Fuseng-be's case highlights a number of apparent ambiguities and contradictions in relationships which developed in Freetown, despite the fact that the declared purpose of the settlement was to eschew all forms of slave trading and slavery. Although Francis had first-hand experience of slave systems in the Americas, he was still prepared to buy a young African woman and haggle over her monetary value. As Kristin Mann notes in the case of Brazil, one of the first purchases made by men and women who had acquired their freedom was that of an enslaved African. Francis may similarly have seen this as an 'important marker of freedom', as well as a source of labour to increase his own wealth. Judging by Fuseng-be's testimony, she was treated harshly and bore the scars of her mistreatment. This is all the more striking as Francis gave evidence to Paul Cuffe in 1812, testifying to the appalling cruelties that he had seen inflicted on enslaved men and women in America. This was not an isolated incident of cruelty. Accusations were made against other settlers and officials who had acquired coerced or dependent labourers from among groups of enslaved Africans released by Royal Navy patrols from 1808 onwards. Nancy, a young girl released from an American vessel by HMS Derwent in March 1808, lodged a complaint against Susannah Caulker, a Nova Scotian woman who had taken her as an apprentice. In her testimony, reported in the African Herald on 29 July 1809, Nancy reported that she had left Caulker's household because 'she beat her'. In her testimony to the court, Nancy explained that after being beaten with a switch on her back, she was made to lie on the ground whilst her mistress rubbed pepper into her broken skin.