On going one day by the Exchange, after this interview with Gardiner, I
overheard a young gentleman say to another, "that it happened on the
coast, last year, and that he saw it." I wished to know who he was, and
to get at him if I could. I watched him at a distance for more than half
an hour, when I saw him leave his companion. I followed him till he
entered a house. I then considered whether it would be proper, and in
what manner, to address him when he should come out of it. But I waited
three hours, and I never saw him. I then concluded that he either lodged
where I saw him enter, or that he had gone to dine with some friend. I
therefore took notice of the house, and, showing it afterwards to
several of my friends, desired them to make him out for me. In a day or
two I had an interview with him. His name was James Arnold. He had been
two voyages to the coast of Africa for slaves; one as a surgeon's mate
in the Alexander, in the year 1785, and the other as surgeon in the
Little Pearl, in the year 1786, from which he had not then very long
returned.
I asked him if he was willing to give me any account of these voyages,
for that I was making an inquiry into the nature of the Slave Trade.
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