
and am much cheered by their dedication to the cause. And who could ask
for a more attentive reader than Victoria McMillan? “Oh, shame! Where is thy
blush?”
It is also a pleasure to thank Regina Raboin, Science Research and
Instruction Librarian at Tufts University, who was a great help in updating the
material on conducting Internet and database searches.
Finally, I have learned much about writing and teaching from correspon-
dence and conversation with enthusiastic readers of previous editions, from
conversations with faculty in the many workshops that I’ve led over the past
20-plus years, and from working with colleagues from all disciplines in what
was once the Writing Across the Curriculum program at Tufts University.
I welcome additional comments from readers of the present edition, both
instructors and students ([email protected]).
Jan. A. Pechenik
I General Advice About
Writing and Reading Biology
1
Introduction and
General Rules
What appears as a thoroughly systematic piece of scientific work is actually
the final product: a cleanly washed offspring that tells us very little about the
chaotic mess that fermented in the mental womb of its creator.
Avner Treinin
The logical development of ideas and the clear, precise, and succinct commu-
nication of those ideas through writing are among the most difficult skills that
can be mastered in college—but among the most important ones, regardless
of what your future career turns out to be. Effective writing is also one of the
most difficult skills to teach. This is especially true in biology classes, which
often require much writing but allow little time to focus on doing it well. The
chief messages of this book are that developing your writing skills is worth
every bit of effort it takes, and that biology is a splendid field in which to
pursue this goal.
1
2 Chapter 1 Introduction and General Rules
who must revise the paper again—often extensively. The editor may then accept
or reject the revised manuscript, or the editor may request that it be rewritten yet
again before publication.
Oral presentations involve similar preparation. The data are organized and
examined, a draft of the talk is prepared, feedback on the talk is solicited from
colleagues, and the presentation is revised.
College and university biologists also write about you. Letters of recom-
mendation are especially troublesome for us because they are so important
to you. Like a good laboratory report, literature review, essay, or term paper,
a letter of recommendation must be written clearly, developed logically, and
proofread carefully. It must also support all statements of opinion with facts or
examples if it is to argue convincingly on your behalf and help get you where
you want to go.
And then, there are progress reports, committee reports, and internal
memoranda to write. All this writing involves thinking, organizing, nailing
down convincing arguments, revising, retyping, and proofreading.
Clearly, being able to write effectively will help advance your career. Clear,
concise, logical writing is an important tool of the biologist’s trade: Learning
how to write well is at least as important as learning how to use a balance,
extract DNA, use a taxonomic key, measure a nerve impulse, run an electro-
phoretic gel, or clone a gene. And unlike these rather specialized laboratory
techniques, mastering the art of effective writing will reward you regardless
of the field in which you eventually find yourself.
In preparing the cover letter that accompanies a job application, for exam-
ple, you are again building an argument: You are trying to convince someone
that you understand the position you are applying for, that you have the skills
to do the job well, and even that you want to do the job well. Similarly, in con-
structing a business plan, you must write clearly, concisely, and convincingly if
you are to get your project funded. The fact that you may not become a biolo-
gist is no reason to cheat yourself out of the opportunity to become an effective
writer. Remember this: While you’re in college, you have a captive audience;
once you graduate, nobody has to read anything you write ever again.
There is no easy way to learn to write well in biology or in any other field. It helps
to read a lot of good writing, and not just in biology. Whenever you read any-
thing that seems especially clear or easy to follow, examine that writing carefully
to see what made it work so well for you. Reading well-written sentences aloud
can also help plant good patterns in your brain. But mostly you just have to work
4 Chapter 1 Introduction and General Rules
hard at writing—and keep working hard at it, draft after draft, assignment after
assignment. That will be much easier to do if you have something in mind that
you actually want to say. Much of this book is about how to get to that point.
All good writing involves 2 struggles: the struggle for understanding and
the struggle to communicate that understanding to readers. Like the making
of omelets or crepes, the skill improves with practice. There are no shortcuts,
and there is no simple formula that can be learned and then applied mindlessly
to all future assignments. Every new piece of writing has to be thought about
anew. Being aware of certain key principles, however, will ease the way con-
siderably. Each of the following rules is discussed more fully in later chapters
(note the relevant page numbers). This listing is worth reading at the start of
each semester, or whenever you begin a new assignment.
When I see writing like this, I suspect that the writer did not under-
stand the material being quoted; when you understand something
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
they are few, and I can mention but one, from my own knowledge, I
shall but mention it.
