THE ALGIERS SLAVE MARKET: PART 2

(This post is a continuation of The Algiers Slave Market: Part 1. If you haven’t done so already, it’s best to read that post before continuing on here.)

There was a process to auctioning slaves off in the Algiers Badestan. First, captives were paraded around the market to draw attention to their sale. This drew a crowd of potential buyers. The captives were then examined by those interested in purchasing them. Then the bidding began, with the sellers touting the fine qualities of the captives the were offering in an attempt to get the highest price possible, and the buyers trying to haggle to reduce the price.

We know all this because there is a fair number of first-hand accounts from the period written either by captives or by people who were in Algiers on diplomatic or trade missions. Taken together, these accounts offer a pretty complete picture of what the sales process in the Badestan was like.

Father Pierre Dan, a Trinitarian friar who was in Algiers on a ransom expedition in 1643, witnessed the process firsthand. Here is his description:

_____

Recently taken captives are brought out of the prison where they are kept under guard and brought to the Badestan, along with the Rais, or Captain, of the vessel that has captured them, and other officers deputized expressly in order to ascertain how much the captives will be sold for. There are brokers, like horse dealers, who, well versed in this business, walk beside the captives the length of the market, loudly shouting that they are for sale to whoever wants to buy them. This I have seen multiple times, with so much unhappiness that I must confess I had tears in my eyes and my heart went cold.

The buyers carefully scrutinize these poor Christian captives, whom they strip naked as they like, without regard for their shame. No matter what, the captives must obey every command immediately, or be struck with truncheons, which these inhuman people are always quick to use. The buyers look to see if the captives are strong or weak, healthy or sick, or if they have any wound, or some disease that can prevent them from working. After this, using blows of their truncheons, the buyers make the captives walk, jump, and cavort about in order to determine how healthy they are. The buyers also look at the captives’ teeth, not to know their age, but to see if they have tooth decay, which would make them less valuable. In addition, they look into the captives’ eyes and study their faces in an effort to divine their natures, whether good or bad.

_____

Laurent d’Arvieux, the French consul in Algiers in the 1670s, describes something very similar:

_____

There are auctioneers or brokers who take the slaves by the hand and walk them from one end of the Badestan to the other, shouting aloud the price that is offered. This is an auction where everyone can bid, and where the merchandise is delivered to the last and highest bidder, provided he has the cash to pay for it.

Merchants who trade in slaves (there are many who have no other occupation) do all they can to find out if the slaves they are buying are of good family and what they can give for their ransom. The buyers examine the slaves’ teeth, and also the palms of their hands, to judge by the delicacy of their skin if they are working people.

_____

Here is how Emmanuel d’Aranda, who was enslaved in Algiers in the early 1640s, describes the process by which he and his fellow captives were sold:

_____

We were taken to the market where it is customary to sell Christians. A very old man, with a staff in his hand, took me by the arm and led me around. Those who wanted to buy me asked about my country, my name, and my profession. They felt my hands to determine if they were hard and calloused from work, and they made me open my mouth to see if my teeth were able to gnaw biscuits on the galleys. Then they made us all sit down, and this same old man took the first of us in the line by the arm and walked with him three or four times around the market, shouting, “Arrache! Arrache!”—meaning “Who offers more?” Once the first man was sold, he was made to sit on the other side of the market, and another was brought up.

_____

Joseph Pitts, an Englishman who was enslaved in Algiers in the 1670s, provides us with more details, including some of the content of the sales patter used during the auctioning process:

_____

There we stood from eight o’clock in the morning until two in the afternoon (which is the time limit for the sale of Christians) and had not the least bit of bread allowed us during our stay there. Many people were curious to come and take a look at us while we stood there exposed for sale. Others, who intended to buy, came to see whether we were sound and healthy and fit for work. The slaves are sold at auction, and the auctioneer tries to make the most he can of them. When the bidders are at hand, he cries out, “Behold! What a strong man this is! What limbs he has! He is fit for any work. And see what a pretty boy this is! No doubt his parents are very rich and are able to pay a great ransom!” With sales pitches like these, the auctioneers try to raise the price.

_____

Finally, William Okeley, an English Puritan who was a captive in Algiers in the 1640s, provides further details not only about the selling process and the sales patter, but also about the haggling that went on between seller and buyer:

_____

Their manner of selling slaves is this: they lead them up and down the fair, or market, and when a dealer bids any money, they cry, “a-Rache! a-Rache!” which is their way of saying, “Here is so much money offered. Who bids more?”… The first priority of the buyers is to look into the captives’ mouths, for a good, strong set of grinders will advance the price considerably… Their next step is to feel the limbs of the captives to see if there are any fractures or dislocations in the bones, anything analogous to spavin or ringbone [in horses], for these will bring down the market price dramatically, just as being clean-limbed and well jointed will raise the price considerably… The seller praises his goods to the sky. The buyer, on the other hand, will try to undervalue them. The true market price lies between, but this is the same all over the world. “See!” cries the seller. “Mark what a back this one has, what a breadth he had between his shoulders! What a chest! How strongly set! How fit for work and for carrying burdens. He will do too much work!” “Pish,” says the buyer. “He looks like a petty criminal, like a timid creature.”

_____

For more on the Algiers Badestan, see the next post in this series: The Algiers Slave Market: Part 3.