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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Captain Canot + or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver + +Author: Brantz Mayer + Theodore Canot + +Release Date: October 14, 2007 [EBook #23034] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN CANOT *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 458px;"> +<img src="images/canot01.png" width="458" height="700" +alt="Title page for “Captain Canot”" /> +</div> + + + + +<h1 style="padding-top: 3em; padding-bottom: 3em;">CAPTAIN CANOT;<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: smaller;">OR,</span><br /> +<br /> +TWENTY YEARS OF AN AFRICAN SLAVER</h1> + + +<p class="center" style="padding-bottom: 1.5em;"><b>BEING AN ACCOUNT OF</b></p> + +<p class="center" style="font-size: larger; padding-bottom: 3em;"><b>HIS CAREER AND ADVENTURES ON THE COAST,</b><br /> +<b>IN THE INTERIOR, ON SHIPBOARD, AND IN</b><br /> +<b>THE WEST INDIES.</b></p> + + +<p class="center" style="padding-bottom: 1.5em;"><b>WRITTEN OUT AND EDITED FROM THE</b></p> + +<p class="center" style="padding-bottom: 3em; font-size: larger;"><b>Captain’s Journals, Memoranda and Conversations,</b></p> + + +<p class="center"><b>BY</b></p> + +<h2 style="padding-bottom: 3em;">BRANTZ MAYER.</h2> + + +<p class="center" style="padding-bottom: 5em;">NEW YORK:<br /> +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,<br /> +846 & 848 BROADWAY.<br /> +LONDON: 16 LITTLE BRITAIN.<br /> +M.DCCC.LIV.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 536px;"> +<img src="images/canot02.png" width="536" height="700" alt="" /> +<span class="caption">MANDINGO CHIEF AND HIS SWORD BEARER.</span> +</div> + + + + +<p class="center" style="padding-top: 5em;"><span class="smcap">Entered</span>, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by<br /> +BRANTZ MAYER,<br /> +in the Clerk’s Office of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> +<p class="center">TO</p> + +<p class="center" style="font-size: x-large">N. P. WILLIS,</p> + +<p class="center">OF IDLEWILD.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Willis</span>,</p> + +<p>While inscribing this work with your name, as a testimonial +of our long, unbroken friendship, you will let me say, I am sure, +not only how, but why I have written it.</p> + +<p>About a year ago I was introduced to its hero, by Dr. James +Hall, the distinguished founder and first governor of our colony +at Cape Palmas. While busy with his noble task in Africa, +Dr. Hall accidentally became acquainted with Captain Canot, +during his residence at Cape Mount, and was greatly impressed +in his favor by the accounts of all who knew him. Indeed,—setting +aside his career as a slaver,—Dr. Hall’s observation +convinced him that Canot was a man of unquestionable integrity. +The zeal, moreover, with which he embraced the first opportunity, +after his downfall, to mend his fortunes by honorable +industry in South America, entitled him to respectful confidence. +As their acquaintance ripened, my friend gradually drew from +the wanderer the story of his adventurous life, and so striking +were its incidents, so true its delineations of African character, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span> +that he advised the captain to prepare a copious memorandum, +which I should write out for the public.</p> + +<p>Let me tell you why I undertook this task; but first, let me +assure you that, entertaining as the story might have been for a +large class of readers, I would not have composed a line for the +mere gratification of scandalous curiosity. My conversations +with Canot satisfied me that his disclosures were more thoroughly +candid than those of any one who has hitherto related +his connection with the traffic. I thought that the evidence of +one who, for twenty years, played the chief part in such a drama, +was of value to society, which, is making up its mind, not only +about a great political and domestic problem, but as to the nature +of the race itself. I thought that a true picture of aboriginal +Africa,—unstirred by progress,—unmodified by reflected +civilization,—full of the barbarism that blood and tradition have +handed down from the beginning, and embalmed in its prejudices, +like the corpses of Egypt,—could not fail to be of incalculable +importance to philanthropists who regard no people as beyond +the reach of enlightenment.</p> + +<p>The completed task rises before me like a moving panorama +whose scenery and background are the ocean and tropics, and +whose principal actor combines the astuteness of Fouché with +the dexterity of Gil Blas. I have endeavored to set forth +his story as plainly as possible, letting events instead of descriptions +develope a chequered life which was incessantly connected +with desperate men of both colors. As he unmasked his +whole career, and gave me leave to use the incidents, I have not +dared to hide what the actor himself displayed no wish to conceal. +Besides the sketches of character which familiarize us +with the aboriginal negro in Africa, there is a good moral in the +resultless life, which, after all its toils, hazards, and successes +leaves the adventurer a stranded wreck in the prime of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span> +manhood. One half the natural capacity, employed industriously in +lawful commerce, would have made the captain comfortable and +independent. Nor is there much to attract in the singular abnegation +of civilized happiness in a slaver’s career. We may not +be surprised, that such an <i>animal</i> as Da Souza, who is portrayed +in these pages, should revel in the sensualities of Dahomey; but +we must wonder at the passive endurance that could chain a superior +order of man, like Don Pedro Blanco, for fifteen unbroken +years, to his pestilential hermitage, till the avaricious +anchorite went forth from the marshes of Gallinas, laden with +gold. I do not think this story is likely to seduce or educate a +race of slavers!</p> + +<p>The frankness of Canot’s disclosures may surprise the more +reserved and timid classes of society; but I am of opinion that +there is an ethnographic value in the account of his visit to the +Mandingoes and Fullahs, and especially in his narrative of the +wars, jugglery, cruelty, superstition, and crime, by which one +sixth of Africa subjects the remaining five sixths to servitude.</p> + +<p>As the reader peruses these characteristic anecdotes, he will +ask himself how,—in the progress of mankind,—such a people +is to be approached and dealt with? Will the Mahometanism +of the North which is winning its way southward, and infusing itself +among the crowds of central Africa, so as, in some degree, to +modify their barbarism, prepare the primitive tribes to receive +a civilization and faith which are as true as they are divine? +Will our colonial fringe spread its fibres from the coast to the +interior, and, like veins of refreshing blood, pour new currents +into the mummy’s heart? Is there hope for a nation which, in +three thousand years, has hardly turned in its sleep? The identical +types of race, servitude, occupation, and character that are +now extant in Africa, may be found on the Egyptian monuments +built forty centuries ago; while a Latin poem, attributed to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> +Virgil, describes a menial negress who might unquestionably pass +for a slave of our Southern plantations:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Interdum clamat Cybalen; erat unica custos;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Afra genus, tota patriam testante figura;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Torta comam, labroque tumens, et fusca colorem;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pectore lata, jacens mammis, compressior alvo,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cruribus exilis, spatiosa prodiga planta;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Continuis rimis calcanea scissa rigebant.”<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a><br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>It will be seen from these hints that our memoir has nothing +to do with slavery as a North American institution, except so far +as it is an inheritance from the system it describes; yet, in proportion +as the details exhibit an innate or acquired inferiority of +the negro race <i>in its own land</i>, they must appeal to every generous +heart in behalf of the benighted continent.</p> + +<p>It has lately become common to assert that Providence permits +<i>an exodus through slavery</i>, in order that the liberated +negro may in time return, and, with foreign acquirements, become +the pioneer of African civilization. It is attempted to +reconcile us to this “good from evil,” by stopping inquiry with +the “inscrutability of God’s ways!” But we should not suffer +ourselves to be deceived by such imaginary irreverence; for, in +God’s ways, there is nothing <i>less</i> inscrutable than his <i>law of right</i>. +That law is never qualified in this world. It moves with the +irresistible certainty of organized nature, and, while it makes +man free, in order that his responsibility may be unquestionable, +it leaves mercy, even, for the judgment hereafter. Such a system +of divine law can never palliate <i>the African slave trade</i>, +and, in fact, it is the basis of that human legislation which converts +the slaver into a pirate, and awards him a felon’s doom.</p> + +<p>For these reasons, we should discountenance schemes like +those proposed not long ago in England, and sanctioned by the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span> +British government, for the encouragement of spontaneous emigration +from Africa under the charge of <i>contractors</i>. The plan +was viewed with fear by the colonial authorities, and President +Roberts at once issued a proclamation to guard the natives. +No one, I think, will read this book without a conviction that +the idea of <i>voluntary expatriation</i> has not dawned on the African +mind, and, consequently, what might begin in laudable +philanthropy would be likely to end in practical servitude.</p> + +<p>Intercourse, trade, and colonization, in slow but steadfast +growth, are the providences intrusted to us for the noble task +of civilization. They who are practically acquainted with the +colored race of our country, have long believed that gradual colonization +was the only remedy for Africa as well as America. +The repugnance of the free blacks to <i>emigration from our +shores</i> has produced a tardy movement, and thus the African +population has been thrown back grain by grain, and not wave +by wave. Every one conversant with the state of our colonies, +knows how beneficial this languid accretion has been. It moved +many of the most enterprising, thrifty, and independent. It +established a social nucleus from the best classes of American +colored people. Like human growth, it allowed the frame +to mature in muscular solidity. It gave immigrants time to +test the climate; to learn the habit of government in states as +well as in families; to acquire the bearing of freemen; to abandon +their imitation of the whites among whom they had lived; +and thus, by degrees, to consolidate a social and political system +which may expand into independent and lasting nationality. +Instead, therefore, of lamenting the slowness with which the colonies +have reached their vigorous promise, we should consider +it a blessing that the vicious did not rush forth in turbulent +crowds with the worthy, and impede the movements of better +folks, who were still unused to the task of self-reliance.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> +Men are often too much in a hurry to do good, and mar by +excessive zeal what patience would complete. “Deus quies quia +æternus,” saith St. Augustine. The cypress is a thousand years +in growth, yet its limbs touch not the clouds, save on a mountain +top. Shall the regeneration of a continent be quicker than +its ripening? That would be miracle—not progress.</p> + +<p>Accept this offering, my dear Willis, as a token of that sincere +regard, which, during an intimacy of a quarter of a century, +has never wavered in its friendly trust.</p> + +<p class="sig1">Faithfully, yours,</p> + +<p class="sig2"><span class="smcap">Brantz Mayer</span>.</p> + +<p class="receipt1"><span class="smcap">Baltimore</span>, <i>1st July, 1854</i>.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Moretum</span>,—Carm. Virg. Wagner’s ed. vol. 4, p. 301.</p></div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="80%" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp"> </td> + <td class="tdrp"><span class="smcap lowercase">PAGE</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. I.—My parentage and education—Apprenticed at Leghorn to an American +captain—First voyage—its mishaps—overboard—black cook—Sumatra—cabin-boy—Arrival +in Boston—My first <i>command</i>—View of Boston harbor from the mast-head—My +first interview with a Boston merchant, <span class="smcap">William Gray</span></td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. II.—My uncle tells my adventure with <span class="smcap">Lord Byron</span>—<span class="smcap">Captain Towne</span>, and +my life in Salem—My skill in Latin—Five years voyaging from Salem—I rescue +a Malay girl at Quallahbattoo—The <i>first</i> slave I ever saw—End of my apprenticeship—My +backslidings in Antwerp and Paris—Ship on a British vessel for Brazil—The +captain and his wife—Love, grog, and grumbling—A scene in the harbor of +Rio—Matrimonial happiness—Voyage to Europe—Wreck and loss on the coast +near Ostend</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. III.—I design going to South America—A Dutch galliot for Havana—Male +and female captain—Run foul of in the Bay of Biscay—Put into Ferrol, in Spain—I +am appropriated by a <i>new</i> mother, grandmother, and sisters—A comic scene—How +I got out of the scrape—Set sail for Havana—Jealousy of the captain—Deprived +of my post—Restored—Refuse to do duty—Its sad consequences—Wrecked +on a reef near Cuba—Fisherman-wreckers—Offer to land cargo—Make a bargain +with our salvors—A sad <i>denouement</i>—A night bath and escape</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. IV.—Bury my body in the sand to escape the insects—Night of horror—Refuge +on a tree—Scented by bloodhounds—March to the rancho—My guard—Argument +about my fate—“<span class="smcap">My Uncle</span>” <span class="smcap">Rafael</span> suddenly appears on the scene—Magic +change effected by my relationship—Clothed, and fed, and comforted—I +find an uncle, and am protected—<span class="smcap">Mesclet</span>—Made cook’s mate—Gallego, the cook—His +appearance and character—<span class="smcap">Don Rafael’s</span> story—“Circumstances”—His +counsel for my conduct on the island</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. V.—Life on a sand key—Pirates and wreckers—Their difference—Our galliot +destroyed—the gang goes to Cuba—I am left with Gallego—His daily fishing and +nightly flitting—I watch him—My discoveries in the graveyard—Return of the +wreckers—“Amphibious Jews”—Visit from a Cuban inspector—“Fishing license”—Gang +goes to Cape Verde—Report of a fresh wreck—Chance of escape—Arrival—Return +of wreckers—Bachicha and his clipper—Death of Mesclet—My +adventures in a privateer—My restoration to the key—Gallego’s charges—His +trial and fate</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> +CHAP. VI.—I am sent from the key—Consigned to a grocer at Regla—<span class="smcap">Cibo</span>—His +household—Fish-loving padre—Our dinners and studies—Rafael’s fate—Havana—A +slaver—I sail for Africa—The Areostatico’s voyage, crew, gale—Mutiny—How +I meet it alone—My first night in Africa!</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. VII.—Reflections on my conduct and character—Morning after the mutiny—Burial +of the dead—My wounds—<span class="smcap">Jack Ormond</span> or the “<span class="smcap">Mongo John</span>”—My +physician and his prescription—Value of woman’s milk—I make the vessel ready +for her slave cargo—I dine with Mongo John—His harem—Frolic in it—Duplicity +of my captain—I take service with Ormond as his clerk—I <i>pack</i> the human +cargo of the Areostatico—Farewell to my English cabin-boy—His story</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. VIII.—I take possession of my new quarters—My household and its fittings—History +of Mr. Ormond—How he got his rights in Africa—I take a survey of his +property and of my duties—The Cerberus of his harem—Unga-golah’s stealing—Her +rage at my opposition—A night visit at my quarters—<span class="smcap">Esther</span>, the quarteroon—A +warning and a sentimental scene—Account of an African factor’s harem—Mongo +John in his decline—His women—Their flirtations—Battles among the girls—How +African beaus fight a duel <i>for love</i>!—Scene of passionate jealousy among the +women</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. IX.—Pains and dreariness of the “wet season”—African rain!—<span class="smcap">A Caravan</span> +announced as coming to the Coast—Forest paths and trails in Africa—How we +arrange to catch a caravan—“Barkers,” who they are—<span class="smcap">Ahmah-de-Bellah</span>, son of +the <span class="smcap">Ali-Mami</span> of <span class="smcap">Footha-Yallon</span>—A Fullah chief leads the caravan of 700 persons—Arrival +of the caravan—Its character and reception—Its produce taken charge +of—People billeted—Mode of trading for the produce of a caravan—(<i>Note:</i> Account +of the produce, its value and results)—Mode of purchasing the produce—Sale +over—Gift of an ostrich—Its value in guns—<i>Bungee</i> or “<i>dash</i>”—Ahmah-de-Bellah—How +he got up his caravan—Blocks the forest paths—Convoy duties—Value +and use of blocking the forest paths—Collecting debts, &c.—My talks with +Ahmah—his instructions and sermons on Islamism—My geographical disquisitions, +rotundity of the world, the Koran—I consent to turn, <i>minus</i> the baptism!—Ahmah’s +attempt to vow me to Islamism—Fullah punishments—Slave wars—Piety +and profit—Ahmah and I exchange gifts—A double-barrelled gun for a Koran—I +promise to visit the Fullah country</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. X.—Mode of purchasing Slaves at factories—Tricks of jockeys—Gunpowder +and lemon-juice—I become absolute manager of the stores—Reconciliation with +Unga-golah—La belle Esther—I get the African fever—My nurses—Cured by +sweating and bitters—Ague—Showerbath remedy—<span class="smcap">Mr. Edward Joseph</span>—My +union with him—I quit the Mongo, and take up my quarters with the Londoner</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XI.—An epoch in my life in 1827—A vessel arrives consigned to me for slaves—<span class="smcap">La +Fortuna</span>—How I managed to sell my cigars and get a cargo, though I had +no factory—My first shipment—(Note on the cost and profit of a slave voyage)—How +slaves are selected for various markets, and shipped—Go on board naked—hearty +feed before embarkation—Stowage—Messes—Mode of eating—Grace—Men +and women separated—Attention to health, cleanliness, ventilation—Singing +and amusements—Daily purification of the vessel—Night, order and silence preserved +by negro constables—Use and disuse of handcuffs—Brazilian slavers—(Note +on condition of slavers since the treaty with Spain)</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XII.—How a cargo of slaves is landed in Cuba—Detection avoided—“<i>Gratificaciones</i>.” +Clothes distributed—Vessel burnt or sent in as a coaster, or in distress—A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span> +slave’s first glimpse of a Cuban plantation—Delight with food and dress—Oddity +of beasts of burden and vehicles—A slave’s first interview with a negro +<i>postilion</i>—the postilion’s sermon in favor of slavery—Dealings with the anchorites—How +tobacco smoke blinds public functionaries—My popularity on the Rio +Pongo—Ormond’s enmity to me</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XIII.—I become intimate with “Country princes” and receive their presents—Royal +marriages—Insulting to refuse a proffered wife—I am pressed to wed a +princess and my diplomacy to escape the sable noose—My partner agrees to marry +the princess—The ceremonial of wooing and wedding in African high life—<span class="smcap">Coomba</span></td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XIV.—<span class="smcap">Joseph</span>, my partner, has to fly from Africa—How I save our property—My +visit to the <span class="smcap">Bagers</span>—their primitive mode of life—Habits—Honesty—I find +my property unguarded and safe—My welcome in the village—Gift of a goat—Supper—Sleep—A +narrow escape in the surf on the coast—the skill of <span class="smcap">Kroomen</span></td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_118">118</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XV.—I study the institution of <span class="smcap">Slavery in Africa</span>—Man becomes a “legal +tender,” or the coin of Africa—Slave wars, how they are directly promoted by the +peculiar adaptation of the trade of the great commercial nations—Slavery an immemorial +institution in Africa—How and why it will always be retained—Who are +made <i>home</i> slaves—Jockeys and brokers—Five sixths of Africa in domestic +bondage</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XVI.—Caravan announced—<span class="smcap">Mami-de-Yong</span>, from Footha-Yallon, uncle of +Ahmah-de-Bellah—My ceremonious reception—My preparations for the chief—Coffee—his +school and teaching—<span class="smcap">Narrative of his trip to Timbuctoo</span>—Queer +black-board map—prolix story teller—Timbuctoo and its trade—Slavery</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XVII.—I set forth on my journey to <span class="smcap">Timbo</span>, to see the father of Ahmah-de-Bellah—My +caravan and its mode of travel—My Mussulman passport—Forest +roads—Arrive at <span class="smcap">Kya</span> among the <span class="smcap">Mandingoes</span>—My lodgings—<span class="smcap">Ibrahim Ali</span>—Our +supper and “bitters”—A scene of piety, love and liquor—Next morning’s headache—<span class="smcap">Ali-Ninpha</span> +begs leave to halt for a day—I manage our Fullah guide—My fever—Homœopathic +dose of Islamism from the Koran—My cure—Afternoon</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XVIII.—A ride on horseback—Its exhilaration in the forest—Visit to the <span class="smcap">Devil’s +Fountain</span>—Tricks of an echo and sulphur water—Ibrahim and I discourse +learnedly upon the ethics of fluids—My respect for national peculiarities—Our +host’s liberality—Mandingo etiquette at the departure of a guest—A valuable gift +from Ibrahim and its delicate bestowal—My offering in return—Tobacco and +brandy</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XIX.—A night bivouac in the forest—Hammock swung between trees—A +surprise and capture—What we do with the fugitive slaves—A Mandingo upstart +and his “town”—Inhospitality—He insults my Fullah leader—A quarrel—The +Mandingo is seized and his townsfolk driven out—We tarry for Ali-Ninpha—He +returns and tries his countrymen—Punishment—Mode of inculcating the social +virtues among these interior tribes—We cross the Sanghu on an impromptu bridge—Game—Forest +food—Vegetables—A “Witch’s cauldron” of reptiles for the +negroes</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XX.—Spread of Mahometanism in the interior of Africa—The external aspect +of nature in Africa—Prolific land—Indolence a law of the physical constitution—My +caravan’s progress—The <span class="smcap">Ali-Mami’s protection</span>, its value—Forest +scenery—Woods, open plains, barrancas and ravines—Their intense heat—Prairies—Swordgrass—River +scenery, magnificence of the shores, foliage, flowers, fruits +and birds; picturesque towns, villages and herds—Mountain scenery, view, at +<i>morning</i>, over the lowlands—An African noon</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span> +CHAP. XXI.—We approach <span class="smcap">Tamisso</span>—Our halt at a brook—bathing, beautifying, +and adornment of the women—Message and welcome from <span class="smcap">Mohamedoo</span>, by his +son, with a gift of food—Our musical escort and procession to the city—My horse +is led by a buffoon of the court, who takes care of my face—Curiosity of the townsfolk +to see the white Mongo—I pass on hastily to the <span class="smcap">Palace of Mohamedoo</span>—What +an African palace and its furniture is—Mohamedoo’s appearance, greeting +and dissatisfaction—I make my present and clear up the clouds—I determine to +bathe—How the girls watch me—Their commentaries on my skin and complexion—Negro +curiosity—A bath scene—Appearance of Tamisso, and my entertainment +there</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXII.—Improved character of country and population as we advance to the +interior—We approach <span class="smcap">Jallica</span>—Notice to <span class="smcap">Suphiana</span>—A halt for refreshment +and ablutions—Ali-Ninpha’s early home here—A great man in <span class="smcap">Soolimana</span>—Sound +of the war-drum at a distance—Our welcome—Entrance to the town—My party, +with the Fullah, is barred out—We are rescued—Grand ceremonial procession and +reception, lasting two hours—I am, at last, presented to Suphiana—My entertainment +in Jallica—A concert—Musical instruments—<span class="smcap">Madoo</span>, the <i>ayah</i>—I reward +her dancing and singing</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXIII.—Our caravan proceeds towards Timbo—Met and welcomed in advance, +on a lofty table land, by Ahmah-de-Bellah—Psalm of joy song by the Fullahs +for our safety—We reach <span class="smcap">Timbo</span> before day—A house has been specially built +and furnished for me—Minute care for my taste and comforts—Ahmah-de-Bellah +<i>a trump</i>—A fancy dressing-gown and ruffled shirt—I bathe, dress, and am presented +to the <span class="smcap">Ali-Mami</span>—His inquisitive but cordial reception and recommendation—Portrait +of a Fullah king—A breakfast with his wife—My formal reception by +the Chiefs of Timbo and <span class="smcap">Sulimani-Ali</span>—The ceremonial—Ahmah’s speech as to +my purposes—Promise of hospitality—My gifts—I design purchasing slaves—scrutiny +of the presents—<i>Cantharides</i>—<span class="smcap">Abdulmomen-Ali</span>, a prince and book-man—His +edifying discourse on Islamism—My submission</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXIV.—Site of Timbo and the surrounding country—A ride with the princes—A +modest custom of the Fullahs in passing streams—Visit to villages—The inhabitants +fly, fearing we are on a slave scout—Appearance of the cultivated lands, +gardens, near Findo and Furo—Every body shuns me—A walk through Timbo—A +secret expedition—I watch the girls and matrons as they go to the stream to +draw water—Their figures, limbs, dress—A splendid headdress—The people of +Timbo, their character, occupation, industry, reading—I announce my approaching +departure—Slave forays to supply me—A capture of forty-five by Sulimani-Ali—The +personal dread of me increases—Abdulmomen and Ahmah-de-Bellah +continue their slave hunts by day, and their pious discourses on Islamism by night—I +depart—The farewell gifts—two pretty damsels</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXV.—My home journey—We reach home with a caravan near a thousand +strong—Kambia in order—Mami-de-Yong and my clerk—The story and fate of +the Ali-Mami’s daughter <span class="smcap">Beeljie</span></td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXVI.—Arrival of a French slaver, <span class="smcap">La Perouse</span>, Captain Brulôt—Ormond +and I breakfast on board—Its sequel—We are made prisoners and put in irons—Short +mode of collecting an old debt on the coast of Africa—The Frenchman gets +possession of our slaves—Arrival of a Spanish slaver</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXVII.—Ormond communicates with the Spaniard, and arranges for our rescue—<span class="smcap">La +Esperanza</span>—Brulôt gives in—How we fine him two hundred and fifty +doubloons for the expense of his suit, and teach him the danger of playing tricks +upon African factors</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_196">196</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span> +CHAP. XXVIII.