rehearsed in a special manner to suit the
occasion.

Arming myself with a pencil and a slip
or two of paper, and putting these carefully
into my pocket, I sallied forth into
the High Street, and walked some hundreds
of yards down its steep declivity. The only
object I noticed was one of those contrivances
on two wheels, around the axle of
which the water-pipes of the fire-engine are
generally coiled. Two youngsters were
running rapidly backwards and forwards
with this rolling hose by way of frolic; or,
perhaps, practising for early promotion to
the much-sought-after ranks of the
fire-brigade. I turned up one of the narrowest
alleys of the many abutting upon the High
Street. Eleven o'clock had struck, and,
strange to say, the bustle consequent on
sales of stock was not noticeable, the streets
being seemingly deserted.

But, I soon discovered the cause. The sales
take place here within doors, on the ground-floor
of the houses, four in number, allotted
to the traffic. The sale commences in the first
auction-room, and, when the stock is disposed
of, the company adjourns to the next, till
the whole are exhausted. Little red flags,
to which were pinned small slips of paper
pencilled with the number of likely hands
to be sold, were hung out on poles from
the threshold. I happened to be a few
minutes late, and the preliminary process
of examination of the negroes seemed
partially over; one old negro was once more
donning his coat, had only put one of his
brogues on, and had altogether a quaint
appearance of shocked propriety. Never shall
I forget the sensation occasioned by my
first entry into that den! To say that my
eyes swam, that I felt a more rapid pulsation,
and that my olfactory nerves were
assailed by a mephitic atmosphere, is to a
certain extent true; but, it hardly gives a
fair notion of very complex yet instantaneous
feelings. The room might be said to be
occupied by three distinct groups.
Conspicuously raised above the rest, upon a
rude platform flanked on both sides by
two steps, stood the dealer with his uplifted
right hand, taking the bids, whilst with the
left he pointed to a young negress, of some
fifteen or sixteen years of age, standing at
his side. Holding her petticoat on the ground,
immediately beneath, stood a black help, or
assistant, who looked round at the bidders,
as the sum kept swelling from six, seven, to
eight, hundred dollars. Next came, in frowsy
array, the purchasers decked in hats in every
state of decomposition: some in swallow-tail
coats, and rusty, unlackered boots, grimy
with dirt, and holding, either clubs, or wicked-looking
whips in their hands. The girl was
knocked down to one of these. The third
party, and forming a fitting back-ground to
the scene, were the negroes huddled together
on rude benches, awaiting their fate. The
first to be selected from them was a gaunt
and sinewy hand. A sort of line was formed
by the dealers, and this lot was made to
pace up and down the room at a quick
trot. This ambling done, it was suggested
that one of his eyes was affected; so they
gathered round the negro. One gentleman
rivetted, with the precision of long practice,
his thumb into the socket of the eye, which
was supposed to be the sane one, whilst he
held up to the other a hair! I saw the poor
fellow, who was writhing with pain, vainly
rolling the one eye at liberty, to discover,
and, if possible, split the hair with his visual
organ, but to no purpose; his eyesight was
evidently blunted, and he fell in the estimation
of his customers, as was soon testified,
when he stepped upon the platform to be sold.

I saw, one after the other, the inmates
of this first auction-room purchased at
various prices, and then the whole company
adjourned to the next human warehouse.
As I left the room, I noticed the auctioneer
locking the door after him, and rudely pushing
the young negress, while telling her to
be off to other quarters, — I suppose those of
her purchaser,— and she flitted out of sight
down the street. This was the first example
I had noticed in the United States of
ill-treatment to that sex, for which a chivalrous
deference is every where exacted.

In the room into which we were now
ushered, an opportunity was afforded of
witnessing the transaction in its entire process.
The first thing done is to huddle the wretched
gang, pro formâ, behind a screen, and to strip
them: though why hide in a corner what
every one is compelled to look on, is more
than even Old World prudery could guess at.
It is here that the swarthy labourer is seen
in all his brawny prowess, when the gazer is
at a little distance. A closer inspection
reveals a world of scars and stripes, distributed
with not so much regularity as in the flag of
the Union. It is satisfactory to note that
the value of the negro is reduced according to
the greater or smaller quantity of these lashmarks,
which are taken as signs, not of the
cruelty of the former master, but of restiveness
and laziness in the slave.

A very few have what are termed clean
backs.

It was striking to watch the same process
of sale and purchase going on, with the
scenery, as it were, shifted, to prevent the eyes
becoming jaded, as the ears were by the
incessant changes rung on dollars; the bids
swelling by nothing less than hundreds—
five, six, seven, eight hundred dollars— according
as the being put up, was a lad or an
adult. I had noticed a singular specimen of
pictorial humour in the first depôt, as these
rooms are called, in the shape of an old,
ill-framed, and cobwebby lithograph. It represented
a mounted gentleman astride a sorry
horse, which he was pummeling unmercifully.
Strangely appropriate did this Yankee dealer