Upon the Negroes refusing to take sustenance, I have seen coals of fire, glowing hot, put on a shovel and placed so near their lips as to scorch and burn them. And this has been accompanied with threats of forcing them to swallow the coals if they any longer persisted in refusing to eat. These means have generally had the desired effect. I have also been credibly informed that a certain captain in the slave- trade, poured melted lead on such of his Negroes as obstinately refused their food. Exercise being deemed necessary for the preservation of their health they are sometimes obliged to dance when the weather will permit their coming on deck. If they go about it reluctantly or do not move with agility, they are flogged; a person standing by them all the time with a cat- o'- nine- tails in his hands for the purpose Their music, upon these occasions, consists of a drum, sometimes with only one head . . . The poor wretches are frequently compelled to sing also; but when they do so, their songs are generally, as may naturally be expected, melancholy lamentations of their exile from their native country.

On board some ships the common sailors are allowed to have intercourse with such of the black women whose consent they can procure . . . The officers are permitted to indulge their passions among them at pleasure and sometimes are guilty of such excesses as disgrace human nature

Alexander Falconbridge, a slave ship surgeon, from his book,
An Account on the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa, 1788

3. Use the passage above to answer all parts of the questions below.

Explain ONE possible reaction that slaves might have had to the cruel treatment they experienced aboard slave ships.
Describe ONE historical similarity between the treatment of slaves aboard slave ships, and the treatment they experienced upon their arrival in the Americas.
Briefly describe the author’s tone in this excerpt. What might have been the purpose for him writing this account of the slave trade?