—<span class="smcap">Capt. Escudero</span> of the Esperanza dies—I resolve to take his place +in command and visit Cuba—Arrival of a Danish slaver—Quarrel and battle between +the crews of my Spaniard and the Dane—The Dane attempts to punish me +through the duplicity of Ormond—I bribe a servant and discover the trick—My +conversation with Ormond—We agree to circumvent the enemy—How I get a +cargo without cash</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXIX.—Off to sea—A calm—A British man-of-war—Boat attack—Reinforcement—A +battle—A catastrophe—A prisoner</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_206">206</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXX.—I am sent on board the corvette—My reception—A dangerous predicament—The +Captain and surgeon make me comfortable for the night—Extraordinary +conveniences for escape, of which I take the liberty to avail myself</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_214">214</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXXI.—I drift away in a boat with my servant—Our adventures till we land +in the <span class="smcap">Isles de Loss</span>—My illness and recovery—I return to the Rio Pongo—I am +received on board a French slaver—Invitation to dinner—Monkey soup and its +consequences</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXXII.—My greeting in <span class="smcap">Kambia</span>—The <span class="smcap">Feliz</span> from Matanzas—Negotiations +for her cargo—Ormond attempts to poison me—Ormond’s <i>suicide</i>—His burial according +to African customs</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXXIII.—A visit to the <span class="smcap">Matacan</span> river in quest of slaves—My reception by +the king—His appearance—Scramble for my gifts—How slaves are sometimes trapped +on a hasty hunt—I visit the <span class="smcap">Matacan Wizard</span>; his cave, leopard, blind boy—Deceptions +and jugglery—Fetiches—A scale of African intellect</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXXIV.—What became of the Esperanza’s officers and crew—The destruction +of my factory at Kambia by fire—I lose all but my slaves—the incendiary detected—Who +instigated the deed—Ormond’s relatives—<span class="smcap">Death of Esther</span>—I go +to sea in a schooner from Sierra Leone—How I acquire a cargo of slaves in the Rio +Nunez without money</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXXV.—I escape capture—Symptoms of mutiny and detection of the plot—How +we put it down</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXXVI.—A “white squall”—I land my cargo near St. Jago de Cuba—Trip +to Havana on horseback—My consignees and their prompt arrangements—success +of my voyage—Interference of the French Consul—I am <i>nearly</i> arrested—How +things were managed, of old, in Cuba</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXXVII.—A long holiday—I am wrecked on a key—My rescue by salvors—New +Providence—I ship on the <span class="smcap">San Pablo</span>, from St. Thomas’s, as sailing master—Her +captain and his arrangements—Encounter a transport—Benefit of the +small-pox—Mozambique Channel—Take cargo near <span class="smcap">Quillimane</span>—How we managed +to get slaves—Illness of our captain—The small-pox breaks out on our brig—Its +fatality</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_248">248</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXXVIII.—Our captain <i>longs</i> for calomel, and how I get it from a Scotchman—Our +captain’s last will and testament—We are chased by a British cruiser—How +we out-manœvred and crippled her—Death of our captain—Cargo landed +and the San Pablo burnt</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XXXIX.—My returns from the voyage $12,000, and how I apply them—A +custom-house encounter which loses me <span class="smcap">La Conchita</span> and my money—I get command +of a slaver for <span class="smcap">Ayudah</span>—<span class="smcap">La Estrella</span>—I consign her to the notorious <span class="smcap">Da +Souza</span> or <span class="smcap">Cha-cha</span>—His history and mode of life in Africa—His gambling houses +and women—I keep aloof from his temptations, and contrive to get my cargo in +two months</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span> +CHAP. XL.—All Africans believe in divinities or powers of various degree, except +the Bagers—Iguanas worshipped in Ayudah—Invitation to witness the <span class="smcap lowercase">HUMAN +SACRIFICES</span> at the court of <span class="smcap">Dahomey</span>—How they travel to <span class="smcap">Abomey</span>—The King, his +court, amazons, style of life, and brutal festivities—Superstitious rights at <span class="smcap">Lagos</span>—The +<span class="smcap">Juju</span> hunts by night for the virgin to be sacrificed—Gree-gree bush—The sacrifice—African +priest and kingcraft</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XLI.—My voyage home in the <span class="smcap">Estrella</span>—<span class="smcap">A revolt of the slaves</span> during +a squall, and how we were obliged to suppress it—Use of pistols and hot water</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XLII.—Smallpox and a <i>necessary murder</i>—Bad luck every where—A chase +and a narrow escape</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_276">276</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XLIII.—The <span class="smcap">Aguila de Oro</span>, a Chesapeake clipper—my race with the Montesquieu—I +enter the river Salum to trade for slaves—I am threatened, then arrested, +and my clipper seized by French man-of-war’s men—Inexplicable mystery—We +are imprisoned at <span class="smcap">Goree</span>—Transferred to San Louis on the Senegal—The +Frenchmen appropriate my schooner without condemnation—How they used her +The sisters of charity in our prison—The trial scene in court, and our sentence—Friends +attempt to facilitate my escape, but our plans detected—I am transferred +to a guard-ship in the stream—New projects for my escape—A jolly party and the +nick of time, but the captain spoils the sport</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_280">280</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XLIV.—I am sent to France in the frigate <span class="smcap">Flora</span>—Sisters of charity—The +prison of Brest—My prison companions—Prison mysteries—<span class="smcap">Corporal Blon</span>—I +apply to the Spanish minister—Transfer to the civil prison</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_286">286</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XLV.—<span class="smcap">Madame Sorret</span> and my new quarters—Mode of life—A lot of Catalan +girls—Prison boarding and lodging—Misery of the convicts in the coast prisons—Improvement +of the central prisons</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_292">292</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XLVI.—New lodgers in our quarters—How we pass our time in pleasant +diversions by aid of the Catalan girls and my cash—Soirées—My funds give out—Madame +Sorret makes a suggestion—I turn schoolmaster, get pupils, teach English +and penmanship, and support my whole party</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_295">295</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XLVII.—<span class="smcap">Monsieur Germaine</span>, the forger—His trick—Cause of Germaine’s +arrest—An adroit and rapid forgery—Its detection</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_300">300</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XLVIII.—Plan of escape—Germaine’s project against Babette—A new +scheme for New Year’s night—Passports—<span class="smcap">Pietro Nazzolini</span> and <span class="smcap">Dominico +Antonetti</span>—Preparations for our “French leave”—How the attempt eventuated</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_304">304</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. XLIX.—Condition of the sentinel when he was found—His story—Prison +researches next day—How we avoid detection—Louis Philippe receives my petition +favorably—Germaine’s philosophic pilfering and principles—His plan to rob +the <span class="smcap">Santissima Casa of Loretto</span>—He designs making an attempt on the Emperor +Nicholas—I am released and banished from France</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_310">310</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. L.—I go to Portugal, and return in disguise to Marseilles, in order to embark +for Africa—I resolve to continue a slaver—A Marseilles hotel during the cholera—<span class="smcap">Doctor +Du Jean</span> and <span class="smcap">Madame Duprez</span>—Humors of the <i>table d’hôte</i>—Coquetry +and flirtation—A phrenological <i>denouement</i></td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_316">316</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LI.—I reach Goree, and hasten to Sierra Leone, where I become a coast-pilot +to <span class="smcap">Gallinas</span>—Site of that celebrated factory—<i>Don</i> <span class="smcap">Pedro Blanco</span>—His +monopoly of the Vey country—Slave-trade and its territorial extent prior to the +<span class="smcap">American Scheme of Colonization</span>—Blanco’s arrangements, telegraphs, &c. at +Gallinas—Appearance and mode of life—Blanco and the Lords’ prayer in Latin</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_324">324</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span> +CHAP. LII.—Anecdotes of Blanco—Growth of slave-trade in the <span class="smcap">Vey</span> country—Local +wars—<span class="smcap">Amarar</span> and <span class="smcap">Shiakar</span>—Barbarities of the natives</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_330">330</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LIII.—I visit <span class="smcap">Liberia</span>, and observe a new phase of negro development—I go +to <span class="smcap">New Sestros</span>, and establish trade—Trouble with Prince <span class="smcap">Freeman</span>—The value +of gunpowder physic</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_335">335</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LIV.—My establishment at New Sestros, and how I created the slave-trade +in that region—The ordeal of <span class="smcap">Saucy-Wood</span>—My mode of attacking a superstitious +usage, and of saving the victims—The story of <span class="smcap">Barrah</span> and his execution</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_339">339</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LV.—No river at New Sestros—Beach—Kroomen and Fishmen—Bushmen—Kroo +boats—I engage a fleet of them for my factory—I ship a cargo of slaves in a +hurry—My mode of operating—Value of rum and mock coral beads—Return of +the cruiser</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_344">344</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LVI.—I go on a pleasure voyage in the Brilliant, accompanied by <span class="smcap">Governor +Findley</span>—Murder of the Governor—I fit out an expedition to revenge his death—A +fight with the beach negroes—We burn five towns—A disastrous retreat—I +am wounded—Vindication of Findley’s memory</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_349">349</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LVII.—What Don Pedro Blanco thought of my Quixotism—Painful effects +of my wound—Blanco’s liberality to Findley’s family—My slave <i>nurseries</i> on the +coast—Digby—I pack nineteen negroes on my launch, and set sail for home—Disastrous +voyage—Stories—I land my cargo at night at <span class="smcap">Monrovia</span>, and carry it +through the colony!—Some new views of commercial Morality!</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_356">356</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LVIII.—My compliments to British cruisers—The <span class="smcap">Bonito</span>—I offer an inspection +of my barracoons, &c., to her officers—A lieutenant and the surgeon are sent +ashore—My reception of them, and the review of my slaves, feeding, sleeping, &c.—Our +night frolic—Next morning—A surprise—The Bonito off, and her officers +ashore!—Almost a quarrel—How I pacified my guests over a good breakfast—Sauce +for the goose is sauce for the gander</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_362">362</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LIX.—Ups and downs—I am captured in a Russian vessel, and sent to Sierra +Leone—It is resolved that I am to be despatched to England—I determine to take +French leave—Preparation to celebrate a birthday—A feast—A martinet—<span class="smcap">Corporal +Blunt</span>—Pleasant effects of cider—A swim for life and liberty at night—My +concealment—I manage to equip myself, and depart in a Portuguese vessel—I +ship thirty-one slaves at Digby—A narrow escape from a cruiser—My return to +New Sestros—Report of my death—How I restored confidence in my actual existence—Don +Pedro’s notion of me—The gift of a donkey, and its disastrous effect +on the married ladies of New Sestros</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_369">369</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LX.—The confession of a dying sailor—<span class="smcap">Sanchez</span>—The story of the murder of +Don Miguel, and destruction of his factory by <span class="smcap">Thompson</span>—A piratical revenge—An +<i>auto-da-fé</i> at sea</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_377">377</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LXI.—My establishment at Digby—The rival kinsmen, and their quarrel—<span class="smcap">Jen-ken, +the Bushman</span>—My arrival at Digby, carousal—A night attack by the +rival and his allies—A rout—Horrid scenes of massacre, barbarity, and cannibalism—My +position and ransom</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_382">382</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LXII.—I escape from the bloody scene in a boot with a Krooman—Storm on +the coast—My perilous attempt to land at Gallinas—How I am warned off—An +African tornado—The sufferings of my companion and myself while exposed in +the boat, and our final rescue</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_387">387</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LXIII.—Don Pedro Blanco leaves Gallinas—I visit Cape Mount, to restore +his son to the Chief—His reception—I go to England in the <span class="smcap">Gil Blas</span>; she is run +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span> +down by steamer in the Channel—Rescued, and reach Dover—I see London and +the British Islands—The diversions, sufferings, and opinions of my servant <span class="smcap">Lunes</span> +in Great Britain—He leaves voluntarily for Africa—A queer chat and scene with +the ladies—His opinion of negro dress and negro bliss</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_391">391</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LXIV.—I make arrangements for future trade and business with <span class="smcap">Mr. Redman</span>—I +go to Havana, resolved to obtain a release from Blanco, and engage in +lawful commerce—Don Pedro refuses, and sends me back with a freight—A voyage +with two African females revisiting their native country—Their story in +Cuba; results of frugality and industry—Shiakar’s daughter—Her reception at +home—Her disgust with her savage home in Africa, and return to Cuba</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_396">396</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LXV.—I find my establishment in danger, from the colonists and others—A +correspondence with <span class="smcap">Lieut. Bell</span>, U. S. N.—Harmless termination of <span class="smcap">Governor +Buchanan’s</span> onslaught—Threatened with famine; my relief—The <span class="smcap">Volador</span> +takes 749 slaves;—<span class="smcap">The last cargo I ever shipped</span></td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_399">399</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LXVI.—I am attacked by the British cruiser <span class="smcap">Termagant</span>, Lieut. <span class="smcap">Seagram</span>—Correspondence +and diplomacy—I go on board the cruiser in a <i>damp uniform</i>—My +reception and jollification—<span class="smcap">I confess my intention to abandon the +Slave-trade</span>—My compact with Seagram—How we manage Prince Freeman—His +treaty with the Lieutenant for the suppression of the trade—The negro’s duplicity +outwits himself—The British officer guaranties the safe removal of my +property, whereupon I release 100 slaves—Captain <span class="smcap">Denman’s destruction of +Gallinas</span>—Freeman begins to see my diplomacy, and regrets his inability to +plunder my property, as the natives had done at Gallinas—His plot to effect this—How +I counteract it</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_405">405</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LXVII.—My barracoons destroyed—Adieus to New Sestros—I sail with Seagram, +in the Termagant, for Cape Mount—A slaver in sight—All the nautical men +depart to attack her in boats during a calm—I am left in charge of Her Britannic +Majesty’s cruiser—The fruitless issue—Escape of the Serea</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_411">411</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LXVIII.—We land at Cape Mount, and obtain a cession of territory, by deed, +from <span class="smcap">King Fana-Toro</span> and <span class="smcap">Prince Gray</span>—I explore the region—Site of old +English slave factory—Difficulty of making the negroes comprehend my improvements +at New Florence—Negro speculations and philosophy in regard to labor.</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_414">414</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LXIX.—Visit to Monrovia—Description of the colony and its products—Speculations +on the future of the republic, and the character of colored colonization</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_419">419</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LXX.—I remove, and settle permanently at New Florence—I open communications +with cruisers to supply them with provisions, &c.—Anecdote of <span class="smcap">Soma</span>, +the gambler—His sale and danger in the hands of a Bushman—Mode of gambling +one’s self away in Africa—A letter from Governor Macdonald destroys my prospect +of British protection—I haul down the British flag—I determine to devote +myself to husbandry—Bad prospect</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_424">424</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LXXI.—Account of the character of the <span class="smcap">Vey</span> negroes—The <span class="smcap">Gree-gree</span> +bush—Description of this institution, its rites, services, and uses—Marriage and +midwifery—A scene with Fana-Toro, at Toso—Human sacrifice of his enemy; +frying a heart; indignity committed on the body—Anecdote of the king’s endurance; +burns his finger as a test, and rallies his men—Death of Prince Gray—Funeral +rites among the Vey people—<i>Smoking the corpse</i>—I am offered the choice +of his widows</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_429">429</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LXXII.—My workshops, gardens, and plantations at the Cape Mount settlement—I +do not prosper as a farmer or trader with <i>the interior</i>—I decide to send +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span> +a <i>coaster</i> to aid in the transfer of the Yankee clipper A—— to a slaver—I part on +bad terms with the British—Game at Cape Mount—Adventure of a boy and an +<i>Ourang-outang</i>—How we killed leopards, and saved our castle—Mode of hunting +elephants—Elephant law</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_437">437</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlp">CHAP. LXXIII.—Fana-Toro’s war, and its effect on my establishment—I decline +joining actively in the conflict—I allow captives to be shipped by a Gallinas factor—Two +years of blockade by the British—A miraculous voyage of a long-boat with +thirty-three slaves to Bahia—My disasters and mishaps at Cape Mount in consequence +of this war—Exaggerations of my enemies—My true character—Letter from +Rev. <span class="smcap">John Seys</span> to me—My desire to aid the missionaries—<span class="smcap">Cain</span> and <span class="smcap">Curtis</span> +stimulate the British against me—Adventure of the Chancellor—the British destroy +my establishment—Death of Fana-Toro—The natives revenge my loss—The +end</td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#Page_442">442</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h1 style="padding-top: 3em;">THEODORE CANOT.</h1> + + + +<h2 style="padding-top: 3em;">CHAPTER I.</h2> + + +<p>Whilst Bonaparte was busy conquering Italy, my excellent +father, Louis Canot, a captain and paymaster in the French +army, thought fit to pursue his fortunes among the gentler sex +of that fascinating country, and luckily won the heart and hand +of a blooming Piedmontese, to whom I owe my birth in the capital +of Tuscany.</p> + +<p>My father was faithful to the Emperor as well as the Consul. +He followed his sovereign in his disasters as well as glory: nor +did he falter in allegiance until death closed his career on the +field of Waterloo.</p> + +<p>Soldiers’ wives are seldom rich, and my mother was no exception +to the rule. She was left in very moderate circumstances, +with six children to support; but the widow of an old +campaigner, who had partaken the sufferings of many a long and +dreary march with her husband, was neither disheartened by the +calamity, nor at a loss for thrifty expedients to educate her +younger offspring. Accordingly, I was kept at school, studying +geography, arithmetic, history and the languages, until near +twelve years old, when it was thought time for me to choose a +profession. At school, and in my leisure hours, I had always +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +been a greedy devourer of books of travel, or historical narratives +full of stirring incidents, so that when I avowed my preference +for a sea-faring life, no one was surprised. Indeed, my +fancy was rather applauded, as two of my mother’s brothers had +served in the Neapolitan navy, under Murat. Proper inquiries +were quickly made at Leghorn; and, in a few weeks, I found +myself on the <i>mole</i> of that noble seaport, comfortably equipped, +with a liberal outfit, ready to embark, as an apprentice, upon the +American ship Galatea, of Boston.</p> + +<p>It was in the year 1819, that I first saluted the element upon +which it has been my destiny to pass so much of my life. The +reader will readily imagine the discomforts to which I was subjected +on this voyage. Born and bred in the interior of Italy, +I had only the most romantic ideas of the sea. My opinions +had been formed from the lives of men in loftier rank and under +more interesting circumstances. My career was necessarily one +of great hardship; and, to add to my misfortunes, I had neither +companion nor language to vent my grief and demand sympathy. +For the first three months, I was the butt of every joker in the +ship. I was the scape-goat of every accident and of every one’s +sins or carelessness. As I lived in the cabin, each plate, glass, +or utensil that fell to leeward in a gale, was charged to my negligence. +Indeed, no one seemed to compassionate my lot save a +fat, lubberly negro cook, whom I could not endure. He was the +<i>first</i> African my eye ever fell on, and I must confess that he +was the only friend I possessed during my early adventures.</p> + +<p>Besides the officers of the Galatea, there was a clerk on +board, whom the captain directed to teach me English, so that, +by the time we reached Sumatra, I was able to stand up for my +rights, and plead my cause. As we could not obtain a cargo of +pepper on the island, we proceeded to Bengal; and, on our arrival +at Calcutta, the captain, who was also supercargo, took apartments +on shore, where the clerk and myself were allowed to follow +him.</p> + +<p>According to the fashion of that period, the house provided +for our accommodation was a spacious and elegant one, equipped +with every oriental comfort and convenience, while fifteen or +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +twenty servants were always at the command of its inmates. +For three months we lived like nabobs, and sorry, indeed, was I +when the clerk announced that the vessel’s loading was completed, +and our holiday over.</p> + +<p>On the voyage home, I was promoted from the cabin, and +sent into the steerage to do duty as a “light hand,” in the chief +mate’s watch. Between this officer and the captain there was +ill blood, and, as I was considered the master’s pet, I soon began +to feel the bitterness of the subordinate’s spite. This fellow +was not only cross-grained, but absolutely malignant. One day, +while the ship was skimming along gayly with a five-knot breeze, +he ordered me out to the end of the jib-boom to loosen the sail; +yet, without waiting until I was clear of the jib, he suddenly +commanded the men who were at the halliards to hoist the canvas +aloft. A sailor who stood by pointed out my situation, but +was cursed into silence. In a moment I was jerked into the air, +and, after performing half a dozen involuntary summersets, was +thrown into the water, some distance from the ship’s side. +When I rose to the surface, I heard the prolonged cry of the +anxious crew, all of whom rushed to the ship’s side, some with +ropes’ ends, some with chicken coops, while others sprang to the +stern boat to prepare it for launching. In the midst of the +hurly-burly, the captain reached the deck, and laid the ship to; +the sailor who had remonstrated with the mate having, in the +meantime, clutched that officer, and attempted to throw him +over, believing I had been drowned by his cruelty. As the sails +of the Galatea flattened against the wind, many an anxious eye +was strained over the water in search of me; but I was nowhere +seen! In truth, as the vessel turned on her heel, the movement +brought her so close to the spot where I rose, that I clutched a +rope thrown over for my rescue, and climbed to the lee channels +without being perceived. As I leaped to the deck, I found one +half the men in tumultuous assemblage around the struggling +mate and sailor; but my sudden apparition served to divert the +mob from its fell purpose, and, in a few moments, order was perfectly +restored. Our captain was an intelligent and just man, +as may be readily supposed from the fact that he exclusively +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +controlled so valuable an enterprise. Accordingly, the matter +was examined with much deliberation; and, on the following +day, the chief mate was deprived of his command. I should not +forget to mention that, in the midst of the excitement, my sable +friend the cook leaped overboard to rescue his <i>protegé</i>. Nobody +happened to notice the darkey when he sprang into the sea; and, +as he swam in a direction quite contrary from the spot where I +fell, he was nigh being lost, when the ship’s sails were trimmed +upon her course. Just at that moment a faint call was heard +from the sea, and the woolly skull perceived in time for rescue.</p> + +<p>This adventure elevated not only “little Theodore,” but our +“culinary artist” in the good opinion of the mess. Every Saturday +night my African friend was allowed to share the cheer +of the forecastle, while our captain presented him with a certificate +of his meritorious deed, and made the paper more palatable +by the promise of a liberal bounty in current coin at the end of +the voyage.</p> + +<p>I now began to feel at ease, and acquire a genuine fondness +for sea life. My aptitude for languages not only familiarized me +with English, but enabled me soon to begin the scientific study +of navigation, in which, I am glad to say, that Captain Solomon +Towne was always pleased to aid my industrious efforts.</p> + +<p>We touched at <span class="smcap">St. Helena</span> for supplies, but as Napoleon was +still alive, a British frigate met us within five miles of that rock-bound +coast, and after furnishing a scant supply of water, bade +us take our way homeward.