I have often heard a Captain, who has been long since dead,
boast of his conduct in a former voyage, when his Slaves attempted
to rise upon him. After he had suppressed the insurrection, he sat in
judgment upon the insurgents; and not only, in cold blood, adjudged
several of them, I know not how many, to die, but studied, with no
small attention, how to make death as excruciating to them as
possible. For my reader’s sake, I suppress the recital of particulars.
Surely, it must be allowed, that they who are long conversant with
such scenes as these, are liable to imbibe a spirit of ferociousness,
and savage insensibility, of which human nature, depraved as it is, is
not, ordinarily, capable. If these things be true, the reader will admit
the possibility of a fact, that was in current report, when I was upon
the Coast, and the truth of which, though I cannot now authenticate
it, I have no reason to doubt.
A Mate of a ship, in a long-boat, purchased a young woman, with
a fine child, of about a year old, in her arms. In the night, the child
cried much, and disturbed his sleep. He rose up in great anger, and
swore, that if the child did not cease making such a noise, he would
presently silence it. The child continued to cry. At length he rose up a
second time, tore the child from the mother, and threw it into the sea.
The child was soon silenced indeed, but it was not so easy to pacify
the woman: she was too valuable to be thrown overboard, and he
was obliged to bear the sound of her lamentations, till he could put
her on board his ship.
I am persuaded, that every tender mother who feasts her eyes and
her mind, when she contemplates the infant in her arms, will
commiserate the poor Africans.—But why do I speak of one child,
when we have heard and read a melancholy story, too notoriously
true to admit of contradiction, of more than a hundred grown slaves,
thrown into the sea, at one time, from on board a ship, when fresh
water was scarce; to fix the loss upon the Underwriters, which
otherwise, had they died on board, must have fallen upon the
Owners of the vessel. These instances are specimens of the spirit
produced, by the African Trade, in men, who, once, were no more
destitute of the milk of human kindness than ourselves.
Hitherto, I have considered the condition of the Men Slaves only.
From the Women, there is no danger of insurrection, and they are
carefully kept from the men; I mean, from the Black men. But——In
what I have to offer, on this head, I am far from including every ship.
I speak not of what is universally, but of what is too commonly, and, I
am afraid, too generally, prevalent.
I have already observed, that the Captain of an African ship, while
upon the Coast, is absolute in his command; and if he be humane,
vigilant, and determined, he has it in his power to protect the
miserable; for scarcely any thing can be done, on board the ship,
without his permission, or connivance. But this power is, too seldom,
exerted in favour of the poor Women Slaves.
When we hear of a town taken by storm, and given up to the
ravages of an enraged and licentious army, of wild and unprincipled
Cossacks, perhaps no part of the distress affects a feeling mind
more, than the treatment to which the women are exposed. But the
enormities frequently committed, in an African ship, though equally
flagrant, are little known here, and are considered, there, only as
matters of course. When the Women and Girls are taken on board a
ship, naked, trembling, terrified, perhaps almost exhausted with cold,
fatigue, and hunger, they are often exposed to the wanton rudeness
of white Savages. The poor creatures cannot understand the
language they hear, but the looks and manner of the speakers, are
sufficiently intelligible. In imagination, the prey is divided, upon the
spot, and only reserved till opportunity offers. Where resistance, or
refusal, would be utterly in vain, even the solicitation of consent is
seldom thought of. But I forbear.—This is not a subject for
declamation. Facts like these, so certain, and so numerous, speak
for themselves. Surely, if the advocates for the Slave Trade attempt
to plead for it, before the Wives and Daughters of our happy land, or
before those who have Wives or Daughters of their own, they must
lose their cause.
Perhaps some hard-hearted pleader may suggest, that such
treatment would indeed be cruel, in Europe; but the African Women
are Negroes, Savages, who have no idea of the nicer sensations
which obtain among civilized people. I dare contradict them in the
strongest terms. I have lived long, and conversed much, amongst
these supposed Savages. I have often slept in their towns, in a
house filled with goods for trade, with no person in the house but
myself, and with no other door than a mat; in that security, which no
man in his senses would expect, in this civilized nation, especially in
this metropolis, without the precaution of having strong doors,
strongly locked and bolted. And with regard to the women, in
Sherbro, where I was most acquainted, I have seen many instances
of modesty, and even delicacy, which would not disgrace an English
woman. Yet, such is the treatment which I have known permitted, if
not encouraged, in many of our ships—they have been abandoned,
without restraint, to the lawless will of the first comer.
Accustomed thus to despise, insult, and injure the Slaves on
board, it may be expected that the conduct of many of our people to
the Natives, with whom they trade, is, as far as circumstances admit,
very similar; and it is so. They are considered as a people to be
robbed and spoiled, with impunity. Every art is employed to deceive,
and wrong them. And he who has most address, in this way, has
most to boast of.
