Plate XXII in John Gabriel Stedman's Narrative, of a five year's expedition, against the revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the wild coast of South America; from the year 1772 to 1777 (London: Printed for J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church Yard, & J. Edwards, Pall Mall, 1796), vol. 1, p. 200.

Engraving was done after one of John Gabriel Stedman's own drawings; it shows a procession of slaves that he encountered during his travels in Surinam. Of the group, Stedman wrote, "They were a drove of newly-imported negroes, men and women, with a few children, who were just landed from on board a Guinea ship that lay anchor in the roads, to be sold for slaves. The whole party was such a set of scarcely animated automatons, such a resurrection of skin and bones, as forcibly reminded me of the last trumpet. These objects appeared that moment to be risen from the grave, or escaped from Surgeon's Hall; and I confess I can give no better description of them, than by comparing them to walking skeletons covered over with a piece of tanned leather." (vol. 1, p. 200) Stedman eventually continued, "Before these wretches, which might be in all about sixty in number, walked a sailor, and another followed behind with a bamboo-rattan; the one serving as a shepherd to lead them along, and the other as his dog to worry them occasionally, should any one lag behind, or wander away from the flock." (vol. 1, p. 200) He noted, however, that despite their condition, the slaves' facial expressions betrayed little dejectedness -- a point reflected in Blake's engraving.

Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Images from the Slave Trade.