</p> + +<p>I remember very well that it was a fine night in July, 1820, +when we touched the wharf at Boston, Massachusetts. Captain +Towne’s family resided in Salem, and, of course, he was soon on +his way thither. The new mate had a young wife in Boston, and +he, too, was speedily missing. One by one, the crew sneaked off +in the darkness. The second mate quickly found an excuse for +a visit in the neighborhood; so that, by midnight, the Galatea, +with a cargo valued at about one hundred and twenty thousand +dollars, was intrusted to the watchfulness of a stripling cabin-boy.</p> + +<p>I do not say it boastfully, but it is true that, whenever I +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +have been placed in responsible situations, from the earliest +period of my recollection, I felt an immediate stirring of that +pride which always made me equal, or at least willing, for the +required duty. All night long I paced the deck. Of all the +wandering crowd that had accompanied me nearly a year across +many seas, I alone had no companions, friends, home, or sweetheart, +to seduce me from my craft; and I confess that the sentiment +of loneliness, which, under other circumstances, might have +unmanned me at my American greeting, was stifled by the mingled +vanity and pride with which I trod the quarter-deck as temporary +captain.</p> + +<p>When dawn ripened into daylight, I remembered the stirring +account my shipmates had given of the beauty of Boston, and I +suddenly felt disposed to imitate the example of my fellow-sailors. +Honor, however, checked my feet as they moved towards +the ship’s ladder; so that, instead of descending her side, I +closed the cabin door, and climbed to the main-royal yard, to <i>see</i> +the city at least, if I could not mingle with its inhabitants. I +expected to behold a second Calcutta; but my fancy was not gratified. +Instead of observing the long, glittering lines of palaces +and villas I left in India and on the Tuscan shore, my Italian +eyes were first of all saluted by dingy bricks and painted boards. +But, as my sight wandered away from the town, and swept down +both sides of the beautiful bay, filled with its lovely islands, and +dressed in the fresh greenness of summer, I confess that my +memory and heart were magically carried away into the heart of +Italy, playing sad tricks with my sense of duty, when I was +abruptly restored to consciousness by hearing the heavy footfall +of a stranger on deck.</p> + +<p>The intruder—as well as I could see from aloft—seemed to +be a stout, elderly person. I did not delay to descend the ratlins, +but slid down a back-stay, just in time to meet the stranger +as he approached our cabin. My notions of Italian manners +did not yet permit me to appreciate the greater freedom and +social liberty with which I have since become so familiar in +America, and it may naturally be supposed that I was rather +peremptory in ordering the inquisitive Bostonian to leave the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +ship. I was in command—in my <i>first</i> command; and so unceremonious +a visit was peculiarly annoying. Nor did the conduct +of the intruder lessen my anger, as, quietly smiling at my order, +he continued moving around the ship, and peered into every nook +and corner. Presently he demanded whether I was alone? +My self-possession was quite sufficient to leave the question unanswered; +but I ordered him off again, and, to enforce my command, +called a dog that did not exist. My <i>ruse</i>, however, did +not succeed. The Yankee still continued his examination, while +I followed closely on his heels, now and then twitching the long +skirts of his surtout to enforce my mandate for his departure.</p> + +<p>During this promenade, my unwelcome guest questioned me +about the captain’s health,—about the mate,—as to the cause of +his dismissal,—about our cargo,—and the length of our voyage. +Each new question begot a shorter and more surly answer. I +was perfectly satisfied that he was not only a rogue, but a most +impudent one; and my Franco-Italian temper strained almost to +bursting.</p> + +<p>By this time, we approached the house which covered the +steering-gear at the ship’s stern, and in which were buckets containing +a dozen small turtles, purchased at the island of Ascension, +where we stopped to water after the refusal at St. Helena. +The turtle at once attracted the stranger’s notice, and he promptly +offered to purchase them. I stated that only half the lot belonged +to me, but that I would sell the whole, provided he +was able to pay. In a moment, my persecutor drew forth a well-worn +pocket-book, and handing me six dollars, asked whether I +was satisfied with the price. The dollars were unquestionable +gleams, if not absolute proofs, of honesty, and I am sure my +heart would have melted had not the purchaser insisted on taking +one of the buckets to convey the turtles home. Now, as these +charming implements were part of the ship’s pride, as well as +property, and had been laboriously adorned by our marine artists +with a spread eagle and the vessel’s name, I resisted the demand, +offering, at the same time, to return the money. But my turtle-dealer +was not to be repulsed so easily; his ugly smile still +sneered in my face as he endeavored to push me aside and drag +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +the bucket from my hand. I soon found that he was the stronger +of the two, and that it would be impossible for me to rescue my +bucket fairly; so, giving it a sudden twist and shake, I contrived +to upset both water and turtles on the deck, thus sprinkling the +feet and coat-tails of the veteran with a copious ablution. To +my surprise, however, the tormentor’s cursed grin not only continued +but absolutely expanded to an immoderate laugh, the uproariousness +of which was increased by another suspicious Bostonian, +who leaped on deck during our dispute. By this time I was +in a red heat. My lips were white, my checks in a blaze, and my +eyes sparks. Beyond myself with ferocious rage, I gnashed my +teeth, and buried them in the hand which I could not otherwise +release from its grasp on the bucket. In the scramble, I either +lost or destroyed part of my bank notes; yet, being conqueror +at last, I became clement, and taking up my turtles, once more +insisted upon the departure of my annoyers. There is no doubt +that I larded my language with certain epithets, very current +among sailors, most of which are learned more rapidly by foreigners +than the politer parts of speech.</p> + +<p>Still the abominable monster, nothing daunted by my onslaught, +rushed to the cabin, and would doubtless have descended, +had not I been nimbler than he in reaching the doors, +against which I placed my back, in defiance. Here, of course, +another battle ensued, enlivened by a chorus of laughter from a +crowd of laborers on the wharf. This time I could not bite, yet +I kept the apparent thief at bay with my feet, kicking his shins +unmercifully whenever he approached, and swearing in the choicest +Tuscan.</p> + +<p>He who knows any thing of Italian character, especially when +it is additionally spiced by French condiments, may imagine the +intense rage to which so volcanic a nature as mine was, by this +time, fully aroused. Language and motion were nearly exhausted. +I could neither speak nor strike. The mind’s passion had +almost produced the body’s paralysis. Tears began to fall from +my eyes: but still he laughed! At length, I suddenly flung wide +the cabin doors, and leaping below at a bound, seized from the +rack a loaded musket, with which I rushed upon deck. As soon +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +as the muzzle appeared above the hatchway, my tormentor sprang +over the ship, and by the time I reached the ladder, I found him +on the wharf, surrounded by a laughing and shouting crowd. I +shook my head menacingly at the group; and shouldering my +firelock, mounted guard at the gangway. It was fully a quarter +of an hour that I paraded (occasionally ramming home my musket’s +charge, and varying the amusement by an Italian defiance +to the jesters), before the tardy mate made his appearance on +the wharf. But what was my consternation, when I beheld him +advance deferentially to my pestilent visitor, and taking off his +hat, respectfully offer to conduct him on board! This was a +great lesson to me in life on the subject of “appearances.” The +shabby old individual was no less a personage than the celebrated +William Gray, of Boston, owner of the Galatea and cargo, and +proprietor of many a richer craft then floating on every sea.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Gray was a forgiving enemy. As he left the ship +that morning, he presented me fifty dollars, “in exchange,” he +said, “for the six destroyed in protection of his property;” +and, on the day of my discharge, he not only paid the wages of +my voyage, but added fifty dollars more to aid my schooling in +scientific navigation.</p> + +<p>Four years after, I again met this distinguished merchant at +the Marlborough Hotel, in Boston. I was accompanied, on that +occasion, by an uncle who visited the United States on a commercial +tour. When my relative mentioned my name to Mr. +Gray, that gentleman immediately recollected me, and told my +venerable kinsman that he never received such abuse as I +bestowed on him in July, 1820! The sting of my teeth, he +declared, still tingled in his hand, while the kicks I bestowed +on his ankles, occasionally displayed the scars they had left on +his limbs. He seemed particularly annoyed, however, by some +caustic remarks I had made about his protuberant stomach, and +forgave the blows but not the language.</p> + +<p>My uncle, who was somewhat of a tart disciplinarian, gave +me an extremely black look, while, in French, he demanded an +explanation of my conduct. I knew Mr. Gray, however, better +than my relative; and so, without heeding his reprimand, I +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +answered, in English, that if I cursed the ship’s owner on that +occasion, it was my <i>debut</i> in the English language on the American +continent; and as my Anglo-Saxon education had been finished +in a forecastle, it was not to be expected I should be select +in my vocabulary. “Never the less,” I added, “Mr. Gray was +so delighted with my <i>accolade</i>, that he valued my defence of his +property and our delicious <i>tête-à-tête</i> at the sum of a hundred +dollars!”</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + + +<p>The anecdote told in the last chapter revived my uncle’s recollection +of several instances of my early impetuosity; among +which was a rencounter with Lord Byron, while that poet was +residing at his villa on the slope of Monte Negro near Leghorn, +which he took the liberty to narrate to Mr. Gray.</p> + +<p>A commercial house at that port, in which my uncle had some +interest, was the noble lord’s banker;—and, one day, while my +relative and the poet were inspecting some boxes recently arrived +from Greece, I was dispatched to see them safely deposited in +the warehouse. Suddenly, Lord Byron demanded a pencil. My +uncle had none with him, but remembering that I had lately +been presented one in a handsome silver case, requested the +loan of it. Now, as this was my first <i>silver</i> possession, I was +somewhat reluctant to let it leave my possession even for a moment, +and handed it to his lordship with a bad grace. When the +poet had made his memorandum, he paused a moment, as if lost +in thought, and then very unceremoniously—but, doubtless, in a +fit of abstraction—put the pencil in his pocket. If I had already +visited America at that time, it is likely that I would have +warned the Englishman of his mistake on the spot; but, as +children in the Old World are rather more curbed in their intercourse +with elders than on this side of the Atlantic, I bore the +forgetfulness as well as I could until next morning. Summoning +all my resolution, I repaired without my uncle’s knowledge to +the poet’s house at an early hour, and after much difficulty was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +admitted to his room. He was still in bed. Every body has +heard of Byron’s peevishness, when disturbed or intruded on. +He demanded my business in a petulant and offensive tone. I +replied, respectfully, that on the preceding day I loaned him a +<i>silver</i> pencil,—strongly emphasizing and repeating the word <i>silver</i>,—which, +I was grieved to say, he forgot to return. Byron reflected +a moment, and then declared he had restored it to me on the +spot! I mildly but firmly denied the fact; while his lordship +as sturdily reasserted it. In a short time, we were both in such +a passion that Byron commanded me to leave the room. I edged +out of the apartment with the slow, defying air of angry boyhood; +but when I reached the door, I suddenly turned, and +looking at him with all the bitterness I felt for his nation, called +him, in French, “an English hog!” Till then our quarrel had +been waged in Italian. Hardly were the words out of my mouth +when his lordship leaped from the bed, and in the scantiest drapery +imaginable, seized me by the collar, inflicting such a shaking +as I would willingly have exchanged for a tertian ague from the +Pontine marshes. The sudden air-bath probably cooled his +choler, for, in a few moments, we found ourselves in a pacific explanation +about the luckless pencil. Hitherto I had not mentioned +my uncle; but the moment I stated the relationship, +Byron became pacified and credited my story. After searching +his pockets once more ineffectually for the lost <i>silver</i>, he presented +me his own <i>gold</i> pencil instead, and requested me to say why +I “cursed him <i>in French</i>?”</p> + +<p>“My father was a Frenchman, my lord,” said I.</p> + +<p>“And your mother?”</p> + +<p>“She is an Italian, sir.”</p> + +<p>“Ah! no wonder, then, you called me an ‘English hog.’ +The hatred runs in the blood; you could not help it.”</p> + +<p>After a moment’s hesitation, he continued,—still pacing the +apartment in his night linen,—“You don’t like the English, do +you, my boy?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said I, “I don’t.”</p> + +<p>“Why?” returned Byron, quietly.</p> + +<p>“Because my father died fighting them,” replied I.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +“Then, youngster, you have <i>a right</i> to hate them,” said the +poet, as he put me gently out of the door, and locked it on the +inside.</p> + +<p>A week after, one of the porters of my uncle’s warehouse +offered to sell, at an exorbitant price, what he called “Lord +Byron’s pencil,” declaring that his lordship had presented it to +him. My uncle was on the eve of bargaining with the man, +when he perceived his own initials on the silver. In fact, it was +my lost gift. Byron, in his abstraction, had evidently mistaken +the porter for myself; so the servant was rewarded with a trifling +gratuity, while my <i>virtuoso</i> uncle took the liberty to appropriate +the golden relic of Byron to himself, and put me off with the +humbler remembrance of his honored name.</p> + +<p>These, however, are episodes. Let us return once more to +the Galatea and her worthy commander.</p> + +<p>Captain Towne retired to Salem after the hands were discharged, +and took me with him to reside in his family until he +was ready for another voyage. In looking back through the vista +of a stormy and adventurous life, my memory lights on no happier +days than those spent in this sea-faring emporium. Salem, +in 1821, was my paradise. I received more kindness, enjoyed +more juvenile pleasures, and found more affectionate hospitality +in that comfortable city than I can well describe. Every boy +was my friend. No one laughed at my broken English, but on +the contrary, all seemed charmed by my foreign accent. People +thought proper to surround me with a sort of romantic mystery, +for, perhaps, there was a flavor of the dashing dare-devil in my +demeanor, which imparted influence over homelier companions. +Besides this, I soon got the reputation of a scholar. I was considered +a marvel in languages, inasmuch as I spoke French, Italian, +Spanish, English, and <i>professed</i> a familiarity with Latin. I +remember there was a wag in Salem, who, determining one day +to test my acquaintance with the latter tongue, took me into a +neighboring druggist’s, where there were some Latin volumes, +and handed me one with the request to translate a page, either +verbally or on paper. Fortunately, the book he produced was +Æsop, whose fables had been so thoroughly studied by me two +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +years before, that I even knew some of them by heart. Still, as +I was not very well versed in the niceties of English, I thought +it prudent to make my version of the selected fable in French; +and, as there was a neighbor who knew the latter language perfectly, +my translation was soon rendered into English, and the +proficiency of the “Italian boy” conceded.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>I sailed during five years from Salem on voyages to various +parts of the world, always employing my leisure, while on shore +and at sea, in familiarizing myself minutely with the practical +and scientific details of the profession to which I designed devoting +my life. I do not mean to narrate the adventures of those +early voyages, but I cannot help setting down a single anecdote +of that fresh and earnest period, in order to illustrate the +changes that time and “<i>circumstances</i>” are said to work on +human character.</p> + +<p>In my second voyage to India, I was once on shore with the +captain at Quallahbattoo, in search of pepper, when a large <i>proa</i>, +or Malay canoe, arrived at the landing crammed with prisoners, +from one of the islands. The unfortunate victims were to be +sold <i>as slaves</i>. They were the <i>first slaves</i> I had seen! As the +human cargo was disembarked, I observed one of the Malays +dragging a handsome young female by the hair along the beach. +Cramped by long confinement in the wet bottom of the canoe, +the shrieking girl was unable to stand or walk. My blood was +up quickly. I ordered the brute to desist from his cruelty; +and, as he answered with a derisive laugh, I felled him to the +earth with a single blow of my boat-hook. This impetuous vindication +of humanity forced us to quit Quallahbattoo in great +haste; but, at the age of seventeen, my feelings in regard to +slavery were very different from what this narrative may disclose +them to have become in later days.</p> + +<p>When my apprenticeship was over, I made two or three successful +voyages as mate, until—I am ashamed to say,—that a +“disappointment” caused me to forsake my employers, and to +yield to the temptations of reckless adventure. This sad and +early blight overtook me at Antwerp,—a port rather noted for +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +the backslidings of young seamen. My hard-earned pay soon +diminished very sensibly, while I was desperately in love with +a Belgian beauty, who made a complete fool of me—for at least +three months! From Antwerp, I betook myself to Paris to vent +my second “disappointment.” The pleasant capital of <i>la belle +France</i> was a cup that I drained at a single draught. Few young +men of eighteen or twenty have lived faster. The gaming tables +at Frascati’s and the Palais Royal finished my consumptive +purse; and, leaving an empty trunk as a recompense for my +landlord, I took “French leave” one fine morning, and hastened +to sea.</p> + +<p>The reader will do me the justice to believe that nothing but +the direst necessity compelled me to embark on board a <i>British</i> +vessel, bound to Brazil. The captain and his wife who accompanied +him, were both stout, handsome Irish people, of equal +age, but addicted to fondness for strong and flavored drinks.</p> + +<p>My introduction on board was signalized by the ceremonious +bestowal upon me of the key of the spirit-locker, with a strict +injunction from the commander to deny more than three glasses +daily either to his wife or himself. I hardly comprehended this +singular order at first, but, in a few days, I became aware of its +propriety. About eleven o’clock her ladyship generally approached +when I was serving out the men’s ration of gin, and +requested me to fill her tumbler. Of course, I gallantly complied. +When I returned from deck below with the bottle, she +again required a similar dose, which, with some reluctance, I furnished. +At dinner the dame drank <i>porter</i>, but passed off the +gin on her credulous husband as water. This system of deception +continued as long as the malt liquor lasted, so that her ladyship +received and swallowed daily a triple allowance of capital +grog. Indeed, it is quite astonishing what quantities of the +article can sometimes be swallowed by sea-faring <i>women</i>. The +oddness of their appetite for the cordials is not a little enhanced +by the well-known aversion the sex have to spirituous fluids, in +every shape, on shore. Perhaps the salt air may have something +to do with the acquired relish; but, as I am not composing an +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +essay on temperance, I shall leave the discussion to wiser physiologists.</p> + +<p>My companions’ indulgence illustrated another diversity between +the sexes, which I believe is historically true from the +earliest records to the present day. <i>The lady</i> broke her rule, +but <i>the captain</i> adhered faithfully to his. Whilst on duty, the +allotted three glasses completed his potations. But when we +reached Rio de Janeiro, and there was no longer need of abstinence, +save for the sake of propriety, both my shipmates gave +loose to their thirst and tempers. They drank, quarrelled, and +kissed, with more frequency and fervor than any creatures it has +been my lot to encounter throughout an adventurous life. After +we got the vessel into the inner harbor,—though not without +a mishap, owing to the captain’s drunken stubbornness,—my Irish +friends resolved to take lodgings for a while on shore. For +two days they did not make their appearance; but toward the +close of the third, they returned, “fresh,” as they said, “from +the theatre.” It was very evident that the jolly god had been +their companion; and, as I was not a little scandalized by the +conjugal scenes which usually closed these frolics, I hastened to +order tea under the awning on deck, while I betook myself to a +hammock which was slung on the main boom. Just as I fell off +into pleasant dreams, I was roused from my nap by a prelude +to the opera. Madame gave her lord the lie direct. A loaf of +bread, discharged against her head across the table, was his +reply. Not content with this harmless demonstration of rage, +he seized the four corners of the table-cloth, and gathering the +tea-things and food in the sack, threw the whole overboard into +the bay. In a flash, the tigress fastened on his scanty locks +with one hand, while, with the other, she pummelled his eyes and +nose. Badly used as he was, I must confess that the captain +proved too generous to retaliate on that portion of his spouse +where female charms are most bewitching and visible; still, I +am much mistaken if the sound spanking she received did not +elsewhere leave marks of physical vigor that would have been +creditable to a pugilist.</p> + +<p>It was remarkable that these human tornados were as violent +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +and brief as those which scourge tropical lands as well as tropical +characters. In a quarter of an hour there was a dead calm. +The silence of the night, on those still and star-lit waters, was +only broken by a sort of chirrup, that might have been mistaken +for a cricket, but which I think was <i>a kiss</i>. Indeed, I was +rapidly going off again to sleep, when I was called to give the +key of the spirit-locker,—a glorious resource that never failed as +a solemn seal of reconciliation and bliss.</p> + +<p>Next morning, before I awoke, the captain went ashore, and +when his wife, at breakfast, inquired my knowledge of the night’s +affray, my gallantry forced me to confess that I was one of the +soundest sleepers on earth or water, and, moreover, that I was +surprised to learn there had been the least difference between +such happy partners. In spite of my simplicity, the lady insisted +on confiding her griefs, with the assurance that she would +not have been half so angry had not her spouse foolishly thrown +her silver spoons into the sea, with the bread and butter. She +grew quite eloquent on the pleasures of married life, and told me +of many a similar reproof she had been forced to give her husband +during their voyages. It did him good, she said, and kept +him wholesome. In fact, she hoped, that if ever I married, I +would have the luck to win a guardian like herself. Of course, +I was again most gallantly silent. Still, I could not help reserving +a decision as to the merits of matrimony; for present appearances +certainly did not demonstrate the bliss I had so often read +and heard of. At any rate, I resolved, that if ever I ventured +upon a trial of love, it should, at least, in the first instance, be +love <i>without</i> liquor!</p> + +<p>On our return to Europe we called at Dover for orders, and +found that Antwerp was our destination. We made sail at sunset, +but as the wind was adverse and the weather boisterous, we +anchored for two days in the Downs. At length, during a lull +of the gale, we sailed for the mouth of the Scheldt; but, as we +approached the coast of Holland, the wind became light and +baffling, so that we were unable to enter the river. We had +not taken a pilot at Ramsgate, being confident of obtaining one +off Flushing. At sundown, the storm again arose in all its fury +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +from the north-west; but all attempts to put back to England +were unavailing, for we dared not show a rag of sail before the +howling tempest. It was, indeed, a fearful night of wind, hail, +darkness, and anxiety. At two o’clock in the morning, we +suddenly grounded on one of the numerous banks off Flushing. +Hardly had we struck when the sea made a clean sweep over us, +covering the decks with sand, and snapping the spars like pipe-stems. +The captain was killed instantly by the fall of a top-gallant +yard, which crushed his skull; while the sailors, who in such +moments seem possessed by utter recklessness, broke into the +spirit-room and drank to excess. For awhile I had some hope +that the stanchness of our vessel’s hull might enable us to cling +to her till daylight, but she speedily bilged and began to fill.</p> + +<p>After this it would have been madness to linger. The boats +were still safe. The long one was quickly filled by the crew, under +the command of the second mate—who threw an anker of +gin into the craft before he leaped aboard,—while I reserved the +jolly-boat for myself, the captain’s widow, the cook, and the steward. +The long-boat was never heard of.</p> + +<p>All night long that dreadful nor’wester howled along and +lashed the narrow sea between England and the Continent; yet +I kept our frail skiff before it, hoping, at daylight, to descry the +lowlands of Belgium. The heart-broken woman rested motionless +in the stern-sheets. We covered her with all the available +garments, and, even in the midst of our own griefs, could not +help feeling that the suddenness of her double desolation had +made her perfectly unconscious of our dreary surroundings.</p> + +<p>Shortly after eight o’clock a cry of joy announced the sight +of land within a short distance. The villagers of Bragden, who +soon descried us, hastened to the beach, and rushing knee deep +into the water, signalled that the shore was safe after passing the +surf. The sea was churned by the storm into a perfect foam. +Breakers roared, gathered, and poured along like avalanches. +Still, there was no hope for us but in passing the line of these +angry sentinels. Accordingly, I watched the swell, and pulling +firmly, bow on, into the first of the breakers, we spun with such +arrowy swiftness across the intervening space, that I recollect +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +nothing until we were clasped in the arms of the brawny Belgians +on the beach.</p> + +<p>But, alas! the poor widow was no more. I cannot imagine +when she died. During the four hours of our passage from the +wreck to land, her head rested on my lap; yet no spasm of pain +or convulsion marked the moment of her departure.