Not an article, that is capable of diminution or adulteration, is
delivered genuine, or entire. The spirits are lowered by water. False
heads are put into the kegs that contain the gun-powder; so that,
though the keg appears large, there is no more powder in it, than in
a much smaller. The linen and cotton cloths are opened, and two or
three yards, according to the length of the piece, cut off, not from the
end, but out of the middle, where it is not so readily noticed.
The Natives are cheated, in the number, weight, measure, or
quality, of what they purchase, in every possible way. And, by habit
and emulation, a marvellous dexterity is acquired in these practices.
And thus the Natives, in their turn, in proportion to their commerce
with the Europeans, and (I am sorry to add) particularly with the
English, become jealous, insidious and revengeful.
They know with whom they deal, and are accordingly prepared;—
though they can trust some ships and boats, which have treated
them with punctuality, and may be trusted by them. A quarrel,
sometimes, furnishes pretext for detaining, and carrying away, one
or more of the Natives, which is retaliated, if practicable, upon the
next boat that comes to the place, from the same port. For so far
their vindictive temper is restrained by their ideas of justice, that they
will not, often, revenge an injury received from a Liverpool ship, upon
one belonging to Bristol or London.
They will, usually, wait with patience, the arrival of one, which, they
suppose, by her sailing from the same place, has some connection
with that which used them ill; and they are so quick at distinguishing
our little local differences of language, and customs in a ship, that
before they have been in a ship five minutes, and often before they
come on board, they know, with certainty, whether she be from
Bristol, Liverpool, or London.
Retaliation on their parts, furnishes a plea for reprizal on ours.
Thus, in one place or another, trade is often suspended, all
intercourse cut off, and things are in a state of war; till necessity,
either on the ship’s part, or on theirs, produces overtures of peace,
and dictates the price, which the offending party must pay for it. But
it is a warlike peace. We trade under arms; and they are furnished
with long knives.
For, with a few exceptions, the English and the Africans,
reciprocally, consider each other as consummate villains, who are
always watching opportunities to do mischief. In short, we have, I
fear too deservedly, a very unfavourable character upon the Coast.
When I have charged a Black with unfairness and dishonesty, he has
answered, if able to clear himself, with an air of disdain, “What! do
you think I am a White Man?”
Such is the nature, such are the concomitants, of the Slave Trade;
and such is the school in which many thousands of our Seamen are
brought up. Can we then wonder at that impatience of subordination,
and that disposition to mutiny, amongst them, which has been, of
late, so loudly complained of, and so severely felt? Will not sound
policy suggest, the necessity, of some expedient here? Or can sound
policy suggest any, effectual, expedient, but the total suppression of
a Trade, which, like a poisonous root, diffuses its malignity into every
branch?
The effects which our trade has upon the Blacks, those especially
who come under our power, may be considered under three heads,
—How they are acquired? The mortality they are subject to! and,
How those who survive are disposed of?
I confine my remarks on the first head to the Windward Coast, and
can speak most confidently of the trade in Sherbro, where I lived. I
own, however, that I question, if any part of the Windward Coast is
equal to Sherbro, in point of regularity and government. They have
no men of great power or property among them; as I am told there
are upon the Gold Coast, at Whidah and Benin. The Sherbro people
live much in the patriarchal way. An old man usually presides in each
town, whose authority depends more on his years, than on his
possessions: and He, who is called the King, is not easily
distinguished, either by state or wealth, from the rest. But the
different districts, which seem to be, in many respects, independent
of each other, are incorporated, and united, by means of an
institution which pervades them all, and is called The Purrow. The
persons of this order, who are very numerous, seem, very much, to
resemble the Druids, who once presided in our island.
The Purrow has both the legislative and executive authority, and,
under their sanction, there is a police exercised, which is by no
means contemptible. Every thing belonging to the Purrow is
mysterious and severe, but, upon the whole, it has very good effects;
and as any man, whether bond or free, who will submit to be initiated
into their mysteries, may be admitted of the Order, it is a kind of
Common-wealth. And, perhaps, few people enjoy more, simple,
political freedom, than the inhabitants of Sherbro, belonging to the
Purrow, (who are not slaves,) further than they are bound by their
own institutions. Private property is tolerably well secured, and
violence is much suppressed.
