d his family always expect to have strangers visit them, and they want their servants to look well. The slaves although dressed and fed better then others, have to suffer alike with those whose outward condition is worse. Although they look fine, if you look at their flesh youll find many lashes. They get whipped, and are sold the same as others. Sometimes their masters change, and put them on the farm, that the overseers may whip them.All the slaves, as well as their owners, are addicted to drinking; so when the slave holder wants to make a show out of his nigger, he gives them rum to drink. When the master knows a Northern man is to visit him, he gives orders to the overseer, and the overseer orders every slave to dress himself, and appear on the field. About the time the stranger is expected, a jug of rum is sent to the field, and every slave has just enough given to him to make him act as if he was crazy. When the stranger arrives he doesnt see the Negroes, but the rum that is in them; he thinks that the slaves are as happy as need be, and their condition could not be bettered. This is the way the slave holder deceives his friend from the North.Slaves where torn away from their families, and loved ones. Sometimes they were kidnapped, sometimes sold. Gustavus Vasa was born in 1745 in a place named Essaka. He was one of seven children. He had a close relationship with his mother, being the youngest child. Generally, when the grown people in the neighborhood were gone far in the fields to labor, the children assembled together in some of the neighboring premises to play; and commonly some of them used to get on a tree to look out for any kidnappers. One day, when all the people where at work, and only Gustavus and his sister were left to mind in the house, two men and women got over their walls, and in a moment seized them both, and without giving them time to cry out, or resist, they covered their mouths, and ran off wit...