</p> + +<p>That night the parish priest buried the unfortunate lady, and +afterwards carried round a plate, asking alms,—not for masses to +insure the repose of her soul,—but to defray the expenses of +<i>the living</i> to Ostend.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + + +<p>I had no time or temper to be idle. In a week, I was on board +a Dutch galliot, bound to Havana; but I soon perceived that I +was again under the command of two captains—male and female. +The regular master superintended the navigation, while the +<i>bloomer</i> controlled the whole of us. Indeed, the dame was the +actual owner of the craft, and, from skipper to cabin-boy, governed +not only our actions but our stomachs. I know not +whether it was piety or economy that swayed her soul, but I +never met a person who was so rigid as this lady in the observance +of the church calendar, especially whenever a day of abstinence +allowed her to deprive us of our beef. Nothing but my +destitution compelled me to ship in this craft; still, to say the +truth, I had well-nigh given up all idea of returning to the +United States, and determined to engage in any adventurous expedition +that my profession offered. In 1824, it will be remembered, +Mexico, the Spanish main, Peru, and the Pacific coasts, +were renowned for the fortunes they bestowed on enterprise; +and, as the galliot was bound to Havana, I hailed her as a sort +of floating bridge to my <span class="smcap">El Dorado</span>.</p> + +<p>On the seventh night after our departure, while beating out +of the bay of Biscay with a six-knot breeze, in a clear moonlight, +we ran foul of a vessel which approached us on the opposite tack. +Whence she sprang no one could tell. In an instant, she appeared +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +and was on us with a dreadful concussion. Every man was +prostrated on deck and all our masts were carried away. From +the other vessel we heard shrieks and a cry of despair; but the +ill-omened miscreant disappeared as rapidly as she approached, +and left us floating a helpless log, on a sea proverbial for storms.</p> + +<p>We contrived, however, to reach the port of Ferrol, in +Spain, where we were detained four months, in consequence of the +difficulty of obtaining the materials for repairs, notwithstanding +this place is considered the best and largest ship-yard of Castile.</p> + +<p>It was at Ferrol that I met with a singular adventure, which +was well-nigh depriving me of my personal identity, as Peter +Schlemhil was deprived of his shadow. I went one afternoon in +my boat to the other side of the harbor to obtain some pieces of +leather from a tannery, and, having completed my purchase, was +lounging slowly towards the quay, when I stopped at a house for +a drink of water. I was handed a tumbler by the trim-built, +black-eyed girl, who stood in the doorway, and whose rosy lips +and sparkling eyes were more the sources of my thirst than the +water; but, while I was drinking, the damsel ran into the dwelling, +and hastily returned with her mother and another sister, +who stared at me a moment without saying a word, and simultaneously +fell upon my neck, smothering my lips and cheeks +with repeated kisses!</p> + +<p>“<i>Oh! mi querido hijo</i>,” said the mother.</p> + +<p>“<i>Carissimo Antonio</i>,” sobbed the daughter.</p> + +<p>“<i>Mi hermano!</i>” exclaimed her sister.</p> + +<p>“Dear son, dear Antonio, dear brother! Come into the +house; where have you been? Your grandmother is dying to +see you once more! Don’t delay an instant, but come in without +a word! <i>Por dios!</i> that we should have caught you at last, and +in such a way: <i>Ave Maria! madrecita, aqui viene Antonito!</i>”</p> + +<p>In the midst of all these exclamations, embraces, fondlings, +and kisses, it may easily be imagined that I stood staring about +me with wide eyes and mouth, and half-drained tumbler in hand, +like one in a dream. I asked no questions, but as the dame was +buxom, and the girls were fresh, I kissed in return, and followed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +unreluctantly as they half dragged, half carried me into their +domicil. On the door-sill of the inner apartment I found myself +locked in the skinny arms of a brown and withered crone, who +was said to be my grandmother, and, of course, my youthful +<i>moustache</i> was properly bedewed with the moisture of her +toothless mouth.</p> + +<p>As soon as I was seated, I took the liberty to say,—though +without any protest against this charming assault,—that I +fancied there might possibly be some mistake; but I was +quickly silenced. My <i>madrecita</i> declared at once, and in the +presence of my four shipmates, that, six years before, I left her +on my first voyage in a Dutch vessel; that my <i>querido padre</i>, +had gone to bliss two years after my departure; and, accordingly, +that now, I, Antonio Gomez y Carrasco, was the only surviving +male of the family, and, of course, would never more quit +either her, my darling sisters, or the old <i>pobrecita</i>, our grandmother. +This florid explanation was immediately closed like the +pleasant air of an opera by a new chorus of kisses, nor can +there be any doubt that I responded to the embraces of my sweet +<i>hermanas</i> with the most gratifying fraternity.</p> + +<p>Our charming <i>quartette</i> lasted in all its harmony for half an +hour, during which volley after volley of family secrets was discharged +into my eager ears. So rapid was the talk, and so +quickly was its thread taken up and spun out by each of the +three, that I had no opportunity to interpose. At length, +however, in a momentary lull and in a jocular manner,—but in +rather bad Spanish,—I ventured to ask my loving and talkative +mamma, “what amount of property my worthy father had deemed +proper to leave on earth <i>for his son</i> when he took his departure +to rest <i>con Dios</i>?” I thought it possible that this agreeable +drama was a Spanish joke, got up <i>al’ improvista</i>, and that I +might end it by exploding the dangerous mine of money: besides +this, it was growing late, and my return to the galliot was +imperative.</p> + +<p>But alas! my question brought tears in an instant into my +mother’s eyes, and I saw that the scene was <i>not</i> a jest. Accordingly, +I hastened, in all seriousness, to explain and insist on their error. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +I protested with all the force of my Franco-Italian nature and +Spanish rhetoric, against the assumed relationship. But all +was unavailing; they argued and persisted; they brought in the +neighbors; lots of old women and old men, with rusty cloaks or +shawls, with cigars or <i>cigarillos</i> in mouth, formed a jury of +inquest; so that, in the end, there was an unanimous verdict in +favor of my Galician nativity!</p> + +<p>Finding matters had indeed taken so serious a turn, and knowing +the impossibility of eradicating an impression from the female +mind when it becomes imbedded with go much apparent conviction, +I resolved to yield; and, assuming the manner of a +penitent prodigal, I kissed the girls, embraced my mother, +passed my head over both shoulders of my grand-dame, and +promised my progenitors a visit next day.</p> + +<p>As I did not keep my word, and two suns descended without +my return, the imaginary “mother” applied to the ministers of +law to enforce her rights over the truant boy. The <i>Alcalde</i>, +after hearing my story, dismissed the claim; but my dissatisfied +relatives summoned me, on appeal, before the governor of the +district, nor was it without infinite difficulty that I at last +succeeded in shaking off their annoying consanguinity.</p> + +<p>I have always been at a loss to account for this queer mistake. +It is true that my father was in Spain with the French +army during Napoleon’s invasion, but that excellent gentleman +was a faithful spouse as well as valiant soldier, and I do not +remember that he ever sojourned in the pleasant port of Ferrol!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>At length, we sailed for Havana, and nothing of importance +occurred to break the monotony of our hot and sweltering voyage, +save a sudden flurry of jealousy on the part of the captain, who +imagined I made an attempt to conquer the pious and economical +heart of his wife! In truth, nothing was further from my mind +or taste than such an enterprise; but as the demon had complete +possession of him, and his passion was stimulated by the lies of +a cabin-boy, I was forced to undergo an inquisitorial examination, +which I resisted manfully but fruitlessly. The Bloomer-dame, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +who knew her man, assumed such an air of outraged +innocence and calumniated virtue, interlarded with sobs, tears, +and hysterics, that her perplexed husband was quite at his wit’s +end, but terminated the scene by abruptly ordering me to my +state-room.</p> + +<p>This was at nightfall. I left the cabin willingly but with +great mortification; yet the surly pair eyed each other with +so much anger that I had some fear for the <i>denouement</i>. I +know not what passed during the silent watches of that night; +but doubtless woman’s witchcraft had much to do in pouring oil +on the seared heart of the skipper. At daylight he emerged +from his cabin with orders to have the tell-tale cabin-boy +soundly thrashed; and, when Madame mounted the deck, I saw +at a glance that her influence was completely restored. Nor +was I neglected in this round of reconciliation. In the course +of the day, I was requested to resume my duty on board, but I +stubbornly refused. Indeed, my denial caused the captain great +uneasiness, for he was a miserable navigator, and, now that we +approached the Bahamas, my services were chiefly requisite. +The jealous scamp was urgent in desiring me to forget the past +and resume duty; still I declined, especially as his wife informed +me in private that there would perhaps be peril in my compliance.</p> + +<p>The day after we passed the “Hole in the Wall” and steered +for Salt Key, we obtained no meridian observation, and no one +on board, except myself, was capable of taking a lunar, which in +our position, among unknown keys and currents, was of the +greatest value. I knew this troubled the skipper, yet, after his +wife’s significant warning, I did not think it wise to resume my +functions. Nevertheless, I secretly made calculations and +watched the vessel’s course. Another day went by without a +noontide observation; but, at midnight, I furtively obtained a +lunar, by the result of which I found we were drifting close to +the Cuba reefs, about five miles from the <span class="smcap">Cruz del Padre</span>.</p> + +<p>As soon as I was sure of my calculation and sensible of imminent +danger, I did not hesitate to order the second officer,—whose +watch it was,—to call all hands and tack ship. At the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +same time, I directed the helmsman to luff the galliot close into +the wind’s eye.</p> + +<p>But the new mate, proud of his command, refused to obey +until the captain was informed; nor would he call that officer, +inasmuch as no danger was visible ahead on the allotted course. +But time was precious. Delay would lose us. As I felt confident +of my opinion, I turned abruptly from the disobedient +mariners, and letting go the main brace, brought the vessel to +with the topsail aback. Quickly, then, I ordered the watch as +it rushed aft, to clew up the mainsail;—but alas! no one would +obey; and, in the fracas, the captain, who rushed on deck ignorant +of the facts or danger, ordered me back to my state-room +with curses for my interference in his skilful navigation.</p> + +<p>With a shrug of my shoulders, I obeyed. Remonstrance was +useless. For twenty minutes the galliot cleft the waters on her +old course, when the look-out screamed: “Hard up!—rocks and +breakers dead ahead!”</p> + +<p>“Put down the helm!” yelled the confused second mate;—but +the galliot lost her headway, and, taken aback, shaved the +edge of a foam-covered rock, dropping astern on a reef with +seven feet water around her.</p> + +<p>All was consternation;—sails flapping; breakers roaring; +ropes snapping and beating; masts creaking; hull thumping; +men shouting! The captain and his wife were on deck in the +wink of an eye. Every one issued an order and no one obeyed. +At last, <i>the lady</i> shouted—“let go the anchor!”—the worst +command that could be given,—and down went the best bower +and the second anchor, while the vessel swung round, and dashed +flat on both of them. No one seemed to think of clewing up the +sails, and thereby lessening the impetuous surges of the unfortunate +galliot.</p> + +<p>Our sad mishap occurred about one o’clock in the morning. +Fortunately there was not much wind and the sea was tolerably +calm, so that we could recognize, and, in some degree, control +our situation;—yet, every thing on board appeared given over +to Batavian stupidity and panic.</p> + +<p>My own feelings may be understood by those who have calmly +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +passed through danger, while they beheld their companions unmanned +by fear or lack of coolness. There was no use of my interference, +for no one would heed me. At last the captain’s wife, +who was probably the most collected individual on board, called +my name loudly, and in the presence of officers and crew, who, +by this time were generally crowded on the quarter-deck, entreated +me to save her ship!</p> + +<p>Of course, I sprang to duty. Every sail was clewed up, +while the anchors were weighed to prevent our thumping on +them. I next ordered the boats to be lowered; and, taking a +crew in one, directed the captain to embark in another to seek an +escape from our perilous trap. At daylight, we ascertained that +we had crossed the edge of the reef at high water, yet it would +be useless to attempt to force her back, as she was already half a +foot buried in the soft and mushy outcroppings of coral.</p> + +<p>Soon after sunrise, we beheld, at no great distance, one of +those low sandy keys which are so well-known to West Indian +navigators; while, further in the distance, loomed up the blue +and beautiful outline of the highlands of Cuba. The sea was +not much ruffled by swell or waves; but as we gazed at the key, +which we supposed deserted, we saw a boat suddenly shoot from +behind one of its points and approach our wreck. The visitors +were five in number; their trim, beautiful boat was completely +furnished with fishing implements, and four of the hands spoke +Spanish only, while the <i>patron</i>, or master, addressed us in French. +The whole crew were dressed in flannel shirts, the skirts of which +were belted by a leather strap over their trowsers, and when the +wind suddenly dashed the flannel aside, I saw they had long +knives concealed beneath it.</p> + +<p>The <i>patron</i> of these fellows offered to aid us in lightening the +galliot and depositing the cargo on the key; where, he said, there +was a hut in which he would guarantee the safety of our merchandise +until, at the full of the moon, we could float the vessel from +the reef. He offered, moreover, to pilot us out of harm’s way; +and, for all his services in salvage, we were to pay him a thousand +dollars.</p> + +<p>While the master was busy making terms, his companions were +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +rummaging the galliot in order to ascertain our cargo and armament. +It was finally agreed by the captain and his petticoat +commodore, that if, by evening and the return of tide, our galliot +would not float, we would accept the wreckers’ offer; and, +accordingly, I was ordered to inform them of the resolution.</p> + +<p>As soon as I stated our assent, the <i>patron</i>, suddenly assumed +an air of deliberation, and insisted that the money should be +paid in hard cash on the spot, and not by drafts on Havana, as +originally required. I thought the demand a significant one, and +hoped the joint partners would neither yield nor admit their +ability to do so; but, unfortunately, they assented at once. The +nod and wink I saw the <i>patron</i> immediately bestow on one of +his companions, satisfied me of the imprudence of the concession +and the justice of my suspicions.</p> + +<p>The fishermen departed to try their luck on the sea, promising +to be back at sunset, on their way to the island. We +spent the day in fruitless efforts to relieve the galliot or to find +a channel, so that when the Spaniards returned in the afternoon +with a rather careless reiteration of their proposal, our captain, +with some eagerness, made his final arrangements for the cargo’s +discharge early next morning. Our skipper had visited the key +in the course of the day, and finding the place of deposit apparently +safe, and every thing else seemingly honest, he was anxious +that the night might pass in order that the disembarkation +might begin.</p> + +<p>The calm quiet of that tropic season soon wore away, and, +when I looked landward, at day-dawn, I perceived two strange +boats at anchor near the key. As this gave me some uneasiness, +I mentioned it to the captain and his wife, but they laughed at +my suspicions. After an early meal we began to discharge our +heaviest cargo with the fishermen’s aid, yet we made little progress +towards completion by the afternoon. At sunset, accounts +were compared, and finding a considerable difference <i>in favor</i> +of the wreckers, I was dispatched ashore to ascertain the error. +At the landing I was greeted by several new faces. I particularly +observed a Frenchman whom I had not noticed before. He +addressed me with a courteous offer of refreshments. His +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +manners and language were evidently those of an educated person, +while his figure and physiognomy indicated aristocratic habits or +birth, yet his features and complexion bore the strong imprint +of that premature old age which always marks a dissipated career.</p> + +<p>After a delightful chat in my mother-tongue with the pleasant +stranger, he invited me to spend the night on shore. I declined +politely, and, having rectified the cargo’s error, was preparing to +re-embark, when the Frenchman once more approached and insisted +on my remaining. I again declined, asserting that duty forbade +my absence. He then remarked that orders had been left +by my countryman the <i>patron</i> to detain me; but if I was so obstinate +as to go, <i>I might probably regret it</i>.</p> + +<p>With a laugh, I stepped into my boat, and on reaching the +galliot, learned that our skipper had imprudently avowed the rich +nature of our cargo.</p> + +<p>Before leaving the vessel that night, the <i>patron</i> took me +aside, and inquired whether I received the invitation to pass the +night on the key, and why I had not accepted it? To my great +astonishment, he addressed me in pure Italian; and when I expressed +gratitude for his offer, he beset me with questions about +my country, my parents, my age, my objects in life, and my +prospects. Once or twice he threw in the ejaculation of, “poor +boy! poor boy!” As he stepped over the taffrail to enter his +boat, I offered my hand, which he first attempted to take,—then +suddenly stopping, rejected the grasp, and, with an abrupt—“<i>No! +addio!</i>” he spun away in his boat from the galliot’s side.</p> + +<p>I could not help putting these things together in my mind +during the glowing twilight. I felt as if walking in a cold +shadow; an unconquerable sense of impending danger oppressed +me. I tried to relieve myself by discussing the signs with the +captain, but the phlegmatic Hollander only scoffed at my suspicions, +and bade me sleep off my nervousness.</p> + +<p>When I set the first night watch, I took good care to place +every case containing valuables <i>below</i>, and to order the look-out +to call all hands at the first appearance or sound of a boat. Had +we been provided with arms, I would have equipped the crew +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +with weapons of defence, but, unluckily, there was not on board +even a rusty firelock or sabre.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>How wondrously calm was all nature that night! Not a +breath of air, or a ripple on the water! The sky was brilliant +with stars, as if the firmament were strewn with silver dust. +The full moon, with its glowing disc, hung some fifteen or twenty +degrees above the horizon. The intense stillness weighed upon +my tired limbs and eyes, while I leaned with my elbows on the +taffrail, watching the roll of the vessel as she swung lazily from +side to side on the long and weary swell. Every body but the +watch had retired, and I, too, went to my state-room in hope of +burying my sorrows in sleep. But the calm night near the land +had so completely filled my berth with annoying insects, that I was +obliged to decamp and take refuge in the stay-sail netting, where, +wrapped in the cool canvas, I was at rest in quicker time than I +have taken to tell it.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding my nervous apprehension, a sleep more like +the torpor of lethargy than natural slumber, fell on me at once. +I neither stirred nor heard any thing till near two o’clock, when +a piercing shriek from the deck aroused me. The moon had set, +but there was light enough to show the decks abaft filled with +men, though I could distinguish neither their persons nor movements. +Cries of appeal, and moans as of wounded or dying, +constantly reached me. I roused myself as well and quickly as +I could from the oppression of my deathlike sleep, and tried to +shake off the nightmare. The effort assured me that it was +reality and not a dream! In an instant, that presence of mind +which has seldom deserted me, suggested escape. I seized the +gasket, and dropping by aid of it as softly as I could in the +water, struck out for shore. It was time. My plunge into the +sea, notwithstanding its caution, had made some noise, and a +rough voice called in Spanish to return or I would be shot.</p> + +<p>When I began to go to sea, I took pains to become a good +swimmer, and my acquired skill served well on this occasion. +As soon as the voice ceased from the deck, I lay still on the +water until I saw a flash from the bow of the <i>galliot</i>, to which I +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +immediately made a complaisant bow by diving deeply. This +operation I repeated several times, till I was lost in the distant +darkness; nor can I pride myself much on my address in escaping +the musket balls, as I have since had my own aim similarly +eluded by many a harmless duck.</p> + +<p>After swimming about ten minutes, I threw myself on my +back to rest and “take a fresh departure.” It was so dark that +I could not see the key, yet, as I still discerned the galliot’s +masts relieved against the sky, I was enabled by that beacon to +steer my way landward. Naked, with the exception of trowsers, +I had but little difficulty in swimming, so that in less than half +an hour, I touched the key, and immediately sought concealment +in a thick growth of mangroves.</p> + +<p>I had not been five minutes in this dismal jungle, when such +a swarm of mosquitoes beset me, that I was forced to hurry to the +beach and plunge into the water. In this way was I tormented +the whole night. At dawn, I retreated once more to the bushes; +and climbing the highest tree I found,—whose altitude, however, +was not more than twelve feet above the sand,—I beheld, across +the calm sea, the dismantled hull of my late home, surrounded +by a crowd of boats, which were rapidly filling with plundered +merchandise. It was evident that we had fallen a prey to +pirates; yet I could not imagine why <i>I</i> had been singled from +this scene of butchery, to receive the marks of anxious sympathy +that were manifested by the <i>patron</i> and his French companion on +the key. All the morning I continued in my comfortless position, +watching their movements,—occasionally refreshing my parched +lips by chewing the bitter berries of the thicket. Daylight, with +its heat, was as intolerable as night, with its venom. The tropical +sun and the glaring reflection from a waveless sea, poured through +the calm atmosphere upon my naked flesh, like boiling oil. My +thirst was intense. As the afternoon wore away, I observed several +boats tow the lightened hull of our galliot south-east of the +key till it disappeared behind a point of the island. Up to that +moment, my manhood had not forsaken me; but, as the last timber +of my vessel was lost to sight, nature resumed its dominion. +Every hope of seeing my old companions was gone; I was utterly +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +alone. If this narrative were designed to be a sentimental confession, +the reader might see unveiled the ghastly spectacle of a +“troubled conscience,” nor am I ashamed to say that no consolation +cheered my desolate heart, till I prayed to my Maker that +the loss of so many lives might not be imputed to the wilful +malice of a proud and stubborn nature.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + + +<p>So passed the day. As the sun sank is the west, I began to reflect +about obtaining the rest for mind and body I so much +needed. My system was almost exhausted by want of food and +water, while the dreadful tragedy of the preceding night shattered +my nerves far more than they ever suffered amid the trying +scenes I have passed through since. It was my <i>first</i> adventure +of peril and of blood; and my soul shrank with the natural +recoil that virtue experiences in its earliest encounter with flagrant +crime.</p> + +<p>In order to escape the incessant torment of insects, I had +just determined to bury my naked body in the sand, and to +cover my head with the only garment I possessed, when I heard +a noise in the neighboring bushes, and perceived a large and savage +dog rushing rapidly from side to side, with his nose to the +ground, evidently in search of game or prey. I could not mistake +the nature of his hunt. With the agility of a harlequin, I sprang +to my friendly perch just in time to save myself from his fangs. +The foiled and ferocious beast, yelling with rage, gave an alarm +which was quickly responded to by other dogs, three of which—followed +by two armed men—promptly made their appearance +beneath my tree. The hunters were not surprised at finding me, +as, in truth, I was the game they sought. Ordering me down, I +was commanded to march slowly before them, and especially +warned to make no attempt at flight, as the bloodhounds would +tear me to pieces on the spot. I told my guard that I should +of course manifest no such folly as to attempt as escape from +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +<i>caballeros</i> like themselves,—upon a desolate sand key half a mile +wide,—especially when my alternative refuge could only be found +among the fish of the sea. The self-possession and good humor +with which I replied, seemed somewhat to mollify the cross-grained +savages, and we soon approached a habitation, where I +was ordered to sit down until the whole party assembled. After +a while, I was invited to join them in their evening meal.</p> + +<p>The piquant stew upon which we fed effectually loosened +their tongues, so that, in the course of conversation, I discovered +my pursuers had been in quest of me since early morning, though +it was hardly believed I had either escaped the shot, or swam +fully a mile amid sharks during the darkness. Upon this, I ventured +to put some ordinary questions, but was quickly informed +that inquisitiveness was considered very unwholesome on the +sand keys about Cuba!</p> + +<p>At sunset, the whole piratical community of the little isle was +assembled. It consisted of two parties, each headed by its respective +chief. Both gangs were apparently subject to the leadership +of the <i>rancho’s</i> proprietor; and in this man I recognized the <i>patron</i> +who inquired so minutely about my biography and prospects. +His companions addressed him either as “El señor patron” or +“Don Rafael.” I was surveyed very closely by the picturesque +group of bandits, who retired into the interior of the <i>rancho</i>,—a +hut made of planks and sails rescued from wrecks. My +guard or sentinel consisted of but a single vagabond, who amused +himself by whetting a long knife on a hone, and then trying its +sharpness on a single hair and then on his finger. Sometimes +the scoundrel made a face at me, and drew the back of his weapon +across his throat.