The state of Slavery, among these wild barbarous people, as we
esteem them, is much milder than in our colonies. For as, on the one
hand, they have no land in high cultivation, like our West-India
plantations, and therefore no call for that excessive, unintermitted
labour, which exhausts our Slaves; so, on the other hand, no man is
permitted to draw blood, even from a Slave. If he does, he is liable to
a strict inquisition; for the Purrow laws will not allow a private
individual to shed blood. A man may sell his slave, if he pleases; but
he may not wantonly abuse him. The laws likewise punish some
species of theft, with slavery; and in cases of adultery, which are
very common, as polygamy is the custom of the country, both the
woman, and the man who offends with her, are liable to be sold for
Slaves, unless they can satisfy the husband, or unless they are
redeemed by their friends.
Among these unenlightened Blacks, it is a general maxim, that if a
man steals, or breaks a moveable, as a musket, for instance, the
offence may be nearly compensated, by putting another musket in its
place; but offences, which cannot be repaired in kind, as adultery,
admit of no satisfaction, till the injured person declares, that He is
satisfied. So that, if a rich man seduces the wife of a poor man, he
has it in his power to change places with him; for he may send for
every article in his house, one by one, till he says, “I have enough.”
The only alternative, is personal slavery.
I suppose, bribery and influence may have their effects in Guinea,
as they have in some other countries; but their laws, in the main, are
wise and good, and, upon the whole, they have considerable
operation; and therefore, I believe, many of the Slaves purchased in
Sherbro, and probably upon the whole Windward Coast, are
convicts, who have forfeited their liberty, by breaking the laws of their
country.
But, I apprehend, that the neighbourhood of our ships, and the
desire of our goods, are motives, which often push the rigour of the
laws to an extreme, which would not be exacted, if they were left to
themselves.
But Slaves are the staple article of the traffic; and though a
considerable number may have been born near the sea, I believe the
bulk, of them are brought from far. I have reason to think, that some
travel more than a thousand miles, before they reach the sea-coast.
Whether there may be convicts amongst these likewise, or what
proportion they may bear to those who are taken prisoners in war, it
is impossible to know.
I judge, the principal source of the Slave Trade, is, the wars which
prevail among the Natives. Sometimes, these wars break out
between those who live near the sea. The English, and other
Europeans, have been charged with fomenting them; I believe (so
far as concerns the Windward Coast) unjustly. That some would do
it, if they could, I doubt not; but I do not think they can have
opportunity. Nor is it needful they should interfere. Thousands, in our
own country, wish for war, because they fatten upon its spoils.
Human nature is much the same in every place, and few people
will be willing to allow, that the Negroes in Africa are better than
themselves. Supposing, therefore, they wish for European goods,
may not they wish to purchase them from a ship just arrived? Of
course, they must wish for Slaves to go to market with; and if they
have not Slaves, and think themselves strong enough to invade their
neighbours, they will probably wish for war.—And if once they wish
for it, how easy is it to find, or make, pretexts for breaking an
inconvenient peace; or (after the example of greater heroes, of
Christian name) to make depredations, without condescending to
assign any reasons.
I verily believe, that the far greater part of the wars, in Africa,
would cease; if the Europeans would cease to tempt them, by
offering goods for Slaves. And though they do not bring legions into
the field, their wars are bloody. I believe, the captives reserved for
sale, are fewer than the slain.
I have not sufficient data to warrant calculation, but, I suppose, not
less than one hundred thousand Slaves are exported, annually, from
all parts of Africa, and that more than one half, of these, are exported
in English bottoms.
If but an equal number are killed in war, and if many of these wars
are kindled by the incentive of selling their prisoners; what an annual
accumulation of blood must there be, crying against the nations of
Europe concerned in this trade, and particularly against our own!
I have, often, been gravely told, as a proof that the Africans,
however hardly treated, deserve but little compassion, that they are
a people so destitute of natural affection, that it is common, among
them, for parents to sell their children, and children their parents.
And, I think, a charge, of this kind, is brought against them, by the
respectable author of Spectacle de la Nature. But he must have
been misinformed. I never heard of one instance of either, while I
used the Coast.
One article more, upon this head, is Kidnapping, or stealing free
people. Some people suppose, that the Ship Trade is rather the
stealing, than the buying of Slaves. But there is enough to lay to the
charge of the ships, without accusing them falsely. The slaves, in
general, are bought, and paid for. Sometimes, when goods are lent,
or trusted on shore, the trader voluntarily leaves a free person,
perhaps his own son, as a hostage, or pawn, for the payment; and,
in case of default, the hostage is carried off, and sold; which,
however hard upon him, being in consequence of a free stipulation,
cannot be deemed unfair. There have been instances of unprincipled
Captains, who, at the close of what they supposed their last voyage,
and when they had no intention of revisiting the Coast, have
detained, and carried away, free people with them; and left the next
ship, that should come from the same port, to risk the
consequences. But these actions, I hope, and believe, are not
common.
