That the slaves were exposed to great misery in the islands, was true as
well from inference as from facts: for what might not be expected from
the use of arbitrary power, where the three characters of party, judge,
and executioner were united! The slaves, too, were more capable on
account of their passions, than the beasts in the field, of exciting the
passions of their tyrants. To what a length the ill-treatment of them
might be carried, might be learnt from, the instance which General
Tottenham mentioned to have seen in the year 1780 in the streets of
Bridge Town, Barbados: "A youth about nineteen (to use his own words in
the evidence), entirely naked, with an iron collar about his neck,
having five long projecting spikes. His body both before and behind was
covered with wounds. His belly and thighs were almost cut to pieces,
with running ulcers all over them; and a finger might have been laid in
some of the weals. He could not sit down, because his hinder part was
mortified; and it was impossible for him to lie down, on account of the
prongs of his collar." He supplicated the General for relief. The latter
asked who had punished him so dreadfully? The youth answered, his master
had done it.
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