Jennings had already advertised in the New Orleans
papers, that he would be there with a prime lot of able-bodied
slaves, men and women, fit for field-service, with a few extra
ones calculated for house servants,--all between the ages of
fifteen and twenty-five years; but like most men who make a
business of speculating in human beings, he often bought many who
were far advanced in years, and would try to pass them off for
five or six years younger than they were. Few persons can arrive
at anything approaching the real age of the negro, by mere
observation, unless they are well acquainted with the race.
Therefore, the slave-trader frequently carried out the deception
with perfect impunity.
After the steamer had left the wharf and was fairly out on the
bosom of the broad Mississippi, the speculator called his servant
Pompey to him; and instructed him as to getting the negroes ready
for market. Among the forty slaves that the trader had on this
occasion, were some whose appearance indicated that they had seen
some years and had gone through considerable service. Their gray
hair and whiskers at once pronounced them to be above the ages set
down in the trader's advertisement. Pompey had long been with
Jennings, and understood his business well, and if he did not take
delight in the discharge of his duty, he did it at least with a
degree of alacrity, so that he might receive the approbation of
his master.
Pomp, as he was usually called by the trader, was of real negro
blood, and would often say, when alluding to himself, "Dis nigger
am no counterfeit, he is de ginuine artikle.
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