A practice often followed in the British West Indian ports was to advertise that the cargo of a vessel just arrived would be sold on board at an hour scheduled and at a uniform price announced in the notice.

At the time set there would occur a great scramble of planters and dealers to grab the choicest slaves.

A variant from this method was reported in 1670 from Guadeloupe, where a cargo brought in by the French African company was first sorted into grades of prime men, (_pieces d'Inde_), prime women, boys and girls rated at two-thirds of prime, and children rated at one-half.

To each slave was attached a ticket bearing a number, while a corresponding ticket was deposited in one of four boxes according to the grade.

At prices then announced for the several grades, the planters bought the privilege of drawing tickets from the appropriate boxes and acquiring thereby title to the slaves to which the numbers they drew were attached.[47] [Footnote 47: Lucien Peytraud, _L'Esclavage aux Antilles Francaises avant 1789_ (Paris, 1897), pp.