ABSTRACT
James Barclay claims to have been born in humble circumstances in Portsoy, a small coastal town in northern Scotland, sixty-five miles east of Inverness, in 1752. Barclay’s observations about the lives of slaves, however, are supported by evidence from other sources, and seem accurate. Black women had been observed working shortly after childbirth and suckling their children over their shoulders by many Europeans in Africa, and these were traits that helped to confirm the savagery and inhumanity of blacks in the minds of whites and their suitability for slavery. Barclay’s description of the informal economic activities of low-country slaves are supported by the work of several historians, especially their tendency to spend any money they might earn on alcohol. Charlestown is by far a larger town than Georgetown, and much more regular; the buildings all of wood are very elegantly finished, and kept very clean, and the streets spacious.
