He described the transaction to me, as, by report, it had taken place, and informed me that he had made the captain of the Brothers pay for his barbarity.] [Footnote B: The purser of a ship, at Bristol, is the person who manages the out-fit, as well as the trade, and who is often in part owner of her.] This transaction, which I now believed to be true, had the effect of preparing me for crediting whatever I might hear concerning the barbarities said to be practised in this trade.

It kindled also a fire of indignation within me, and produced in me both anxiety and spirit to proceed.

But that which excited these feelings the most, was the consideration, that the purser of this ship, knowing, as he did, of this act of cruelty, should have sent out this monster again.

This, I own, made me think that there was a system of bad usage to be deliberately practised upon the seamen in this employment, for some purpose or other which I could then neither comprehend nor ascertain.
But while I was in pursuit of this one object, I was not unmindful of the others which I had marked out for myself.

I had already procured an interview, as I have mentioned, with Mr.Sydenham Teast.