</p> + +<p>The conversation within, which I felt satisfied involved my +fate, was a long one. I could distinctly overhear the murmuring +roar of talk, although I could not distinguish words. One sentence, +however, did not escape me, and its signification proved +particularly interesting:—“<i>Los muertos</i>,” said the French dandy,—“<i>no +hablan</i>,”—Dead men tell no tales!</p> + +<p>It is hard to imagine a situation more trying for a young, +hearty, and hopeful man. I was half naked; my skin was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +excoriated by the sun, sand, and salt water; four bloodhounds were +at my feet ready to fasten on my throat at the bidding of a +<i>desperado</i>; a piratical sentry, knife in hand, kept watch over me, +while a jury of <i>buccaneers</i> discussed my fate within earshot. +Dante’s Inferno had hardly more torments.</p> + +<p>The <i>filibustero</i> conclave lasted quite an hour without reaching +a conclusion. At length, after an unusual clamor, the <i>patron</i> +Rafael rushed from the <i>rancho</i> with a horseman’s pistol, and, +calling my name, whirled me behind him in his strong and irresistible +grasp. Then facing both hands, with a terrible imprecation, +he swore vengeance if they persisted in requiring the death +of <span class="smcap lowercase">HIS NEPHEW</span>!</p> + +<p>At the mention of the word “<i>nephew</i>,” every one paused +with a look of surprise, and drawing near the excited man with +expressions of interest, agreed to respect his new-found relative, +though they insisted I should swear never to disclose the occurrence +of which I had been an unwilling witness. I complied +with the condition unhesitatingly, and shook hands with every +one present except the sentry, of whom I shall have occasion to +speak hereafter.</p> + +<p>It is astonishing what revulsions of manner, if not of feeling, +take place suddenly among the class of men with whom my lot +had now been cast. Ten minutes before, they were greedy for +my blood, not on account of personal malice, but from utter +recklessness of life whenever an individual interfered with their +personal hopes or tenure of existence. Each one of these outlaws +now vied with his companions in finding articles to cover my +nakedness and make me comfortable. As soon as I was clothed, +supper was announced and I was given almost a seat of honor at +a table plentifully spread with fresh fish, sardines, olives, ham, +cheese, and an abundance of capital claret.</p> + +<p>The chat naturally turned upon me, and some sly jokes were +uttered at the expense of Rafael, concerning the kinsman who +had suddenly sprung up like a mushroom out of this pool of +blood.</p> + +<p>“<i>Caballeros!</i>” interposed Rafael, passionately, “you seem +inclined to doubt my word. Perhaps you are no longer disposed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +to regard me as your chief? We have broken bread together +during four months; we have shared the same dangers and +divided our spoils fairly: am I <i>now</i> to be charged to my face +with a lie?” “Ha!” said he, rising from the table and striding +through the apartment with violent gestures, “who dares doubt +my word, and impute to me the meanness of a lie? Are ye +drunk? Can this wine have made you mad?” and seizing a +bottle, he dashed it to the ground, stamping with rage. “Has the +blood of last night unsettled your nerves and made you delirious? +<i>Basta! basta!</i> Let me not hear another word of doubt +as to this youth. The first who utters a syllable of incredulity +shall kill me on the spot or fall by my hand!”</p> + +<p>This sounds, I confess, very melo-dramatically, yet, my +experience has taught me that it is precisely a bold and dashing +tone of bravado, adopted at the right moment, which is +always most successful among <i>such</i> ruffians as surrounded my +preserver. The speech was delivered with such genuine vehemence +and resolution that no one could question his sincerity or +suppose him acting. But, as soon as he was done, the leader of +the other gang, who had been very unconcernedly smoking his +cigar, and apparently punctuating Don Rafael’s oration with his +little puffs, advanced to my new uncle, and laying his hand on +his arm, said:—</p> + +<p>“<i>Amigo</i>, you take a joke too seriously. No one here certainly +desires to harm the boy or disbelieve you. Take my advice,—calm +yourself, light a cigarillo, drink a tumbler of claret, and +drop the subject.”</p> + +<p>But this process of pacification was too rapid for my excited +uncle. Men of his quality require to be let down gradually from +their wrath, for I have frequently noticed that when their object +is too easily gained, they interpose obstacles and start new subjects +of controversy, so that the most amiable and yielding temper +may at last become inflamed to passionate resistance.</p> + +<p>“No, <i>caballeros</i>!” exclaimed Don Rafael, “I will neither +light a <i>cigarillo</i>, drink claret, calm myself, nor accept satisfaction +for this insult, short of the self-condemnation you will all experience +for a mean suspicion, when I <i>prove</i> the truth of my assertions +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +about this boy. A doubted man has no business at the +head of such fellows as you are. Begone out of my hearing, +Theodore,” continued he, pointing to the canvas door, “begone +till I convince these people that I am your uncle!”</p> + +<p>As soon as I was out of the chamber, I afterwards learned, +that Rafael announced my name, place of birth, and parentage to +the wreckers, and desired the other <i>patron</i>, Mesclet, who spoke +Italian, to follow and interrogate me as to his accuracy.</p> + +<p>Mesclet performed the service in a kind manner, opening the +interview by asking the names of my father and mother, and +then demanding how many uncles I had on my mother’s side? +My replies appeared satisfactory.</p> + +<p>“Was one of your uncles a navy officer?” inquired Mesclet, +“and where is he at present?” The only uncle I had in the +navy, I declared, had long been absent from his family. But +once in my life had I seen him, and that was while on his way +to Marseilles, in 1815, to embark for the Spanish main; since +then no intelligence of the wanderer had reached my ears. Had +I been a French <i>scholar</i> at that time, my adventures of consanguinity +at Ferrol and on this key might well have brought Molière’s +satire to my mind:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“De moi je commence à douter tout de bon;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pourtant, quand je me tâte et que je me rapelle,<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Il me semble que je suis moi!</i>”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Mesclet’s report gave perfect satisfaction to the scoffers, and +the mysterious drama at once established me in a position I +could not have attained even by desperate services to the <i>filibusteros</i>. +A bumper, all round, closed the night; and each slunk +off to his cot or blanket beneath a mosquito bar, while the bloodhounds +were chained at the door to do double duty as sentinels +and body-guard.</p> + +<p>I hope there are few who will deny me the justice to believe +that when I stretched my limbs on the hard couch assigned me +that night, I remembered my God in heaven, and my home in +Tuscany. It was the first night that an ingenuous youth had +spent among outcasts, whose hands were still reeking with the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +blood of his companions. At that period of manhood we are +grateful for the mere boon of <i>life</i>. It is pleasant to live, to +breathe, to have one’s being, on this glorious earth, even though +that life may be cast among felons. There is still a <i>future</i> before +us; and Hope, the bright goddess of health and enthusiasm, inspires +our nerves with energy to conquer our present ills.</p> + +<p>I threw myself down thankfully, but I could not rest. Sore +and tired as I was, I could not compose my mind to sleep. The +conduct of Rafael surprised me. I could not imagine how he +became familiar with my biography, nor could I identify his personal +appearance with my uncle who went so long before to South +America. A thousand fancies jumbled themselves in my brain, +and, in their midst, I fell into slumber. Yet my self-oblivion +was broken and short. My pulse beat wildly, but my skin did +not indicate the heat of fever. The tragedy of the galliot was +reacted before me. Phantoms of the butchered wife and men, +streaming with blood, stood beside my bed, while a chorus of +devils, in the garb of sailors, shouted that <i>I</i> was the cause of +the galliot’s loss, and of their murder. Then the wretched +woman would hang round my neck, and crawl on my breast, besprinkling +me with gore that spouted from her eyeless sockets, +imploring me to save her;—till, shrieking and panting, I awoke +from the horrible nightmare. Such were the dreams that +haunted my pillow nearly all the time I was forced to remain +with these desperadoes.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>I thanked God that the night of the tropics was so brief. +The first glimmer of light found me up, and as soon as I could +find a companion to control the hounds, I ran to the sea for refreshment +by a glorious surf-bath. I was on a miserable sandbar, +whose surface was hardly covered with soil; yet, in that +prolific land of rain and sunshine, nature seems only to require +the slightest footing to assert her magnificent power of vegetation. +In spots, along the arid island, were the most beautiful +groves of abundant undergrowth, matted with broad-leaved vines, +while, within their shadow, the fresh herbage sprang up, sparkling +with morning dew. In those climates, the blaze of noon is a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +season of oppressive languor, but morning and evening, with their +dawn and twilight,—their lengthened shadows and declining sun, +are draughts of beauty that have often intoxicated less enthusiastic +tempers than mine. The bath, the breeze, the renewed nature, +aroused and restored a degree of tone to my shattered nerves, +so that when I reached the <i>rancho</i>, I was ready for any duty that +might be imposed. The twin gangs had gone off in their boats +soon after daylight, with saws and axes; but Rafael left orders +with my brutal sentry that I should assist him in preparing +breakfast, which was to be ready by eleven o’clock.</p> + +<p>I never knew the real patronymic of this fellow, who was a +Spaniard, and passed among us by the nickname of Gallego. +Gallego possessed a good figure,—symmetrical and strong, while +it was lithe and active. But his head and face were the most +repulsive I ever encountered. The fellow was not absolutely +ugly, so far as mere contour of features was concerned; but +there was so dropsical a bloat in his cheeks, such a stagnant +sallowness in his complexion, such a watching scowl in his eyes, +such a drawling sullenness of speech, such sensuality in the turn +of his resolute lips, that I trembled to know he was to be my +daily companion. His dress and skin denoted slovenly habits, +while a rude and growling voice gave token of the bitter heart +that kept the enginery of the brute in motion.</p> + +<p>With this wretch for <i>chef de cuisine</i> I was exalted to the +post of “cook’s mate.”</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>I found that a fire had been already kindled beneath some +dwarf trees, and that a kettle was set over it to boil. Gallego +beckoned me to follow him into a thicket some distance from the +<i>rancho</i>, where, beneath the protection of a large tarpaulin, we +found <i>filibustero’s</i> pantry amply provided with butter, onions, +spices, salt-fish, bacon, lard, rice, coffee, wines, and all the requisites +of comfortable living. In the corners, strewn at random on +the ground, I observed spy-glasses, compasses, sea-charts, books, +and a quantity of choice cabin-furniture. We obtained a sufficiency +of water for cookery and drinking from holes dug in the +sand, and we managed to cool the beverage by suspending it in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +a draft of air in porous vessels, which are known throughout the +West Indies by the mischievous name of “monkeys.” Our +copious thickets supplied us with fuel, nor were we without a +small, rough garden, in which the gang cultivated peppers, tomatoes +and mint. The premises being reviewed, I returned with +my ill-favored guard to take a lesson in piratical cookery.</p> + +<p>It is astonishing how well these wandering vagabonds know +how to toss up a savory mess, and how admirably they understand +its enjoyment. A tickled palate is one of the great objects +of their mere animal existence, and they are generally prepared +with a mate who might pass muster in a second-rate restaurant. +The <i>déjeuner</i> we served of codfish stewed in claret, snowy and +granulated rice, delicious tomatoes and fried ham, was irreproachable. +Coffee had been drunk at day-dawn; so that my comrades +contented themselves during the meal with liberal potations of +claret, while they finished the morning with brandy and cigars.</p> + +<p>By two o’clock the breakfast was over, and most of the gorged +scamps had retired for a <i>siesta</i> during the sweltering heat. A +few of the toughest took muskets and went to the beach to shoot +gulls or sharks. Gallego and myself were dispatched to our +grove-kitchen to scullionize our utensils; and, finally, being the +youngest, I was intrusted with the honorable duty of feeding the +bloodhounds.</p> + +<p>As soon as my duties were over, I was preparing to follow +the siesta-example of my betters, when I met Don Rafael coming +out of the door, and, without a word, was beckoned to follow towards +the interior of the island. When we reached a solitary +spot, two or three hundred yards from the <i>rancho</i>, Rafael drew +me down beside him in the shade of a tree, and said gently with +a smile, that he supposed I was at least <i>surprised</i> by the events +of the last four days. I must confess that I saw little for any +thing else but astonishment in them, and I took the liberty to +concede that fact to the Don.</p> + +<p>“Well,” continued he, “I have brought you here to explain +a part of the mystery, and especially to let you understand why +it was that I passed myself off last night as your uncle, in order +to save your life. I was obliged to do it, boy; and, <i>voto à Dios</i>! +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +I would have fought the <i>junta</i>,—bloodhounds and all,—before +they should have harmed a limb of your body!”</p> + +<p>Don Rafael explained that as soon as he caught a glimpse of +my face when he boarded the <i>galliot</i> on the morning of our disaster, +he recognized the lineaments of an old companion in +arms. The resemblance caused him to address me as particularly +as he had done on the night of the piracy, the consequence +of which was that his suspicions ripened into certainty.</p> + +<p>If I were writing the story of Don Rafael’s life, instead of +my own, I might give an interesting and instructive narrative, +which showed,—as he alleged,—how those potent controllers of +outlaws,—“circumstances,”—had changed him from a very respectable +soldier of fortune into a genuine buccaneer. He asserted +that my uncle had been his schoolmate and professional +companion in the old world. When the war of South American +independence demanded the aid of certain Dugald Dalgettys to +help its fortune, Don Rafael and my uncle had lent the revolutionists +of Mexico their swords, for which they were repaid in +the coin that “patriots” commonly receive for such amiable +self-sacrifice. <i>Republics</i> are proverbially ungrateful, and Mexico, +alas! was a republic.</p> + +<p>After many a buffet of fortune, my poor uncle, it seems, perished +in a duel at which Don Rafael performed the professional +part of “his friend.” My relation died, of course, like a “man +of honor,” and soon after, Don Rafael, himself, fell a victim to +the “circumstances” which, in the end, enabled him to slaughter +my shipmates and save my life.</p> + +<p>I must admit that I use this flippant tone with a twinge of +sorrow, for I think I perceived certain spasms of conscience during +our interview, which proved that, among the lees of that +withered heart, there were some rich drops of manhood ready to +mantle his cheek with shame at our surroundings. Indeed, as +he disclosed his story, he exhibited several outbursts of passionate +agony which satisfied me that if Don Rafael were in Paris, +Don Rafael would have been a most respectable <i>bourgeois</i>; +while, doubtless, there were many estimable citizens at that moment +in Paris, who would have given up their shops in order to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +become Don Rafaels in Cuba! Such is life—and “circumstances!”</p> + +<p>Our chat wasted a large portion of the afternoon. It was +terminated by a counsel from my friend to be wary in my deportment, +and a direction to console myself with the idea that he did +not mean I should tarry long upon the island.</p> + +<p>“You see,” said he, “that I do not lack force of eye, voice, +and personal influence over these ruffians; yet I do not know +that I can always serve or save a friend, so your fate hangs very +much on your circumspection. Men in our situation are Ishmaelites. +Our hands are not only against all, and all against us, but +we do not know the minute when we may be all against each +other. The power of habitual control may do much for a +leader among such men; but such an one must neither quail +nor <i>deceive</i>. Therefore, <i>beware</i>! Let none of your actions +mar my projects. Let them never suspect the truth of our +consanguinity. Call me ‘uncle;’ and in my mouth you shall +always be ‘Theodore.’ Ask no questions; be civil, cheerful, +and serviceable about the <i>rancho</i>; never establish an intimacy, +confidence, or friendship with any <i>one</i> of the band; stifle your +feelings and your tears if you ever find them rising to your lips +or eyes; talk as little as you possibly can; avoid that smooth-tongued +Frenchman; keep away from our revels, and refrain +entirely from wine.</p> + +<p>“I charge you to be specially watchful of Gallego, the cook. +He is our man of dirty work,—a shameless coward, though revengeful +as a cat. If it shall ever happen that you come in collision +with him, <i>strike first and well</i>; no one cares for him; +even his death will make no stir. Take this <i>cuchillo</i>,—it is +sharp and reliable; keep it near you day and night; and, <i>in +self-defence</i>, do not hesitate to make good use of it. In a few +days, I may say more to you; until then,—<i>corragio figlio, è +addio!</i>”</p> + +<p>We returned to the <i>rancho</i> by different paths.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + + +<p>The life of men under the ban of society, on a desolate +sand key, whose only visitors are land-crabs and sea-gulls, is +a dull and dreary affair. The genuine pirate, properly equipped +for a desperate lot, who has his swift keel beneath him and is +wafted wheresoever he lists on canvas wings, encounters, it is +true, an existence of peril; yet there is something exhilarating +and romantic in his dashing career of incessant peril: he is ever +on the wing, and ever amid novelty; there is something about +his life that smacks of genuine warfare, and his existence becomes +as much more respectable as the old-fashioned highwayman on +his mettlesome steed was superior to the sneaking footpad, who +leaped from behind a thicket and bade the unarmed pedestrian +stand and deliver. But the wrecker-pirate takes his victim at a +disadvantage, for he is not a genuine freebooter of the sea. He +shuns an able foe and strikes the crippled. Like the shark and +the eagle, he delights to prey on the carcass, rather than to strike +the living quarry.</p> + +<p>The companionship into which misfortune had thrown me was +precisely of this character, and I gladly confess that I was never +tempted for a moment to bind up my fate with the sorry gang. +I confided, it is true, in Rafael’s promise to liberate me; yet I +never abandoned the hope of escape by my own tact and energy.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, I became heartily tired of my scullion duties as +the subordinate of Gallego. Finding one day a chest of carpenters’ +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +tools among the rubbish, I busied myself in making a rudder +for one of the boats, and so well did I succeed, that when +my companions returned to breakfast from their daily “fishing,” +my mechanical skill was lauded to such a degree that Rafael +converted the general enthusiasm to my advantage by separating +me from the cook. I was raised to the head of our “naval +bureau” as boatbuilder in chief. Indeed, it was admitted on +all hands that I was abler with the adze than the ladle and +spoiled fewer boards than broths.</p> + +<p>A few days passed, during which I learned that our unfortunate +galliot was gradually emptied and destroyed. This +was the usual morning occupation of the whole gang until +the enterprise ended. When the job was over Don Rafael told +me that he was about to depart hurriedly on business with the +whole company, to the mainland of Cuba, so that, during his +absence, the island and its property would be left in custody of +Gallego, myself, and the bloodhounds. He specially charged the +cook to keep sober, and to give a good account of himself at the +end of <i>five days</i>, which would terminate his absence.</p> + +<p>But no sooner was the <i>patron</i> away, than the lazy scamp neglected +his duties, skulked all day among the bushes, and refused +even to furnish my food or supply the dogs. Of course, I speedily +attended to the welfare of myself and the animals; but, at +night, the surly Galician came home, prepared his own supper, +drank till he was completely drunk, and retired without uttering +a word.</p> + +<p>I was glad that he yielded to the temptation of liquor, as I +hoped he would thereby become incapable of harming me during +the watches of the night, if weariness compelled me to sleep. +He was a malignant wretch, and his taciturnity and ill-will appeared +so ominous now that I was left utterly alone, that I +resolved, if possible, to keep awake, and not to trust to luck or +liquor. The galliot’s tragedy and anxiety stood me in stead, so +that I did not close my eyes in sleep the whole of that dreary +vigil. About midnight, Gallego stealthily approached my cot, +and pausing a moment to assure himself that I was in the profound +repose which I admirable feigned, he turned on tip-toe to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +the door of our cabin, and disappeared with a large bundle in his +hand. He did not return until near day-dawn; and, next night, +the same act was exactly repeated.</p> + +<p>The mysterious sullenness of this vagabond not only alarmed, +but increased my nervousness, for I can assure the reader that, +on a desolate island, without a companion but a single outcast, +one would rather hear the sound of that wretch’s voice than be +doomed to the silence of such inhuman solitude. During the +day he kept entirely aloof,—generally at sea fishing,—affording +me time for a long <i>siesta</i> in a nook near the shore, penetrated +by a thorny path, which Gallego could not have traced without +hounds. On the fourth night, when the pirate left our hut for +his accustomed excursion, I resolved to follow; and taking a +pistol with renewed priming, I pursued his steps at a safe distance, +till I saw him enter a thick shrubbery, in which he was +lost. I marked the spot and returned to the cabin. Next +morning, after coffee, Gallego departed in his canoe to fish. I +watched him anxiously from the beach until he anchored about +two miles from the reef, and then calling the dogs, retraced my +way to the thicket. The hounds were of great service, for, +having placed them on the track, they instantly traced the path +of the surly scoundrel.</p> + +<p>After some trouble in passing the dense copse of underwood, +I entered a large patch of naked sand, broken by heaps of stones, +which appeared to cover graves. One heap bore the form of a +cross, and was probably the sepulchre of a wrecker. I stopped +awhile and reflected as to further explorations. On entering this +arid graveyard, I observed a number of land-crabs scamper away; +but, after awhile, when I sat down in a corner and became perfectly +quiet, I noticed that the army returned to the field and +introduced themselves into all the heaps of stones or graves <i>save +one</i>. This struck me as singular; for, when people are so hopelessly +alone as I was, they become minute observers, and derive +infinite happiness from the consideration of the merest trifles. +Accordingly, I ventured close to the abandoned heap, and found +at once that the neighboring sand had been freshly smoothed. +I was on Gallego’s track! In dread of detection, I stealthily +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +climbed a tree, and, screening myself behind the foliage, peered +out towards the sea till I beheld the cook at work beyond the +reef. My musket and pistols were again examined and found in +order. With these precautions, I began to remove the stones, +taking care to mark their relative positions so that I might replace +them exactly; and, in about ten minutes work at excavation, +I came upon two barrels, one of which was filled with bundles +of silk, linens, and handkerchiefs, while the other contained +a chronometer, several pieces of valuable lace, and a beautifully +bound, gilt, and ornamented <i>Bible</i>. One bundle, tied in a Madras +handkerchief, particularly attracted my attention, for I thought +I recognized the covering. Within it I found a number of trinkets +belonging to the wife of my Dutch captain, and a large hairpin, +set with diamonds, which I remember she wore the last day +of her life. Had this wretch torn it from her head, as he imbrued +his hands in her blood on that terrible night? The painful +revelation brought all before me once more with appalling +force. I shuddered and became sick. Yet, I had no time for +maudlin dalliance with my feelings. Replacing every thing with +precision, and smoothing the sand once more with my flannel +shirt, I returned to the <i>rancho</i>, where I indulged in the boyish +but honest outburst of nature which I could no longer restrain. +I was not then—and, thank God, I am not now—a stranger to +tears! To the world, the human heart and the human eye, like +the coral isle of the Atlantic, may be parched and withered; +yet beneath the seared and arid surface, the living water still +flows and gushes, when the rock and the heart alike are stricken!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>Just before sunset of this day, the deep baying of our hounds +gave notice of approaching strangers; and, soon after, four boats +appeared in the cove. The two foremost belonged to Don Rafael +and his crew, while the others were filled with strangers whose +appearance was that of landsmen rather than mariners. As +Rafael received them on the beach, he introduced them to me as +his especial pets, the “<span class="smcap lowercase">AMPHIBIOUS JEWS</span>.”</p> + +<p>Our delicious supper of that night was augmented by a fine +store of beef, pork and fowls, brought from shore. I lingered at +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +table as long as the company maintained a decent sobriety, and +learned that these salt water Hebrews were, in truth, speculators +from Cardenas, who accompanied Rafael in the guise of fishermen, +to purchase the plundered cargo of my galliot.