consists of a peck of meal and six pounds of pork per week; the pork
is commonly not good; it is damaged, and is bought, as cheap as
possible, at auctions.

M'Pherson gave the same task to each slave; of course, the weak ones
often failed to do it. I have often seen him tie up persons and flog
them in the morning, only because they were unable to get the previous
day's task done; after they were flogged, pork or beef brine was put
on their bleeding backs to increase the pain; he sitting by, resting
himself, and seeing it done. After being thus flogged and pickled, the
sufferers often remained tied up all day, the feet just touching the
ground, the legs tied, and pieces of wood put between the legs. All
the motion allowed was a slight turn of the neck. Thus exposed and
helpless, the yellow flies and musquitoes in great numbers would
settle on the bleeding and smarting back, and put the sufferer to
extreme torture. This continued all day, for they were not taken down
till night. In flogging, he would sometimes tie the slave's shirt over
his head, that he might not flinch when the blow was coming; sometimes
he would increase his misery, by blustering, and calling out that he
was coming to flog again, which he did or did not, as happened. I have
seen him flog them with his own hands till their entrails were
visible; and I have seen the sufferers dead when they were taken down.
He never was called to account in any way for it.

It is not uncommon for flies to blow the sores made by flogging; in
that case, we get a strong weed growing in those parts, called the Oak
of Jerusalem; we boil it at night, and wash the sores with the
liquor, which is extremely bitter. On this the creepers or maggots
come out. To relieve them in some degree, after severe flogging, their
fellow-slaves rub their backs with part of their little allowance of