His own sister's
child, he said, was thus held in captivity. He entreated me to see the
great Chief of our people (meaning the Governor), and tell him that the
cries of the captives were heard by his young men, and that they were
talking of digging up the hatchet which the old men had buried at Casco.
I told the old savage that I did not justify the holding of Indians
after the peace, and would do what I could to have them set at liberty,
at which he seemed greatly rejoiced. Since I came back from Castine's
country, I have urged the giving up of the Indians, and many have been
released. Slavery is a hard lot, and many do account it worse than
death. When in the Barbadoes, I was told that on one plantation, in the
space of five years, a score of slaves had hanged themselves."
"Mr. Atkinson's Indian," said Captain Sewall, "whom he bought of a
Virginia ship-owner, did, straightway on coming to his house, refuse
meat; and although persuasions and whippings were tried to make him eat,
he would not so much as take a sip of drink.
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