</p> + +<p>During his visit to Cuba, Don Rafael was apprised that the +Cuban authorities were about sending an Inspector among the +islands off the coast, and accordingly took precaution to furnish +himself in advance with a regular “fishing license.” All hands +were forthwith set to work to make our key and <i>rancho</i> conform +to this calling, and, in a few days, the canvas roof of our hut +was replaced by a thatch of leaves, while every dangerous article +or implement was concealed in the thicket of a labyrinthine creek. +In fact, our piscatory character could not be doubted. In our +persons and occupation, we looked as innocent and rustic as a +pic-nic party on a summer bivouac for fresh air and salt bathing. +Nor was the transformation less real in regard to our daily tasks. +We became, in reality, most industrious fishermen; so that we +had more than a thousand of the finny tribe piled up and dried, +when the hounds signalled the arrival of the expected officials.</p> + +<p>Breakfast was on the table when they landed, but it was the +<i>banyan</i> meal of humble men, whose nets were never filled with +aught but the <i>scaly</i> products of the sea. Our inspector was +regaled with a scant fish-feast, and allowed to digest it over the +genuine license. Rafael complained sadly of hard times and +poverty;—in fact, the drama of humility was played to perfection, +and, finally, the functionary signed our license, with a certificate +of our loyalty, and pocketed a moderate “gratification” +of <i>five ounces</i>!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>Six long, hot, and wretched weeks passed over my head before +any striking occurrence relieved the monotony of my life. +During the whole of this period, our fishing adventure was +steadily pursued, when information was mysteriously brought to +the key that a richly-laden French vessel had run ashore on +the Cayo Verde, an islet some forty miles east of the Cruz del +Padre. That afternoon, both of our large boats were filled +with armed men, and, as they departed with <i>every</i> wrecker +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +aboard, I alone was left on the islet to guard our property with +the dogs.</p> + +<p>The thought and hope of escape both swelled in my breast +as I saw the hulls dwindle to a dot and disappear behind the +horizon. In a moment, my plan was conceived and perfected. +The sea was perfectly smooth, and I was expert in the use of oars. +That very night I launched our canoe,—the only vessel left in +the cove,—and placing the sail, scullers, and grappling-hook +within it, returned to the <i>rancho</i> for clothing. As it was dark, +I lighted a candle, when, on looking into the clothes-chest +beneath my bed, I found inscribed on the lid, in fresh chalk-marks, +the words “<span class="smcap">Patience! wait!</span>”</p> + +<p>This discovery made me pause in my preparations. Was it +the warning—as it was certainly the handwriting—of Rafael? +Had he purposely and honorably left me alone, in order to escape +this scene of blood? Did he anticipate my effort to fly, and endeavor +to save me from the double risk of crossing to the mainland, +and of future provision for my comfort? I could not doubt +its being the work of my friend; and, whether it was superstition +or prudence, I cannot say, but I resolved, unhesitatingly, to +abandon a scheme in regard to which I hesitated. Instead, +therefore, of attempting to pass the strait between the key and +Cuba, I went to bed, and slept more comfortably in my utter +abandonment than I had done since I was on the island.</p> + +<p>Next day, at noon, I descried a small pilot-boat sailing inside +the reef, with all the confidence of a perfect master of the channel. +Two persons speedily landed, with provisions from the +mainland, and stated that, on his last visit to Cuba, Don Rafael +engaged them to take me to Havana. This, however, was to be +done with much caution, inasmuch as his men would not assent +to my departure until they had compromised my life with theirs +by some act of desperate guilt. The pilots declined taking me +then without my guardian’s assent;—and, in truth, so fully was +I convinced of his intention to liberate me in the best and speediest +way, that I made up my mind to abide where I was till he +returned.</p> + +<p>For three days more I was doomed to solitude. On the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +fourth, the boats came back, with the pilot’s cutter, and I quickly +saw that a serious encounter had taken place. The pilot-boat +appeared to be deeply laden. Next day, she was taken to the +mazes of the winding and wooded creek, where, I learned, the +booty was disembarked and hidden. While the party had gone +to complete this portion of their enterprise, the Frenchman, who +was wounded in the head and remained behind, took that opportunity +to enlighten me on passing events. When the wreckers +reached Cayo Verde, they found the French vessel already taken +possession of by “fishermen” of that quarter. Anticipated in +their dirty work, our comrades were in no mood to be sociable +with the fortunate party. An affray was the natural result, in +which knives had been freely used, while Mesclet himself had +been rescued by Rafael, pistol in hand, after receiving the violent +blow on his head from which he was now suffering. Having secured +a retreat to their boats, they were just beginning to think +of a rapid departure, when the friendly pilot-boat hove in sight. +So fortunate a reinforcement renerved our gang. A plan of +united action was quickly concerted. The French vessel was +again hoarded and carried. Two of the opposite party were +slain in the onslaught; and, finally, a rich remnant of the cargo +was seized, though the greater part of the valuables had, no +doubt, been previously dispatched ashore by the earlier band of +desperadoes.</p> + +<p>“Thank God!” added the narrator, “we have now the boat +and the assistance of Bachicha, who is as brave as Rafael: with +his ‘<i>Baltimore clipper</i>,’ we shall conduct our affairs on a grander +scale than heretofore. <i>Sacre-bleu!</i> we may now cruise under the +Columbian flag, and rob Peter to pay Paul!”</p> + +<p>In fact, the “clipper” had brought down an ample store of +ammunition, under the innocent name of “provisions,” while she +carried in her bowels a long six, which she was ready to mount +amidships at a moment’s notice.</p> + +<p>But poor Mesclet did not live to enjoy the fruits of the larger +piracy, which he hoped to carry on in a more elegant way with +Bachicha. The <i>roué</i> could not be restrained from the favorite +beverages of his beautiful France. His wound soon mastered +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +him; and, in a month, all that was mortal of this gallant Gaul, +who, in earlier years, had figured in the best saloons of his country, +rested among sand-graves of a Cuban key.</p> + +<p>“Ah!” growled Gallego, as they came home from his burial, +“there is one less to share our earnings; and, what is better, +claret and brandy will be more plentiful now that this sponge is +under the sand!”</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>In a few days, the boats were laden with fish for the mainland, +in order to cover the real object of our <i>patron’s</i> visit to +Cuba, which was to dispose of the booty. At his departure, he +repeated the cherished promise of liberty, and privately hinted +that I had better continue fishing on good terms with Señor Gallego.</p> + +<p>It required some time to repair the nets, for they had been +rather neglected during our late fishing, so that it was not, in +fact, until Rafael had been three days gone that I took the canoe +with Gallego, and dropped anchor outside the reef, to take breakfast +before beginning our labor.</p> + +<p>We had hardly begun a frugal meal when, suddenly, a large +schooner shot from behind a bend of the island, and steered +in our direction. As the surly Spaniard never spoke, I had +become accustomed to be equally silent. Unexpectedly, however, +he gave a scowling glance from beneath his shaggy brows +at the vessel, and exclaimed with unusual energy: “A Columbian +privateer!”</p> + +<p>“We had best up anchor, and get inside the reef,” continued +he, “or our sport will be spoiled for the day.”</p> + +<p>“Pshaw!” returned I, “she’s not making for us, and, even +if she were, I wouldn’t be such a coward as to run!” Indeed, +I had heard so much of “Columbian privateers” and the patriot +service, that I rather longed to be captured, that I might try my +hand at lawful war and glory. The impulse was sudden and +silly.</p> + +<p>Still Gallego insisted on retreating; until, at length, we got +into an angry controversy, which the cook, who was in the bow +of the boat, attempted to end by cutting the anchor-rope. As +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +he was drawing his knife to execute this purpose, I swiftly lifted +an oar, and, with a single blow, laid him senseless in the bottom +of the canoe. By this time the schooner was within pistol-shot; +and, as she passed with a three-knot breeze, the captain, who had +witnessed the scene, threw a grappling-iron into our skiff, and +taking us in tow, dragged the boat from its moorings.</p> + +<p>As soon as we got into deeper water, I was ordered on deck, +while Gallego, still quite insensible, was hoisted carefully on +board. I told the truth as to our dispute, reserving, however, +the important fact that I had been originally urged into the quarrel +by my anxiety “to ship” on board a privateer.</p> + +<p>“I want a pilot for Key West,” said the master, hurriedly, +“and I have no time to trifle with your stupid quarrels. Can +either of you perform this service?”</p> + +<p>By this time Gallego had been somewhat roused from his +stupor, and pointing feebly towards me, uttered a languid:—“Yes, +and an <i>excellent</i> one.”</p> + +<p>Mistaking the word “<i>pilote</i>,” which in Spanish signifies +“navigator,” the French captain, who spoke the Castilian very +badly, translated it into the more limited meaning attached to +that peculiar profession, one of whose ministers he was anxious +to secure.</p> + +<p>“<i>Bon!</i>” said the master, “put the other fellow back into +his skiff, and make sail at once under charge of this youngster.”</p> + +<p>I remonstrated, protested, declaimed, swore, that I knew nothing +of Key West and its approaches; but all my efforts were +vain. I was a pilot in spite of myself.</p> + +<p>The malicious cook enjoyed the joke of which I had so hastily +become the victim. As they lowered him again into the +boat, he jeered at my incredulity, and in ten minutes was towed +to the edge of the reef, where the scamp was turned adrift to +make for the island.</p> + +<p>When the schooner was once more under full sail, I was ordered +to give the course for Key West. I at once informed the +captain, whose name I understood to be Laminé, that he really +labored under a mistake in translating the Spanish word <i>pilote</i> +into <i>port guide</i>, and assured him that Gallego had been prompted +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +by a double desire to get rid of him as well as me by fostering +his pernicious error. I acknowledged that I was a “<i>pilot</i>,” or +“navigator,” though not a “<i>practico</i>,” or harbor-pilot; yet I +urged that I could not, without absolute foolhardiness, undertake +to conduct his schooner into a port of which I was utterly ignorant, +and had never visited. Hereupon the first lieutenant or +mate interposed. This fellow was a short, stout-built person of +thirty-five, with reddish whiskers and hair, a long-projecting under-jaw, +and eye-teeth that jutted out like tusks. To add to his +ugliness, he was sadly pitted by small-pox, and waddled about on +short duck legs, which were altogether out of proportion to his +long body, immense arms, and broad, massive shoulders. I do +not remember a more vulgarly repulsive person than this privateering +lieutenant.</p> + +<p>“He is a liar, Captain Laminé, and only wants to extort +money for his services,” interjected the brute. “Leave him to +me, sir; I’ll find a way to refresh his memory of Key West that +will open the bottom of the gulf to his eyes as clearly as the +pathway to his piratical hut on the sand key! To the helm, +sir—to the helm!”</p> + +<p>What possible object or result could I gain by resistance +amid the motley assemblage that surrounded me on the deck of +the “<span class="smcap">Cara-bobo</span>?” She was a craft of about 200 tons; and, +with her crew of seventy-five, composed of the scourings of all +nations, castes, and colors, bore a commission from the authorities +of Carthagena to burn, sink and destroy all Spanish property +she was strong enough to capture. Laminé was born in +the isle of France, while Lasquetti, the lieutenant, was a +creole of Pensacola. The latter spoke French and Spanish quite +well, but very little English; while both master and mate were +almost entirely ignorant of navigation, having intrusted that task +to the third lieutenant, who was then ill with yellow fever. The +second lieutenant was absent on board a prize.</p> + +<p>Thus forced to take charge of a privateer without a moment’s +warning, I submitted with the best grace, and, calling for charts +and instruments, I shaped my way for the destined port. All +day we steered west-north-west, but at sunset, as we had run +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +along smartly, I ordered the schooner to be “laid to” for the +night. The wind and weather were both charmingly fair, and +objections were of course made to my command. But, as the +most difficult part of our navigation was to be encountered during +the night, if I kept on my course, I resolved to persist to the +last in my resolution, and I was fortunate enough to carry my +point.</p> + +<p>“D—n you,” said Lasquetti, as the vessel was brought to the +wind and made snug for the night, “d—n you, Master Téodore; +this laying-to shall give <i>you</i> no rest, at least, if you thought to +dodge work, and get into a hammock by means of it! You shall +march the deck all night to see that we don’t drift on a reef, if +I have to sit up, or stand up till day-dawn to watch you!”</p> + +<p>Obedience, alas! had been the order of the day with me for +a long while; so I promenaded the lee quarter till nearly midnight, +when, utterly exhausted by fatigue, I sat down on a long +brass chaser, and almost instantly fell asleep.</p> + +<p>I know not how long I rested, but a tremendous shock +knocked me from the cannon and laid me flat on the deck, bleeding +from mouth, nose and ears. Lasquetti stood beside me, +cigar in hand, laughing immoderately, blaspheming like a demon, +and kicking me in the ribs with his rough wet-weather boots. +He had detected me asleep, and touched off the gun with his +<i>havanna</i>!</p> + +<p>The explosion aroused all hands, and brought the commander +on deck. My blood flowed, but it did not pour fast enough to +relieve my agonizing rage. As soon as I recovered consciousness, +I seized the first heavy implement I could grasp, and rushed +at my aggressor, whose skull was saved from the blow by descending +beneath the combings of the hatchway, which, the instant +after, were shivered by the descent of my heavy weapon. +Laminé was a man of some sensibility, and, though selfish, as +usual with his set, could not avoid at once reprimanding Lasquetti +with uncommon severity in presence of his men.</p> + +<p>That afternoon, I was fortunate enough, by the aid of a good +chart, and a sort of <i>navigating instinct</i>, to anchor the “Cara-bobo” +in the narrow harbor of Key West. When Laminé went +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +ashore, he ordered me not to leave the schooner, while sentries +were placed to prevent boats from boarding or even approaching +us. Hardly was the master out of the vessel before two men +seized me as I looked at the shore through a telescope. In the +twinkling of an eye, I was hurried below and double-ironed; nor +would I have received a morsel of food save bread and water +during our detention, had I not been secretly fed by some good +fellows from the forecastle, who stole to me after dark with the +remnant of their rations. This was the cowardly revenge of +Lasquetti.</p> + +<p>On the third day, Laminé returned, bringing an American +pilot for the coast and islands. I was set at liberty as he was +seen approaching; and when we got under way on another +cruise, I was commanded to do duty as sailing-master, which I +promptly refused with spirited indignation, until I received satisfaction +from the dastard lieutenant. But this fellow had taken +care to forestall me, by assuring Laminé that he never dreamed +of securing me until I was caught in the very act of escaping +from the schooner!</p> + +<p>During a week’s cruise of indifferent success with these +“patriots,” I won the kind heart of the American pilot, who +heard the story of my late adventures with patience; and, through +his influence with the commander, my lot was mitigated, notwithstanding +my refusal to do duty. By this time, the third lieutenant +was restored to sufficient health to resume the deck. He +was a native of Spain and a gallant sailor. Many an hour did +he pass beside me, recounting his adventures or listening to +mine, until I seemed to win his sympathy, and insure his assistance +for relief from this miserable tyranny.</p> + +<p>At length, the schooner’s course was shaped for the Cruz del +Padre, while I was summoned to the cabin. I perceived at once +a singular change for the better in Monsieur Laminé’s manner. +He requested me to be seated; pressed me to accept a tumbler +of claret; inquired about my health, and ended this harmonious +overture by saying, that if I would sign a document exonerating +him from all charges of compulsory detention or ill-treatment, he +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +would pay me two hundred dollars for my service, and land me +again on the key.</p> + +<p>I promptly saw that his object in replacing me on the island +was to prevent my complaints against his conduct from reaching +the ears of a tribunal in a neutral port; and, accordingly, I +declined the proposition,—demanding, however, to be put on +board of any vessel we met, no matter what might be her nationality. +I sternly refused his money, and insisted that my only +desire was to be free from his brutal officer.</p> + +<p>But Laminé was in power and I was not. In the end, I +discovered that worse consequences might befall me among these +ruffians, if I hesitated to take the recompense and sign the +paper. In fact, I began to be quite satisfied that, in reality, it +was an <i>escape</i> to be freed from the privateer, even if I took +refuge once more among pirates!</p> + +<p>So, after a good deal of claret and controversy had been +wasted, I signed the document and pocketed the cash.</p> + +<p>As the first bars of saffron streaked the east next morning, +the reef of the Cruz del Padre hove in sight dead ahead. The +third lieutenant presented me at my departure with a set of +charts, a spy-glass, a quadrant, and a large bag of clothes; while, +in the breast of a rich silk waistcoat, he concealed three ounces +and a silver watch, which he desired me to wear in honor of him, +if ever I was fortunate enough to tread the streets of Havana. +Several of the white sailors also offered me useful garments; and +a black fellow, who had charge of the boat in which I was sent +ashore, forced on me two sovereigns, which he considered a small +gratuity to “<i>a countryman</i>” in distress. He hailed from Marblehead, +and protested that he knew me in Salem when I was a +lad.</p> + +<p>As the boat approached the <i>rancho’s</i> cove, I perceived every +body under arms, and heard Don Rafael command my boatmen, +in a loud, imperious voice, to begone, or he would fire. Standing +on the thwarts of the boat, I ordered the oarsmen to back water, +and leaping into the sea, waist-deep, struggled alone to the beach, +calling “mi tio! mi tio!”—“<i>my uncle! Don Rafael!</i>”—who, +recognizing my voice and gestures, promptly rushed forward to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +embrace me. Our boat was then allowed to approach the landing +and disburthen itself of the gifts. I thought it best to +request my sable ally from Marblehead to narrate, in as good +Spanish or <i>lingua-franca</i>, as he could press into his service, the +whole story of my capture and the conduct of Gallego. This +being done, the boat and its crew were dispatched aboard with a +multitude of Spanish courtesies and the substantial gift of some +<i>Chateau Margaux</i>.</p> + +<p>After an early supper, I became the lion of the evening, and +was requested to give a narrative of my cruise in the “patriot +service.” I noticed that some of the gang looked on me askance +with an incredulous air, while others amused themselves by +smoking and spitting in a very contemptuous way whenever I +reached what I conceived to be a thrilling portion of my story. +At its conclusion, I arose and deposited in the hands of Don +Rafael my gifts of two hundred dollars and the two sovereigns. +This evidence of reciprocity seemed to restore the good temper +of my impatient hearers, so that, by the time the <i>patron</i> went +round the circle, giving each man his share of my earnings,—not +even omitting Gallego,—my credit was almost restored among +the gang.</p> + +<p>“As for these two pieces of gold, these charts, instruments +and clothes,” said Don Rafael, “they are the property of the +youth, and I am sure none of you are mean enough to divide +them. The money was another thing. That was <i>his</i> earning, as +the ‘fishing <i>revenue</i>’ is ours; and as he is entitled to a share +of what <i>we</i> gain, we are entitled to participate in whatever <i>he</i> +wins. Yet, <i>amigos</i>, this is not all. My nephew, <i>caballeros</i>, has +been accused, by one of this party, <i>during his absence</i>, of being +not only a contemptible thief, but a traitor and coward. Now, +as these are three ‘blasphemous vituperations’ which are not to +be found under any head in my prayer-book, and never were +chargeable on the blood of our family, I insist on immediate justice +to my kinsman. Let that cowardly scoundrel repeat and +<i>prove</i> his accusation of Téodore, face to face! You, <i>señores</i>, +shall stand judges. Every thing shall be fair. To-night, my +boy shall be found guilty or purged of the baseness imputed to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +him; and, moreover, I apprise you now, that if he is innocent, I +shall to-morrow restore him to liberty. His voluntary return +was a voucher of honesty; and I doubt whether there is a clever +man among you who does not agree with me. Stand forth, Gallego, +and charge this youth again with the infamy you heaped on +him while he was away.”</p> + +<p>But the sullen wretch bowed his head, with a hang-dog look, +and rolled his black and bushy skull slowly from side to side, +with an air of bullying defiance. Still he remained perfectly +silent.</p> + +<p>“Stand forth, Gallego, once more, I say!” shouted Don +Rafael, stamping with fury and foaming at the mouth; “stand +forth, imp of the devil, and make good your charge, or I’ll trice +you up to these rafters by your thumbs, and lash you with a cow-hide +till your stretched skin peels off in ribbons!”</p> + +<p>The threat restored Gallego’s voice; but he could only say +that there was no use in repeating the charges, because the case +was prejudged, and all feared Don Rafael and his parasite to +such a degree that it was impossible to treat him with justice. +“Yet, look ye, señores, if I can’t talk, I can fight. If Don Rafael +is ready to meet me, knife in hand, in support of my cause, why, +all I have to say is, that I am ready for him and his bastard +to boot!”</p> + +<p>In a moment, Rafael’s knife was out of his belt, and the two +sprang forward in a death-struggle, which would doubtless have +been a short affair, had not the whole party interposed between +the combatants and forbidden the fight. In the hurly-burly, +Gallego took to his heels and departed.</p> + +<p>The scoundrel’s escape caused some alarm in the camp, as it +was feared he might leave the island, and, turning king’s evidence, +make the waters of Cuba too hot for the band. Accordingly, +all the canoes and boats that night were drawn up on the +beach and kept under double watch.</p> + +<p>When order was restored in the <i>rancho</i>, I asked Don Rafael +to explain the “three accusations” that had been made against +my fair fame; when I learned that I was charged by Gallego +with having felled him in the boat, with having shipped +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +voluntarily in the privateer, and with returning in the Cara-bobo’s +boats <i>to rob the rancho of its valuables</i>!</p> + +<p>The first of the allegations I admitted to be true; the second +had been disproved by the privateer’s boatmen; and, as to the +third, I at once insisted upon the party’s taking torches and +accompanying me to the graveyard, where, I told them, they +would find—as, in truth, they did—the valuables this villain had +charged me with stealing. On our way thither, I recounted the +manner in which I detected his infamy.</p> + +<p>Nest morning we divided into two parties, and taking the +dogs, proceeded in chase of the dastard Galician. He was +quickly tracked by the hounds and caught asleep, with two empty +flasks beside him.</p> + +<p>A drum-head court-martial at once convened for his trial, and +it was unanimously resolved to chain him to a tree, where he was +to be left exposed to the elements until he starved to death. +The passive and silent fit had again come over Gallego. I implored +that the sentence might be softened, but I was laughed at +for my childish pity, and ordered home to the <i>rancho</i>. The command +to chain him having been executed, the Spanish outcast +was left to his terrible fate. One of the men, out of compassion, +as he said, secretly conveyed a case of gin to the doomed man, +and left it within reach, either to solace his departure from the +world, or to render him insensible. But his end was speedy. +Next morning the guard found him dead, with six empty bottles +out of the case. His body was denied the rites of sepulture. +It was left lying in chains as he perished, to rot in the sun and +be devoured by the insects generated from his decay.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + + +<p>When these dreadful scenes were over, Don Rafael took me +aside with the pleasant news that the time for my liberation was +indeed arrived. He handed me one hundred and twenty-five +dollars, which wore my share of the proceeds of our lawful +fishing. “Take the money,” said Rafael, with a good deal of +feeling; “take it, young man, with <i>perfect</i> confidence;—<i>there is +no blood on it!</i>”</p> + +<p>My preparations for departure were quickly made, as Bachicha +was in the cove with his craft ready to take me to the mainland. +I bade a hasty adieu to the gang; and perhaps it is rare +that any one ever abandoned the companions of several months’ +intimacy with so little pain. Rafael’s solicitude for my character +touched me. He had done all in his power to preserve my self-respect, +and I was, therefore, well disposed to regard the good +counsel he gave me at parting, and to believe in his sincerity +when he pictured a bright future, and contrasted it with his own +desolation and remorse.</p> + +<p>“I have recommended you, <i>hijo mio</i>, to a friend in Regla, +on the opposite side of the harbor at Havana, who will take +care of you. He is a <i>paisano</i> of ours. Take these additional +ten ounces, which are the fruit of honest labor. They will help +you to appear properly in Havana; so that, with the care of +Bachicha and our Regla countryman, I don’t despair of your +welfare. <span class="smcap">Adios!</span> <i>para siempre!</i>”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +And so we parted;—and it was, indeed, an adieu for ever. +We never met again, but I heard of Don Rafael and his fortunes. +The new enterprise with the pilot-boat turned out successfully, +and the band acquired considerable property on the island before +the piratical nests along the coast of Cuba were broken up by +cruisers. Rafael had some narrow escapes from the noose and +the yard arm; but he eluded the grasp of his pursuers, and died +a respectable <i>ranchero</i> on a comfortable farm in the interior of +the Queen of the Antilles.