The History of Mary Prince | Page 9

from standing in the salt water
for so many hours, soon became full of dreadful boils, which eat down
in some cases to the very bone, afflicting the sufferers with great
torment. We came home at twelve; ate our corn soup, called blawly, as
fast as we could, and went back to our employment till dark at night.
We then shovelled up the salt in large heaps, and went down to the sea,
where we washed the pickle from our limbs, and cleaned the barrows
and shovels from the salt. When we returned to the house, our master
gave us each our allowance of raw Indian corn, which we pounded in a
mortar and boiled in water for our suppers.
We slept in a long shed, divided into narrow slips, like the stalls used
for cattle. Boards fixed upon stakes driven into the ground, without mat
or covering, were our only beds. On Sundays, after we had washed the
salt bags, and done other work required of us, we went into the bush
and cut the long soft grass, of which we made trusses for our legs and
feet to rest upon, for they were so full of the salt boils that we could get
no rest lying upon the bare boards.
Though we worked from morning till night, there was no satisfying Mr.
D----. I hoped, when I left Capt. I----, that I should have been better off,
but I found it was but going from one butcher to another. There was
this difference between them: my former master used to beat me while
raging and foaming with passion; Mr. D---- was usually quite calm. He
would stand by and give orders for a slave to be cruelly whipped, and
assist in the punishment, without moving a muscle of his face; walking
about and taking snuff with the greatest composure. Nothing could
touch his hard heart--neither sighs, nor tears, nor prayers, nor streaming
blood; he was deaf to our cries, and careless of our sufferings. Mr.
D---- has often stripped me naked, hung me up by the wrists, and beat
me with the cow-skin, with his own hand, till my body was raw with
gashes. Yet there was nothing very remarkable in this; for it might

serve as a sample of the common usage of the slaves on that horrible
island.
Owing to the boils in my feet, I was unable to wheel the barrow fast
through the sand, which got into the sores, and made me stumble at
every step; and my master, having no pity for my sufferings from this
cause, rendered them far more intolerable, by chastising me for not
being able to move so fast as he wished me. Another of our
employments was to row a little way off from the shore in a boat, and
dive for large stones to build a wall round our master's house. This was
very hard work; and the great waves breaking over us continually,
made us often so giddy that we lost our footing, and were in danger of
being drowned.
Ah, poor me!--my tasks were never ended. Sick or well, it was
work--work--work!--After the diving season was over, we were sent to
the South Creek, with large bills, to cut up mangoes to burn lime with.
Whilst one party of slaves were thus employed, another were sent to the
other side of the island to break up coral out of the sea.
When we were ill, let our complaint be what it might, the only
medicine given to us was a great bowl of hot salt water, with salt mixed
with it, which made us very sick. If we could not keep up with the rest
of the gang of slaves, we were put in the stocks, and severely flogged
the next morning. Yet, not the less, our master expected, after we had
thus been kept from our rest, and our limbs rendered stiff and sore with
ill usage, that we should still go through the ordinary tasks of the day
all the same.--Sometimes we had to work all night, measuring salt to
load a vessel; or turning a machine to draw water out of the sea for the
salt-making. Then we had no sleep--no rest--but were forced to work as
fast as we could, and go on again all next day the same as usual.
Work--work--work--Oh that Turk's Island was a horrible place! The
people in England, I am sure, have never found out what is carried on
there. Cruel, horrible place!
Mr. D---- had a slave called old Daniel, whom he used to treat in the
most cruel manner. Poor Daniel was lame in the hip, and could not
keep up with the rest of the slaves; and our master would order him to

be stripped