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till four or five in the afternoon, when they are diſengaged from the chain, and ſent down.
The diet of the negroes, while on board; conſiſts chiefly of horſe-beans, boiled, to the conſiſtence of a pulp; of boiled yams and rice, and ſometimes of a ſmall quantity of beef or pork. The latter are frequently taken from the proviſions laid in for the ſailors. They ſometimes make uſe of ſauce, compoſed of palm-oil, mixed with flour, water, and pepper, which the ſailors call ſlabber-ſauce. Yams are the favourite food of the Eboe, or Bight negroes, and rice or corn, of thoſe from the Gold and Windward coaſts; each prefering the produce of their native ſoil.
In their own country, the negroes in general live on animal food and fiſh, with roots, yams and Indian corn.—The horſe-beans & rice, with which they are fed aboard ſhip, are chiefly taken from Europe. The latter, indeed, is ſometimes purchaſed on the coast, being far ſuperior to any other.
The Gold coaſt negroes ſcarcely ever refuſe any food that is offered them, and they generally eat larger quantities of whatever is placed before then, than any other ſpecies of negroes, whom they likewiſe excel in ſtrength of body and mind. Moſt of the ſlaves have ſuch an averſion to the horſe-beans, that unleſs they are narrowly watched, when fed upon deck; they will throw them