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>The light winds of summer soon brought us inside the Moro +Castle, past the frowning batteries of the Cabanas, and at +anchor near Regla, within the beautiful harbor of Havana. I +shall never forget the impression made on my mind by this delicious +scene as it first broke on my sight at sunrise, in all the cool +freshness of morning. The grand amphitheatre of hills swept +down to the calm and lake-like water with gentle slopes, lapped +in the velvet robes of richest green, and embroidered, as it were, +with lace-like spots of castle, fort, dwelling, and villa, until the +seaward points were terminated on the left, by the brilliant city, +and on the right by a pile of majestic batteries.</p> + +<p>This grand and lasting impression was made almost at a +glance, for, at my time of life, I was more concerned with man +than nature, and rarely paused to dwell on the most fascinating +scenery. Accordingly, I hastened to Regla with my letter of +introduction, which was <i>interpreted</i> by Bachicha to the Italian +grocer, the friend of Rafael, to whom I was confided. <i>Il signore +Carlo Cibo</i> was an illiterate man of kind heart, who had adventurously +emigrated from Italy to furnish the Havanese with good +things; while, in return, the Havanese had been so pleased with +his provender, that Carlo may be said to have been a man “very +well to do in the world” for a foreigner. He received me with +unbounded kindness;—welcomed me to his bachelor home;—apologized +for its cold cheerlessness, and ordered me to consider +himself and his “<i>casa</i>” entirely at my disposal as long as I +chose to remain.</p> + +<p>I was content to accept this unstinted hospitality for a few +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +days, while I ran over the town, the hills, and the <i>paseos</i>; but I +could not consent to dally long eating the bread of idleness and +charity. I observed that my friend Carlo was either the most +prudent or least inquisitive man I knew, for he never asked me a +question about my early or recent history. As he would not +lend the conversation to my affairs, I one day took the liberty to +inquire whether there was a vessel in port bound to the Pacific +Ocean or Mexico, in which my protector could possibly find a +situation for me as an officer, or procure me permission to work +my way even as a common sailor.</p> + +<p>The kind grocer instantly divined my true motive, and while +he honored me for it, deprecated the idea of my departure. He +said that my visit, instead of being a burden, was a pleasure he +could not soon replace. As to the expenses of his house, he +declared they were, in fact, <i>not</i> increased. What fed five, fed +half a dozen; and, as to my proposal to go to Mexico, or any +other place in Spanish America on the Continent, with a view of +“making my fortune,” he warmly protested against it, in consequence +of his own experience.</p> + +<p>“They can never conquer their jealousy of <i>foreigners</i>,” said +Carlo; “you may live with them for years, and imagine yourself +as intimate as brothers; but, at last, <i>carramba</i>, you will +find something turn up, that marks you an alien and kindles +nationality against you. Take my advice, Don Téodore, stay +where you are; study Spanish carefully; get the hang of the +people; and, my life on it, before long, you’ll have your hands +full of trump cards and the game in your power.”</p> + +<p>I did as he desired, and was presented to a corpulent +old quiz of a <i>padre</i>, who pretended to instruct me in classical +Castilian. Two lessons demonstrated his incapacity; but as he +was a jolly gossip of my grocer, and hail-fellow with the whole +village of Regla, I thought it good policy to continue his pupil +in appearance, while I taught myself <i>in private</i>. Besides this, +the <i>padre</i> was a <i>bon vivant</i> and devoted lover of fish. Now, as +I happened to be a good sportsman, with a canoe at my command, +I managed to supply his kitchen with an abundance of +the finny tribe, which his cook was an adept in preparing. It +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +may be supposed that our “fast days” were especial epochs of +delicious reunion. A fine dinner smoked on the table; a good +bottle was added by the grocer; and, while my entertainer discussed +the viands, I contrived to keep him in continual chat, +which, in reality, was the best practical lesson a man in my +circumstances could receive.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>It is strange how our lives and destinies are often decided by +trifles. As I sailed about the harbor in idleness, my nautical +eye and taste were struck by the trim rig of the sharp built +“slavers,” which, at that time, used to congregate at Havana. +There was something bewitching to my mind in their race-horse +beauty. A splendid vessel has always had the same influence on +my mind, that I have heard a splendid woman has on the minds +of other men. These dashing <i>slavers</i>, with their arrowy hulls +and raking masts, got complete possession of my fancy. There +was hardly a day that I did not come home with a discovery of +added charms. Signor Carlo listened in silence and nodded his +head, when I was done, with an approving smile and a +“<i>bueno!</i>”</p> + +<p>I continued my sailing peregrinations for a month around the +harbor, when my kind entertainer invited me to accompany him +aboard a vessel of which, he said, he owned two shares—<i>she +was bound to Africa!</i> The splendid clipper was one of the very +craft that had won my heart; and my feverish soul was completely +upset by the gala-scene as we drifted down the bay, partaking +of a famous breakfast, and quaffing bumpers of Champagne +to the schooner’s luck. When she passed the Moro Castle +we leaped into our boats, and gave the voyagers three hearty +and tipsy cheers. My grocer was a “slaver!”</p> + +<p>I had a thousand questions for the Italian in regard to the +trade, now that I found <i>he</i> belonged to the fraternity. All my +inquiries were gratified in his usually amiable manner; and that +night, in my dreams, I was on board of a coaster chased by +John Bull.</p> + +<p>My mind was made up. Mexico, Peru, South American independence, +patriotism, and all that, were given to the breezes +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +of the gulf. I slept off my headache and nightmare; and next +morning announced to Cibo my abandonment of the Costa +Firma, and my anxiety to get a situation in a vessel bound to +Africa.</p> + +<p>In a few days I was told that my wishes would perhaps be +gratified, as a fast vessel from the Canaries was about to be +sold; and if she went off a bargain, Signor Carlo had resolved +to purchase her, with a friend, to send to Africa.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, the Canary “<span class="smcap">Globo</span>” was acquired for $3000; +and after a perfect refitting at the Casa-Blanca of Havana, +loomed in the harbor as a respectable pilot-boat of forty tons. +Her name, in consequence of reputed speed, was changed to “El +Areostatico;” a culverine was placed amidships; all the requisites +for a slave cargo were put on board; fifteen sailors, the refuse +of the press-gang and jail-birds, were shipped; powder, ammunition, +and small arms, were abundantly supplied; and, last +of all, four kegs, ballasted with specie, were conveyed into the +cabin to purchase our return cargo.</p> + +<p>It was on the 2d of September, 1826, after a charming <i>déjeuner</i>, +that I bade farewell to my friend Carlo on the deck of +the Areostatico, cleared for the Cape de Verd isles, but, in +truth, bound for the Rio Pongo. Our crew consisted of twenty-one +scamps—Spaniards, Portuguese, Frenchmen, and mongrels. +The Majorcan captain was an odd character to intrust with such +an enterprise, and probably nowhere else, save in Havana at +that period, would he have been allowed to command a slaver. +He was a scientific navigator, but no sailor;—afraid of his +shadow, he had not a particle of confidence in his own judgment; +every body was listened to, and he readily yielded his opinions +without argument or controversy. Our chief officer, a Catalonian +cousin of the captain, made no pretensions to seamanship, yet he +was a good mathematician. I still remember the laughs I had +at the care he took of his lily-white hands, and the jokes we +cracked upon his girl-like manners, voice, and conversation. The +boatswain, who was in his watch, assured me that he rarely gave +an order without humming it out to a tune of some favorite +opera.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +In this fantastic group, I occupied the position of supernumerary +officer and interpreter; but accustomed, as I had been, +to wholesome <i>American</i> seamanship and discipline, I trembled +not a little when I discovered the amazing ignorance of the master, +and observed the utter worthlessness of our crew. These +things made me doubly vigilant; and sometimes I grieved that +I was not still in Regla, or on the <i>paseo</i>. On the tenth day out, +a northwester began to pipe and ripen to a gale as the sea rose +with it. Sail had been soon diminished on the schooner; but +when I was relieved in my watch by the first officer, I hinted to +the captain that it would be best to lay the vessel to as soon as +possible. We had been scudding before the tempest for some +hours under a close-reefed foresail, and I feared if we did not +bring our craft to the wind at once, we would either run her under, +or be swamped in attempting the manœuvre when the waves +got higher. The captain, however, with his usual submission to +the views of the wrong person, took the advice of the helmsman, +who happened to be older than I, and the schooner was allowed +to dash on either through or over the seas, at the speed of a +racer.</p> + +<p>By this time the forward deck was always under water, and +the men gathered abaft the trunk to keep as dry as possible. +Officers and crew were huddled together pell-mell, and, with our +usual loose discipline, every body joined in the conversation and +counsel. Before sundown I again advised the laying-to of the +schooner; but the task had now become so formidable that the +men who dreaded the job, assured the captain that the wind +would fall as the moon arose. Yet, when the dim orb appeared +above the thick, low-drifting scud, the gale <i>increased</i>. The +light rather hinted than revealed the frightful scene around that +egg-shell on the lashed and furious sea. Each wave swept over +us, but our buoyant craft rose on the succeeding swell, and cleft +its crest with her knife-like prow. It was now too late to attempt +bringing her to the wind; still it became more urgent to +do something to prevent us from being submerged by the huge +seas, which came thundering after us like avalanches on our +quarters.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +The perilous dilemma of our doubtful captain and his dainty +mate, may be easily imagined. Every body had an opinion, and +of course they vied with each other in absurdity;—at last some +one proposed to cut away the foresail, and bring her to the wind +under bare poles.</p> + +<p>I was “conning” the schooner when this insane scheme was +broached, and fearing that the captain might adopt it, I leaped +on the hatch, after calling the boatswain to my place, and assured +the crew that if they severed the sail, we would lose command +of the vessel, so that with impaired headway, the next +wave that struck her would show her keel to the skies and her +dock to the fishes. I exhorted them to drive her <i>faster</i> if possible +rather than stop. To turn out the “balance reef,” I said, +was our only salvation;—and I alleged that I had seen a vessel +saved before in precisely the same way. Cowards, with death +clutching their throats, were soon convinced by a man of nerve. +I availed myself of the instantaneous silence that followed my +act, and before the captain could think or speak, I leaped to the +boom with my sharp knife, cutting the reef-points slowly and +carefully, so as not to allow the foresail to be inflated and torn by +a single blast.</p> + +<p>My judgment was correct. Our increased canvas immediately +sent us skimming over the waves; the rollers no longer combed +dangerously over our quarter; we scudded steadily throughout +the remnant of the gale; and, next night, at sundown, we rested +on a quiet, lake-like ocean, taughtening the strained rigging, and +priding ourselves mightily on the hazards we encountered and +overcame. The Minorcan skipper was satisfied that no man ever +before performed so daring an exploit. He was, moreover, convinced, +that no one but himself could have carried the schooner +through so frightful a storm, or would have invented the noble +expedient of driving instead of stripping her!</p> + +<p>From this hour all semblance of regular discipline was abandoned. +Sailors, who are suffered to tread the quarter-deck familiarly +and offer their opinions, never get over the permitted freedom. Our +ragamuffins of the Areostatico could never abide the idea that the +youngest seaman aboard,—and he, too, a <i>foreigner</i>,—should have +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +proved the best sailor. The skilful performance of my duty was +the source of a rankling grudge. As I would not mix with the +scamps, they called me arrogant. My orders were negligently +obeyed; and, in fact, every thing in the schooner became as +comfortless as possible.</p> + +<p>Forty-one days, however, brought us to the end of our voyage +at the mouth of the Rio Pongo. No one being acquainted with +the river’s entrance or navigation, the captain and four hands +went ashore for a pilot, who came off in the afternoon, while our +master ascended in a boat to the slave-factory at Bangalang. +Four o’clock found us entering the Rio Pongo, with tide and +wind in our favor, so that before the sun sank into the Atlantic +Ocean we were safe at our anchorage below the settlement.</p> + +<p>While we were slowly drifting between the river banks, and +watching the gorgeous vegetation of Africa, which, that evening, +first burst upon my sight, I fell into a chat with the native pilot, +who had been in the United States, and spoke English remarkably +well. Berak very soon inquired whether there was any one +else on board who spoke the language besides myself, and when +told that the cabin-boy alone knew it, he whispered a story which, +in truth, I was not in the least surprised to hear.</p> + +<p>That afternoon one of our crew had attempted the captain’s +life, while on shore, by snapping a carabine behind his back! +Our pilot learned the fact from a native who followed the party +from the landing, along the beach; and its truth was confirmed, +in his belief, by the significant boasts made by the <i>tallest</i> of the +boatmen who accompanied him on board. He was satisfied that +the entire gang contemplated our schooner’s seizure.</p> + +<p>The pilot’s story corroborated some hints I received from +our cook during the voyage. It struck me instantly, that if a +crime like this were really designed, no opportunity for its execution +could be more propitious than the present. I determined, +therefore, to omit no precaution that might save the vessel and +the lives of her honest officers. On examining the carabines +brought back from shore, which I had hurriedly thrown into the +arm-chest on deck, I found that the lock of this armory had been +forced, and several pistols and cutlasses abstracted.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +Preparations had undoubtedly been made to assassinate us. +As night drew on, my judgment, as well as <i>nervousness</i>, convinced +me that the darkness would not pass without a murderous +attempt. There was an unusual silence. On reaching port, +there is commonly fun and merriment among crews; but the +usual song and invariable guitar were omitted from the evening’s +entertainment. I searched the deck carefully, yet but two mariners +were found above the hatches apparently asleep. Inasmuch +as I was only a subordinate officer, I could not command, nor +had I any confidence in the nerve or judgment of the chief mate, +if I trusted my information to him. Still I deemed it a duty +to tell him the story, as well as my discovery about the missing +arms. Accordingly, I called the first officer, boatswain, and cook, +as quietly as possible, into the cabin; leaving our English cabin-boy +to watch in the companion way. Here I imparted our danger, +and asked their assistance in <i>striking the first blow</i>. My plan +was to secure the crew, and give them battle. The mate, as I +expected, shrank like a girl, declining any step till the captain +returned. The cook and boatswain, however, silently approved +my movement; so that we counselled our cowardly comrade to +remain below, while we assumed the responsibility and risk of +the enterprise.</p> + +<p>It may have been rather rash, but I resolved to begin the +rescue, by shooting down, like a dog and without a word, the +notorious Cuban convict who had attempted the captain’s life. +This, I thought, would strike panic into the mutineers; and +end the mutiny in the most bloodless way. Drawing a pair of +large horse-pistols from beneath the captain’s pillow, and examining +the load, I ordered the cook and boatswain to follow me +to the deck. But the craven officer would not quit his hold on +my person. He besought me not to commit murder. He clung +to me with the panting fear and grasp of a woman. He begged +me, with every term of endearment, to desist; and, in the midst +of my scuffle to throw him off, one of the pistols accidentally exploded. +A moment after, my vigilant watch-boy screamed from +the starboard, a warning “look-out!” and, peering forward in the +blinding darkness as I emerged from the lighted cabin, I beheld the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +stalwart form of the ringleader, brandishing a cutlass within a +stride of me. I aimed and fired. We both fell; the mutineer +with two balls in his abdomen, and I from the recoil of an over-charged +pistol.</p> + +<p>My face was cut, and my eye injured by the concussion; but +as neither combatant was deprived of consciousness, in a moment +we were both on our feet. The Spanish felon, however, pressed +his hand on his bowels, and rushed forward exclaiming he was +slain; but, in his descent to the forecastle, he was stabbed in +the shoulder with a bayonet by the boatswain, whose vigorous +blow drove the weapon with such tremendous force that it could +hardly be withdrawn from the scoundrel’s carcass.</p> + +<p>I said I was up in a minute; and, feeling my face with my +hand, I perceived a quantity of blood on my cheek, around which +I hastily tied a handkerchief, below my eyes. I then rushed to +the arm-chest. At that moment, the crack of a pistol, and a +sharp, boyish cry, told me that my pet was wounded beside me. +I laid him behind the hatchway, and returned to the charge. +By this time I was blind with rage, and fought, it seems, like a +<i>madman</i>. I confess that I have no personal recollection whatever +of the following events, and only learned them from the +subsequent report of the cook and boatswain.</p> + +<p>I stood, they said, over the arm-chest like one spell-bound. +My eyes were fixed on the forecastle; and, as head after head +loomed out of the darkness above the hatch, I discharged carabine +after carabine at the mark. Every thing that moved fell by +my aim. As I fired the weapons, I flung them away to grasp +fresh ones: and, when the battle was over, the cook aroused me +from my mad stupor, still groping wildly for arms in the emptied +chest.</p> + +<p>As the smoke cleared off, the fore part of our schooner seemed +utterly deserted: yet we found two men dead, one in mortal +agony on the deck, while the ringleader and a colleague were +gasping in the forecastle. Six pistols had been fired against us +from forward; but, strange to say, the only efficient ball was the +one that struck my English boy’s leg.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +When I came to my senses, my first quest was for the gallant +boatswain, who, being unarmed on the forecastle when the unexpected +discharge took place, and seeing no chance of escape from +my murderous carabines, took refuge over the bows.</p> + +<p>Our cabin-boy was soon quieted. The mutineers needed but +little care for their hopeless wounds, while the felon chief, like all +such wretches, died in an agony of despicable fear, shrieking for +pardon. My shriving of his sins was a speedy rite!</p> + +<p>Such was my <i>first</i> night in Africa!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + + +<p>There are casual readers who may consider the scene described +in the last chapter unnatural. It may be said that a youth, +whose life had been chequered by trials and disasters, but who +preserved a pure sensibility throughout them, is sadly distorted +when portrayed as expanding, at a leap, into a desperado. I +have but little to say in reply to these objections, save that <i>the +occurrences are perfectly true as stated</i>, and, moreover, that I +am satisfied they were only the natural developments of my +character.</p> + +<p>From my earliest years I have adored nobility of soul, and +detested dishonor and treachery. I have passed through scenes +which will be hereafter told, that the world may qualify by harsh +names; yet I have striven to conduct myself throughout them, +not only with the ideas of fairness current among reckless men, +but with the truth that, under all circumstances, characterizes +an honorable nature.</p> + +<p>Now, the tragedy of my first night on the Rio Pongo was +my transition from pupilage to responsible independence. I do +not allege in a boastful spirit that I was a man of courage; because +courage, or the want of it, are things for which a person +is no more responsible than he is for the possession or lack of +physical strength. I was, moreover, always a man of what I +may style <i>self-possessed passion</i>. I was endowed with something +more than cool energy; or, rather, cool energy was heightened +and sublimated by the fire of an ardent nature. Hitherto, +I had been tempered down by the habitual obedience to which I +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +was subjected as a sailor under lawful discipline. But the +events of the last six months, and especially the gross relaxation +on the voyage to Africa, the risks we had run in navigating the +vessel, and the outlaws that surrounded me, not only kept my +mind for ever on the alert, but aroused my dormant nature to a +full sense of duty and self-protection.</p> + +<p>Is it unnatural, then, for a man whose heart and nerves have +been laid bare for months, to quiver with agony and respond +with headlong violence, when imperilled character, property and +life, hang upon the fiat of his courageous promptitude? The +doubters may cavil over the philosophy, but I think I may +remain content with the fact. <i>I did my duty</i>—dreadful as +it was.</p> + +<p>Let me draw a veil over our gory decks when the gorgeous +sun of Africa shot his first rays through the magnificent trees +and herbage that hemmed the placid river. Five bodies were +cast into the stream, and the traces of the tragedy obliterated as +well as possible. The recreant mate, who plunged into the +cabin at the report of the first pistol from the forecastle, reappeared +with haggard looks and trembling frame, to protest that +<i>he</i> had no hand in what he called “the murder.” The cook, +boatswain, and African pilot, recounted the whole transaction to +the master, who inserted it in the log-book, and caused me to sign +the narrative with unimplicated witnesses. Then the wound of +the cabin-boy was examined and found to be trifling, while mine, +though not painful, was thought to imperil my sight. The flint +lock of a rebounding pistol had inflicted three gashes, just beneath +the eye on my cheek.</p> + +<p>There was but little appetite for breakfast that day. After +the story was told and recorded, we went sadly to work unmooring +the vessel, bringing her slowly like a hearse to an anchorage +in front of Bangalang, the residence and factory of Mr. Ormond, +better known by the country-name of “Mongo John.” +This personage came on board early in the morning with our +returned captain, and promised to send a native doctor to cure +both my eye and the boy’s leg, making me pledge him a visit as +soon as the vessel’s duties would permit.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +That evening the specie was landed, and the schooner left in +my charge by the master, with orders to strip, repair, and provide +for the voyage home. Before night, Mongo John fulfilled +his promise of a physician, who came on board with his prescription,—not +in his pocket, but by his side! He ordered my torn +cheek to be bathed, every half-hour, <i>with human milk fresh +from the breast</i>; and, in order to secure a prompt, pure, and +plentiful supply, a stout negress and her infant were sent, with +orders to remain as long as her lacteal services might be required! +I cannot say whether nature or the remedy healed my +wound, but in a short time the flesh cicatrized, and all symptoms +of inflammation disappeared entirely.</p> + +<p>It required ten days to put the Areostatico in ship-shape and +supply her with wood and water. Provisions had been brought +from Havana, so that it was only necessary we should stow them +in an accessible manner. As our schooner was extremely small, +we possessed no slave-deck; accordingly, mats were spread over +the fire-wood which filled the interstices of the water-casks, in +order to make an even surface for our cargo’s repose.</p> + +<p>When my tiresome task was done, I went ashore—almost for +the first time—to report progress to the master; but he was still +unprepared to embark his living freight. Large sums, far in +advance of the usual market, were offered by him for a cargo of +<i>boys</i>; still we were delayed full twenty days longer than our +contract required before a supply reached Bangalang.</p> + +<p>As I had promised <i>Mongo John</i>, or John the Chief, to visit +his factory, I took this opportunity to fulfil my pledge. He +received me with elaborate politeness; showed me his town, +barracoons, and stores, and even stretched a point, to honor me +by an introduction to the <i>penetralia</i> of his <i>harem</i>. The visit +paid, he insisted that I should dine with him; and a couple +of choice bottles were quickly disposed of. Ormond, like +myself, had been a sailor. We spoke of the lands, scenes, and +adventures, each had passed through, while a fresh bottle was +called to fillip our memories. There is nothing so nourishing to +friendship as wine! Before sundown our electric memories had +circled the globe, and our intimacy culminated.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +While the rosy fluid operated as a sedative on the Mongo, +and glued him to his chair in a comfortable nap, it had a contrary +effect on my exhilarated nerves. I strolled to the verandah +to get a breath of fresh air from the river, but soon dashed off +in the darkness to the sacred precincts of the <i>harem</i>! I was +not detected till I reached nearly the centre of the sanctuary +where Ormond confined his motley group of black, mulatto, and +quarteroon wives. The first dame who perceived me was a +bright mulatto, with rosy checks, sloe-like eyes, coquettish +turban, and most voluptuous mouth, whom I afterwards discovered +to be second in the chief’s affections. In an instant the +court resounded with a chattering call to her companions, so that, +before I could turn, the whole band of gabbling parrots hemmed +me in with a deluge of talk. Fame had preceded me! My +sable nurse was a servant of the harem, and her visit to the +schooner, with the tale of the tragedy, supplied anecdotes for a +lifetime. Every body was on the <i>qui vive</i> to see the “white +fighter.” Every body was crazy to feel the “white skin” she +had healed. Then, with a sudden, childish freak of caprice, +they ran off from me as if afraid, and at once rushed back +again like a flock of glib-tongued and playful monkeys. I could +not comprehend a word they said; but the bevy squealed with +quite as much pleasure as if I did, and peered into my eyes for +answers, with impish devilry at my wondering ignorance.