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THE HORRORS lt;F THE CVlt;LIE TRADE.to thk i:i»iroK 01 iiu;811:,— I perceive a paragraph in your immvs don of Tuesday, headed t; Coolie J .rade, .Shocking Mortality, stating that 1U7 coolies died out of 380, on a pasage from Swatow to Ilavannah. Allow a few facts to bo stated in conneciioii with that trade, by one who has seen the working of the coolie system in China, at sea, and in Ilavannah.J took passage from Swat-ow in November last year, on hoard a clipper ship of 1,800 ton.' re0Uter, having !30 coolies on board, 5'J of tliis number being boys from seven to 14 years of age. Wo had a long passage of 30 days through the Chinese sea to Batavia, losing 22 coolies, and having 148 sick ; here we obtained a supply of water and proceeded. From Batavia to ilavannah wo were 02 days, and during that time lost 310 coolies, making a total of 332 deaths on the passage; of this number 37 were suicides by drowning, 2 by poison, 2 from the elleets of hogging, one of the two having received 003 lashes, the remainder dying from fever, scurvy, and a friglstful disease causing their legs to mortify and rot, resulting from stagnation of the blood brought on by confinement without exercise. During the first three weeks of the passage, the unfortunate Coolies were allowed on deck 40_at a time, for about half an hour ; after this? and for the remainder of the passage they were on deck during the day, but at night wore strictly confined below. This took place in a climate where the thermometer is seldom below IK), and often 120. There was no European doctor on board, no hospital, and no medicines of any worth. The living, the dying, and the dead, were all huddled together in two ill-ventillated ’tween-dveks. The dead wore frequently brought up in a state of putrefaction. The stench on deck arising from below I cannot compare to anything 1 have ever experienced elsewhere.Tho coolies were confined below in consequence of attempts being made to seize the ship, and regain their liberty shortly after leaving Swatow, and repeated whenever land was in sight, in anticipation of these attempts barricades, gratings on the hatches, muskets, cannon, and cutlasses were day and night in use. From these piepara. tions the nature of the Coolie Free Emigration’' may be easily understood.Of the -V.i.S coolies landed in Havannah, 200 were in a dying state, and I do not think could survive one fortnight ; six were insane, and eleven completely blind. Of the 030 men on board at first, I can safely say four-fifths were on board against their will, it required the united exertions of the crew and oiiicers to prevent their escaping on shore, while the ship was lying in Swatosv river. 1 cannot fill up your valuable space with the details of cruelty I have witnessed on board coolie ships, but suffice, it to say the horrors of the African slave trade never exceeded that of the so-called “ Coolie Free Emigration.” For this opinion I have the authority of persons in Cuba who have had experience in both trades.August 12. J. 8. (J.
Newspaper Details
Evening Star
London, Middlesex, GB
Fri, Aug 13, 1858
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 16 Nov 2020
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