The other fourteen carried a less number of slaves (and they might have taken more on board if they had pleased); so that the average number in the nineteen was but one man and four-fifths to a ton, or ten in a hundred below their lowest standard[A].

One again said, that no inconvenience arose in consequence of the narrow space allowed to each individual in these voyages.

Another said, that smaller vessels were more healthy than larger, because, among other reasons, they had a less proportion of slaves as to number on board.
[Footnote A: The falsehood of their statements in this respect was proved again afterwards by facts.

For, after the regulation had taken place, they lost fewer slaves and made greater profits.] They were found also guilty of a wilful concealment of such facts, as they knew, if communicated, would have invalidated their own testimony.
I was instrumental in detecting them on one of these occasions myself.
When Mr.Dalzell was examined, he was not wholly unknown to me; my Liverpool muster-rolls told me that he had lost fifteen seamen out of forty in his last voyage.

This was a sufficient ground to go upon; for generally, where the mortality of the seamen has been great, it may be laid down that the mortality of the slaves has been considerable also.