[73]
The method of introducing Negroes was simple. A slave smuggler says:
"After resting a few days at St. Augustine, ... I agreed to accompany
Diego on a land trip through the United States, where a _kaffle_ of
negroes was to precede us, for whose disposal the shrewd Portuguese had
already made arrangements with my uncle's consignees. I soon learned how
readily, and at what profits, the Florida negroes were sold into the
neighboring American States. The _kaffle_, under charge of negro
drivers, was to strike up the Escambia River, and thence cross the
boundary into Georgia, where some of our wild Africans were mixed with
various squads of native blacks, and driven inland, till sold off,
singly or by couples, on the road. At this period [1812], the United
States had declared the African slave trade illegal, and passed
stringent laws to prevent the importation of negroes; yet the Spanish
possessions were thriving on this inland exchange of negroes and
mulattoes; Florida was a sort of nursery for slave-breeders, and many
American citizens grew rich by trafficking in Guinea negroes, and
smuggling them continually, in small parties, through the southern
United States. At the time I mention, the business was a lively one,
owing to the war then going on between the States and England, and the
unsettled condition of affairs on the border.
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