C ha p . to fhoot him out o f the rigging, he at laft furrendered, and
„ XXVIr\ being brought afliore, was dragged to fort Zelandia, in
company with two others, by a file of muiketeers, where,
for having been drunk on duty, they received a fim-mnt
each, at the captain’s requeft; that is, they were baftinadoed
or beaten on the-Ihoulderst by two corporals with bamboo
canes, till their backs were black, and fwelled like a
cufhioir. However arbitrary this mode o f correction, the
captain endeavoured to explain the neceffity >fvjg; the
private American failors bdhgfbfi a Mibtfentfptft .jS&eed
when drunk, although when, fober they may be fairly
claffcd among the heft feamen in the world. j|
Early the next morning, while rnufing on all thq dif-
ferent -dangers and chaftifementsV to which the lower
clafs of people are expofed, I heard a crowd- pafs under
my window* Guriofity made me ftart up, dnefs fn a
hurry, and follow them: when I difeovered three n i’y
groes in chains, furrounded by a guard,, going to be-exe^
cuted in the favann^ih- Their undaunted look, however
averfeT may be to the fight:of a tffiS ed nhy
attention, as to determine me to fee the refulty whielr #as
th u s :—The fentence being read in Low Dutch (whidhi
they did not underftand) one was condemned to be
flogged below the gallows, and his accomplice to have
his head firuck off with an ax, for having ftiot a flave-
who had come to fteal plantains on the efiate of his mif-
trefs. The truth however was, that this had been done
by that lady’s abfplute command ; but the- murder being
difeovered,
difeovered:, fbe, in the hopes- of faving her.; character,’be- CHAP;
lides the expence of paying, the- penalties,, gave tip her .PpTYPb
valuable Have, and permitted, the unhappy man to he thus
facnficed. He laid his head upon the Mock with great-
indifference, . tt retching out his neck; when, with one
blow o f the ax, it vrasd-evered from bis body ^ l
The third negro, whofe name was N ep tu n ewas no-
flave, but his own mailer, and a carpenter by trade; he
was young and handfome, but having killed the overfeed
of the efiate Altond, in the Para Creek, in confe-
quence of fome difpute, h f o r f e i t e d his life. ; The
particulars, however, are worth relating: This man h aving
ftolen a fheep, to entertain a favourite young woman,,
the overfeer, who burnt with jealoufy, had determined.to*’
fee him hanged; to prevent which, the negro fhot him
dead among the fugar-cahe|j for thefe offences-of courfe
he ’ was7’ fentenced to be broken alike upon the rack, without
the benefit of the coup de grace or mercy-firoke.
Informed of the-dreadful fentence, he compofe.dly laid
himfelf down on his back on a ftrong crofs, on which,
with arms and legs expanded, he was fattened by ropes s
the. executioner, alfo a black man, having now with a
hatchet chopped off his left hand, next took up a heavy
iron bar, with which, by repeated blows, he broke his
bones to flaivers, till the • marrow, blood, and fplinters
flew about the field ; hut the prifoner never uttered a
groan nor a figh. The ropes being next unlafhed,. I ima—•
gined him dead, and felt happy ;, till the magiftrates*
• 6 ftirring