With regard to the Natives, to steal a free man or woman, and to
sell them on board a ship, would, I think, be a more difficult, and
more dangerous attempt, in Sherbro, than in London. But I have no
doubt, that the traders who come, from the interior parts of Africa, at
a great distance, find opportunity, in the course of their journey, to
pick up stragglers, whom they may meet in their way. This branch of
oppression, and robbery, would likewise fail, if the temptation to it
were removed.
I have, to the best of my knowledge, pointed out the principal
sources, of that immense supply of Slaves, which furnishes so large
an exportation every year. If all that are taken on board the ships,
were to survive the voyage, and be landed in good order, possibly
the English, French, and Dutch islands, and colonies, would be soon
overstocked, and fewer ships would sail to the Coast. But a large
abatement must be made for mortality.—After what I have already
said of their treatment, I shall now, that I am again to consider them
on board the ships, confine myself to this point.
In the Portuguese ships, which trade from Brasil to the Gold Coast
and Angola, I believe a heavy mortality is not frequent. The Slaves
have room, they are not put in irons, (I speak from information only,)
and are humanely treated.
With our ships the great object is, to be full. When the ship is
there, it is thought desirable, she should take as many as possible.
The cargo of a vessel of a hundred tons, or little more, is calculated
to purchase from two hundred and twenty to two hundred and fifty
Slaves. Their lodging-rooms below the deck, which are three, (for the
men, the boys, and the women,) besides a place for the sick, are
sometimes more than five feet high, and sometimes less; and this
height is divided towards the middle, for the Slaves lie in two rows,
one above the other, on each side of the ship, close to each other,
like books upon a shelf. I have known them so close, that the shelf
would not, easily, contain one more.
And I have known a white man sent down among the men, to lay
them in these rows to the greatest advantage, so that as little space
as possible might be lost. Let it be observed, that the poor creatures,
thus cramped for want of room, are likewise in irons, for the most
part both hands and feet, and two together, which makes it difficult
for them to turn or move, to attempt either to rise or to lie down,
without hurting themselves, or each other. Nor is the motion of the
ship, especially her heeling, or stoop on one side, when under sail,
to be admitted; for this, as they lie athwart, or across the ship, adds
to the uncomfortableness of their lodging, especially to those who lie
on the leeward, or leaning side of the vessel.
Dire is the tossing, deep the groans.——
The heat and the smell of these rooms, when the weather will not
admit of the Slaves being brought upon deck, and of having their
rooms cleaned every day, would be, almost, insupportable, to a
person not accustomed to them. If the Slaves and their rooms can
be constantly aired, and they are not detained too long on board,
perhaps there are not many who die; but the contrary is often their
lot. They are kept down, by the weather, to breathe a hot and
corrupted air, sometimes for a week: this, added to the galling of
their irons, and the despondency which seizes their spirits, when
thus confined, soon becomes fatal. And every morning, perhaps,
more instances than one are found, of the living and the dead, like
the Captives of Mezentius, fastened together.
Epidemical fevers and fluxes, which fill the ship with noisome and
noxious effluvia, often break out, infect the Seamen likewise, and the
Oppressors, and the Oppressed, fall by the same stroke. I believe,
nearly one half of the Slaves on board, have, sometimes, died; and
that the loss of a third part, in these circumstances, is not unusual.
The ship, in which I was Mate, left the Coast with Two Hundred and
Eighteen Slaves on board; and though we were not much affected
by epidemical disorders, I find, by my journal of that voyage, (now
before me,) that we buried Sixty-two on our passage to South-
Carolina, exclusive of those which died before we left the Coast, of
which I have no account.
I believe, upon an average between the more healthy, and the
more sickly voyages, and including all contingencies, One Fourth of
the whole purchase may be allotted to the article of Mortality. That is,
if the English ships purchase Sixty Thousand Slaves annually, upon
the whole extent of the Coast, the annual loss of lives cannot be
much less than Fifteen Thousand.
I am now to speak of the survivors.—When the ships make the
land, (usually the West-India islands,) and have their port in view
after having been four, five, six weeks, or a longer time, at sea,
(which depends much upon the time that passes before they can get
into the permanent Trade Winds, which blow from the North-East
and East across the Atlantic,) then, and not before, they venture to
release the Men Slaves from their irons. And then, the sight of the
land, and their freedom from long and painful confinement, usually
excite in them a degree of alacrity, and a transient feeling of joy——
F I N I S.
Published by the Author of these Thoughts.
C O N TA I N I N G
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