</p> + +<p>At last, my sable friends seemed not only anxious to amuse +themselves but to do something for my entertainment also. A +chatter in a corner settled what it should be. Two or three +brought sticks, while two or three brought coals. A fire was +quickly kindled in the centre of the court; and as its flames lit +up the area, a whirling circle of half-stripped girls danced to the +monotonous beat of a <i>tom-tom</i>. Presently, the formal ring was +broken, and each female stepping out singly, danced according to +her individual fancy. Some were wild, some were soft, some +were tame, and some were fiery. After so many years I have no +distinct recollection of the characteristic movements of these +semi-savages, especially as the claret and champagne rather +fermented in my brain, and possessed me with the idea that it +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +was my duty to mingle in the bounding throng. I resolved that +the barbarians should have a taste of Italian quality!</p> + +<p>Accordingly, I leaped from the hammock where I had swung +idly during the scene, and, beginning with a <i>balancez</i> and an +<i>avant-deux</i>, terminated my terpsichorean exhibition by a regular +“double shuffle” and sailor’s hornpipe. The delirious laughter, +cracked sides, rollicking fun, and outrageous merriment, with +which my feats were received, are unimaginable by sober-sided +people. Tired of my single exhibition, I seized the prettiest of +the group by her slim, shining waist, and whirled her round and +round the court in the quickest of waltzes, until, with a kiss, I +laid her giddy and panting on the floor. Then, grasping another,—another,—another,—and +another,—and treating each to +the same dizzy swim, I was about waltzing the whole <i>seraglio</i> +into quiescence, when who should rise before us but the staring +and yawning <i>Mongo</i>!</p> + +<p>The apparition sobered me. A quarteroon pet of Ormond,—just +spinning into fashionable and luscious insensibility,—fell +from my arms into those of her master; and while I apologized +for the freak, I charged it altogether to the witchcraft of his wit +and wine.</p> + +<p>“Ha!” said the Mongo, “St. Vitus is in your Italian heels +the moment you are within hail of music and dancing; and, by +Jove, it seems you can scent a petticoat as readily as a hound +tracks runaways. But there’s no harm in <i>dancing</i>, Don Téodore; +only hereafter I hope you will enjoy the amusement in a +less uproarious manner. In Africa we are fond of a <i>siesta</i> after +dinner; and I recommend you to get, as soon as possible, under +the lee of another bottle.”</p> + +<p>We retired once more to his mahogany; and, under the spell +of my chieftain’s claret and sea-yarns, I was soon lapped in delicious +sleep.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>Next day the captain of the Areostatico drew me aside confidentially, +and hinted that Ormond had taken such a decided +fancy for me, and <i>insinuated</i> so warm a wish for my continuance +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +<i>as his clerk</i> at Bangalang, that he thought it quite a duty, +though a sad one, to give his advice on the subject.</p> + +<p>“It may be well for your purse, Don Téodore, to stay with +so powerful a trader; but beside the improvement of your fortunes, +there are doubts whether it will be <i>wholesome</i> for you to +revisit Havana, at least at present. It may be said, <i>amigo mio</i>, +that you <i>commenced</i> the warfare on board the schooner;—and as +five men were slain in the affray, it will be necessary for me to +report the fact to the <i>commandante</i> as soon as I arrive. Now +it is true, <i>hijo mio</i>, that you saved the vessel, cargo, specie, and +my cousin; yet, God knows what may be the result of Havana +justice. You will have a rigid examination, and I rather think +you will be <i>imprisoned</i> until the final decision is made. When +that consummation shall occur is quite uncertain. If you have +friends, they will be bled as long as possible before you get out; +if you have none, no one will take pains to see you released without +recompense. When you see daylight once more, the rest of +these ragamuffins and the felon friends of the dead men, will begin +to dog your steps, and make Havana uncomfortable as well +as dangerous; so that I have no hesitation in recommending you +to stay where you are, and take the doubloons of the Mongo.”</p> + +<p>I thought I saw at a glance the drift of this hypocritical <i>fanfaronade</i>, +and was satisfied he only desired to get rid of me in +order to reinstate the chief mate in a situation which he surely +could not occupy as long as I was on board. As I meant to stay +in Africa, I told him at once that I grieved because he had not +spoken his wishes openly, boldly, and honestly, like a man, but +had masked an ungrateful cowardice by hypocritical solicitude +for my welfare. I departed abruptly with a scowl of contempt; +and as he hastened to hide his blanched face in the cabin, I +called a boat, and throwing my sea chest, bedding, and arms, +aboard, committed my fate to the African continent. <i>A half-hour +turned and decided my fate!</i></p> + +<p>Mr. Ormond received me very cordially, and, installing me +in my new secretaryship, promised a private establishment, a +seat at his table, and a negro per month,—or its value at the +rate of forty dollars,—for my services.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +When the runners returned from the interior with the slaves +required to complete the Areostatico’s cargo, I considered it my +duty to the Italian grocer of Regla to dispatch his vessel personally. +Accordingly, I returned on board to aid in stowing <i>one +hundred and eight boys and girls, the eldest of whom did not +exceed fifteen years</i>! As I crawled between decks, I confess I +could not imagine how this little army was to be packed or draw +breath in a hold but <i>twenty-two inches high</i>! Yet the experiment +was promptly made, inasmuch as it was necessary to secure +them below in descending the river, in order to prevent their +leaping overboard and swimming ashore. I found it impossible +to adjust the whole in a sitting posture; but we made them lie +down in each other’s laps, like <i>sardines</i> in a can, and in this way +obtained space for the entire cargo. Strange to tell, when the +Areostatico reached Havana, but <i>three</i> of these “passengers” +had paid the debt of nature.</p> + +<p>As I left the schooner a few miles outside the bar, I crossed +her side without an adieu save for the English cabin-boy, whose +fate I was pained to intrust to these stupid Spaniards. Indeed, +the youth almost belonged to me, for I may say he owed his life +to my interference.</p> + +<p>Previous to the voyage, while waiting in the harbor of Havana +for a crew, our vessel was anchored near the wharves, next +to an English merchantman. One afternoon I heard a scream +from the neighboring craft, and perceived a boy rush from +the cabin with his face dyed in blood. He was instantly pursued +by a burly seaman, inflicting blows with his fist. I implored the +brute to desist, but my interference seemed to augment his choler +to such a degree, that he seized a handspike to knock the +stripling down. Upon this I called the child to leap overboard, +at the same time commanding a hand to lower my boat and scull +in the direction of his fall. The boy obeyed my voice; and in a +few minutes I had him on board blessing me for his safety. But +the drunken Briton vented his rage in the most indecent language; +and had his boat been aboard, I doubt not a summary +visit would have terminated in a fight on my deck.</p> + +<p>However, as good luck would have it, his skiff was at the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +landing, so that there was ample time, before he could reach the +Areostatico, to tie up the bruised face and broken rib of the +child, and to conceal him in the house of a Spanish crone in +Havana, who cured the maladies of credulous seamen by +witchcraft!</p> + +<p>After nightfall the master of the British vessel came aboard +to claim his boy; but as he was petulant and seemed disposed to +carry matters with a high hand, my temper rose in resistance, +and I refused to release the child until he sealed with an oath +his promise to treat him better in future. But the cruel scoundrel +insisted on <i>unconditional</i> surrender; and to end the controversy, +I was compelled to order him off the schooner.</p> + +<p>British pluck of course would not allow a captain to be deprived +so easily of his property, so the British consul was invoked +to appeal to the captain of the port. This personage summoned +me before him, and listened calmly to a story which +added no honor to English mariners. In my last interview with +the boy he implored my continued protection and concealment; +so that when the Spanish official declared—notwithstanding the +officer’s conduct—that the vessel was entitled to her crew, and +that I must surrender the child, I excused myself from complying +by pleading utter ignorance of his whereabout. In view of +this contingency, I directed the woman to hide him in a place of +which I should be ignorant. So I told no lie, and saved the boy +from his tyrant.</p> + +<p>The inquiry was dropped at this stage of proceedings. When +the British vessel sailed a few days after, I caused the youth +to be brought from his concealment; and, with our captain’s +consent, brought him aboard to serve in our cabin.</p> + +<p>I have narrated this little episode in consequence of my love +for the boy, and because <i>he was the only English subject I ever +knew to ship in a slaver</i>.</p> + +<p>I requested the Areostatico’s owners to pay him liberally for +his fidelity when he got back to Havana; and I was happy to +learn next year, that they not only complied with my request, +but sent him home to his friends in Liverpool.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + + +<p>When I got back to Bangalang, my first movement was to take +possession of the quarters assigned me by the Mongo, and to +make myself as comfortable as possible in a land whose chief requirements +are shade and shelter. My house, built of cane plastered +with mud, consisted of two earthen-floored rooms and a +broad verandah. The thatched roof was rather leaky, while my +furniture comprised two arm-chests covered with mats, a deal +table, a bamboo settle, a tin-pan with palm-oil for a lamp, and a +German looking-glass mounted in a paper frame. I augmented +these comforts by the addition of a trunk, mattress, hammock +and pair of blankets; yet, after all this embellishment, I confess +my household was rather a sorry affair.</p> + +<p>It is time I should make the reader acquainted with the individual +who was the presiding genius of the scene, and, in some +degree, a type of his peculiar class in Africa.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ormond was the son of an opulent slave-trader from +Liverpool, and owed his birth to the daughter of a native chief +on the Rio Pongo. His father seems to have been rather proud +of his mulatto stripling, and dispatched him to England to be +educated. But Master John had made little progress in belles-lettres, +when news of the trader’s death was brought to the +British agent, who refused the youth further supplies of money. +The poor boy soon became an outcast in a land which had not +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +yet become fashionably addicted to philanthropy; and, after +drifting about awhile in England, he shipped on board a merchantman. +The press-gang soon got possession of the likely +mulatto for the service of his Britannic Majesty. Sometimes he +played the part of dandy waiter in the cabin; sometimes he +swung a hammock with the hands in the forecastle. Thus, five +years slipped by, during which the wanderer visited most of the +West Indian and Mediterranean stations.</p> + +<p>At length the prolonged cruise was terminated, and Ormond +paid off. He immediately determined to employ his hoarded +cash in a voyage to Africa, where he might claim his father’s +property. The project was executed; his mother was still found +alive; and, fortunately for the manly youth, she recognized him +at once as her first-born.</p> + +<p>The reader will recollect that these things occurred on the +west coast of Africa in the early part of the present century, +and that the tenure of property, and the interests of foreign +traders, were controlled entirely by such <i>customary</i> laws as prevailed +on the spot. Accordingly, a “grand palaver” was appointed, +and all Mr. Ormond’s brothers, sisters, uncles, and +cousins,—many of whom were in possession of his father’s slaves +or their descendants,—were summoned to attend. The “talk” +took plate at the appointed time. The African mother stood +forth stanchly to assert the identity and rights of her first-born, +and, in the end, all of the Liverpool trader’s property, in houses, +lands, and negroes, that could be ascertained, was handed over, +according to coast-law, to the returned heir.</p> + +<p>When the mulatto youth was thus suddenly elevated into +comfort, if not opulence, in his own country, he resolved to augment +his wealth by pursuing his father’s business. But the +whole country was then desolated by a civil war, occasioned, as +most of them are, by family disputes, which it was necessary to +terminate before trade could be comfortably established.</p> + +<p>To this task Ormond steadfastly devoted his first year. His +efforts were seconded by the opportune death of one of the warring +chiefs. A tame opponent,—a brother of Ormond’s mother,—was +quickly brought to terms by a trifling present; so that the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +sailor boy soon concentrated the family influence, and declared +himself “<span class="smcap">Mongo</span>,” or, Chief of the River.</p> + +<p>Bangalang had long been a noted factory among the English +traders. When war was over, Ormond selected this post as his +permanent residence, while he sent runners to Sierra Leone and +Goree with notice that he would shortly be prepared with ample +cargoes. Trade, which had been so long interrupted by hostilities, +poured from the interior. Vessels from Goree and Sierra +Leone were seen in the offing, responding to his invitation. His +stores were packed with British, French, and American fabrics; +while hides, wax, palm-oil, ivory, gold, and slaves, were the native +products for which Spaniards and Portuguese hurried to +proffer their doubloons and bills.</p> + +<p>It will be readily conjectured that a very few years sufficed +to make Jack Ormond not only a wealthy merchant, but a popular +Mongo among the great interior tribes of Foulahs and Mandingoes. +The petty chiefs, whose territory bordered the sea, +flattered him with the title of king; and, knowing his <i>Mormon +taste</i>, stocked his <i>harem</i> with their choicest children as the most +valuable tokens of friendship and fidelity.</p> + +<p>When I was summoned to act as secretary or clerk of such a +personage, I saw immediately that it would be well not only to +understand my duties promptly, but to possess a clear estimate +of the property I was to administer and account for. Ormond’s +easy habits satisfied me that he was not a man of business originally, +or had become sadly negligent under the debasing influence +of wealth and voluptuousness. My earliest task, therefore, +was to make out a <i>minute inventory</i> of his possessions, +while I kept a watchful eye on his stores, never allowing any +one to enter them unattended. When I presented this document, +which exhibited a large deficiency, the Mongo received it with +indifference, begging me not to “annoy him with accounts.” +His manner indicated so much petulant fretfulness, that I augured +from it the conscious decline or disorder of his affairs.</p> + +<p>As I was returning to the warehouse from this mortifying +interview, I encountered an ancient hag,—a sort of superintendent +Cerberus or manager of the Mongo’s <i>harem</i>,—who, by signs, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +intimated that she wanted the key to the “cloth-chest,” whence +she immediately helped herself to several fathoms of calico. +The crone could not speak English, and, as I did not understand +the Soosoo dialect, we attempted no oral argument about the +propriety of her conduct; but, taking a pencil and paper, and +making signs that she should go to the Mongo, who would write +an order for the raiment, I led her quietly to the door. The +wrath of the virago was instantly kindled, while her horrid face +gleamed with that devilish ferocity, which, in some degree is lost +by Africans who dwell on our continent. During the reign of +my predecessors, it seems that she had been allowed to control +the store keys, and to help herself unstintedly. I knew not, of +course, what she <i>said</i> on this occasion; but the violence of her +gestures, the nervous spasms of her limbs, the flashing of her +eyes, the scream of her voluble tongue, gave token that she +swelled with a rage which was augmented by my imperturbable +quietness. At dinner, I apprised Mr. Ormond of the negro’s +conduct; but he received the announcement with the same laugh +of indifference that greeted the account of his deficient inventory.</p> + +<p>That night I had just stretched myself on my hard pallet, +and was revolving the difficulties of my position with some degree +of pain at my forced continuance in Africa, when my servant +tapped softly at the door, and announced that some one +demanded admittance, but begged that I would first of all extinguish +the light. I was in a country requiring caution; so I +felt my pistols before I undid the latch. It was a bright, star-light +night; and, as I opened the door sufficiently to obtain a +glance beyond,—still maintaining my control of the aperture,—I +perceived the figure of a female, wrapped in cotton cloth from +head to foot, except the face, which I recollected as that of the +beautiful <i>quarteroon</i> I was whirling in the waltz, when surprised +by the Mongo. She put forth her hands from the folds +of her garment, and laying one softly on my arm, while she +touched her lips with the other, looked wistfully behind, and +glided into my apartment.</p> + +<p>This poor girl, the child of a mulatto mother and a white +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +parent, was born in the settlement of Sierra Leone, and had +acquired our language with much more fluency than is common +among her race. It was said that her father had been originally +a missionary from Great Britain, but abandoned his profession +for the more lucrative traffic in slaves, to which he owed an +abundant fortune. It is probable that the early ecclesiastical +turn of her delinquent progenitor induced him, before he departed +for America, to bestow on his child the biblical name of +<span class="smcap">Esther</span>.</p> + +<p>I led my trembling visitor to the arm-chest, and, seating her +gently by my side, inquired why I was favored by so stealthy a +visit from the <i>harem</i>. My suspicions were aroused; for, though +a novice in Africa, I knew enough of the discipline maintained in +these slave factories, not to allow my fancy to seduce me with the +idea that her visit was owing to mad-cap sentimentality.</p> + +<p>The manner of these <i>quarteroon</i> girls, whose complexion +hardly separates them from our own race, is most winningly graceful; +and Esther, with abated breath, timidly asked my pardon for +intruding, while she declared I had made so bitter an enemy of +Unga-golah,—the head-woman of the seraglio,—that, in spite of +danger, she stole to my quarters with a warning. Unga swore +revenge. I had insulted and thwarted her; I was able to thwart +her at all times, if I remained the Mongo’s “book-man;”—I +must soon “go to another country;” but, if I did not, I would +quickly find the food of Bangalang excessively unwholesome! +“Never eat any thing that a Mandingo offers you,” said Esther. +“Take your meals exclusively from the Mongo’s table. Unga-golah +knows all the Mandingo <i>jujus</i>, and she will have no +scruple in using them in order to secure once more the control +of the store keys. Good night!”</p> + +<p>With this she rose to depart, begging me to be silent about +her visit, and to believe that a poor slave could feel true kindness +for a white man, or even expose herself to save him.</p> + +<p>If an unruly passion had tugged at my heartstrings, the soft +appeal, the liquid tones, the tenderness of this girl’s humanity, +would have extinguished it in an instant. It was the first time +for many a long and desolate mouth that I had experienced the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +gentle touch of a woman’s hand, or felt the interest of mortal +solicitude fall like a refreshing dew upon my heart! Who will +censure me for halting on my door-sill as I led her forth, retaining +her little hand in mine, while I cast my eyes over the lithe +symmetry of those slender and rounded limbs; while I feasted +on the flushed magnolia of those beautiful cheeks, twined my +fingers in the trailing braids of that raven hair, peered into the +blackness of those large and swimming orbs, felt a tear trickle +down my hardening face, and left, on those coral lips, the print +of a kiss that was fuller of gratitude than passion!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>Nowadays that Mormonism is grafting a “celestial wifery” +upon the civilization of the nineteenth century, I do not think it +amiss to recall the memory of those African establishments which +formed so large a portion of a trader’s homestead. It is not to +be supposed that the luxurious <i>harem</i> of Turkey or Egypt was +transferred to the Guinea coast, or that its lofty walls were barricaded +by stout gates, guarded by troops of sable eunuchs. The +“wifery” of my employer was a bare inclosure, formed by a +quadrangular cluster of mud-houses, the entrance to whose court-yard +was never watched save at night. Unga-golah, the eldest +and least delectable of the dames, maintained the establishment’s +police, assigned gifts or servants to each female, and distributed +her master’s favors according to the bribes she was cajoled by.</p> + +<p>In early life and during his gorged prosperity, Ormond,—a +stout, burly, black-eyed, broad-shouldered, short-necked man,—ruled +his <i>harem</i> with the rigid decorum of the East. But as +age and misfortunes stole over the sensual voluptuary, his mental +and bodily vigor became impaired, not only by excessive drink, +but by the narcotics to which he habitually resorted for excitement. +When I became acquainted with him, his face and figure +bore the marks of a worn-out <i>debauché</i>. His harem now was +a fashion of the country rather than a domestic resort. His wives +ridiculed him, or amused themselves as they pleased. I learned +from Esther that there was hardly one who did not “flirt” with +a lover in Bangalang, and that Unga-golah was blinded by gifts, +while the stupor of the Mongo was perpetuated by liquor.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +It may be supposed that in such a <i>seraglio</i>, and with such a +master, there were but few matrimonial jealousies; still, as it +would be difficult to find, even in our most Christian society, two +females without some lurking bitterness towards rivals, so it is +not to be imagined that the Mongo’s mansion was free from +womanly quarrels. These disputes chiefly occurred when Ormond +distributed gifts of calico, beads, tobacco, pipes and looking-glasses. +If the slightest preference or inequality was shown, +adieu to order. Unga-golah descended below zero! The favorite +wife, outraged by her neglected authority, became furious; +and, for a season, pandemonium was let loose in Bangalang.</p> + +<p>One of these scenes of passion occurs to me as I write. I +was in the store with the Mongo when an aggrieved dame, not +remarkable either for delicacy of complexion or sweetness of +odor, entered the room, and marching up with a swagger to her +master, dashed a German looking-glass on the floor at his feet. +She wanted a larger one, for the glass bestowed on her was half +an inch smaller than the gifts to her companions.</p> + +<p>When Ormond was sober, his pride commonly restrained him +from allowing the women to molest his leisure; so he quietly +turned from the virago and ordered her out of the store.</p> + +<p>But my lady was not to be appeased by dignity like this. +“Ha!” shrieked the termagant, as she wrenched off her handkerchief. +“Ha!” yelled she, tearing off one sleeve, and then +the other. “Ha!” screamed the fiend, kicking a shoe into one +corner, and the other shoe into another corner. “Ha! Mongo!” +roared the beldame, as she stripped every garment from her +body and stood absolutely <i>naked</i> before us, slapping her wool, +cheeks, forehead, breasts, arms, stomach and limbs, and appealing +to Ormond to say where she was deficient in charms, that +she should be slighted half an inch on a looking-glass?</p> + +<p>As the Mongo was silent, she strode up to me for an opinion; +but, scarlet with blushes, I dived behind the cloth-chest, and +left the laughing Ormond to gratify the whim of the “<i>model +artiste</i>.”</p> + +<p>Years afterwards, I remember seeing an infuriate Ethiopian +fling her infant into the fire because its white father preferred the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +child of another spouse. Indeed, I was glad my station at Bangalang +did not make it needful for the preservation of my respectability +that I should indulge in the luxury of <i>African matrimony</i>!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>But these exhibitions of jealous passion were not excited +alone by the unequal distribution of presents from the liege lord +of Bangalang. I have observed that Ormond’s wives took +advantage of his carelessness and age, to seek congenial companionship +outside the <i>harem</i>. Sometimes the preference of two of +these sable <i>belles</i> alighted on the same lover, and then the battle +was transferred from a worthless looking-glass to the darling +<i>beau</i>. When such a quarrel arose, a meeting between the rivals +was arranged out of the Mongo’s hearing; when, throwing off +their waist-cloths, the controversy was settled between the +female gladiators without much damage. But, now and then, +the matter was not left to the ladies. The sable lovers themselves +took up the conflict, and a regular challenge passed between +the gay Othellos.</p> + +<p>At the appointed time, the duellists appeared upon “the +field of honor” accompanied by friends who were to witness their +victory or sympathize in their defeat. Each stalwart savage +leaped into the arena, armed with a cow-hide cat, whose sharp +and triple thongs were capable of inflicting the harshest blows. +They stripped, and tossed three <i>cowries</i> into the air to determine +which of the two should receive the first lashing. The unfortunate +loser immediately took his stand, and received, with the +firmness of a martyr, the allotted number of blows. Then came +the turn of the whipper, who, with equal constancy, offered his +back to the scourge of the enraged sufferer. Thus they alternated +until one gave in, or until the bystanders decreed victory +to him who bore the punishment longest without wincing. The +flayed backs of these “chivalrous men of honor” were ever after +displayed in token of bravery; and, doubtless, their Dulcineas +devoted to their healing the subtlest ointment and tenderest +affection recognized among Africans.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + + +<p>My business habits and systematic devotion to the Mongo’s interests +soon made me familiar with the broad features of “country +trade;” but as I was still unable to speak the coast dialects, +Mr. Ormond—who rarely entered the warehouse or conversed +about commerce—supplied an adroit interpreter, who stood +beside me and assisted in the retail of foreign merchandise, for +rice, ivory, palm-oil, and domestic provisions. The purchase of +slaves and gold was conducted exclusively by the Mongo, who +did not consider me sufficiently initiated in native character and +tricks to receive so delicate a trust.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>Long and dreary were the days and nights of the apparently +interminable “wet season.” Rain in a city, rain in the country, +rain in a village, rain at sea, are sufficiently wearying, even +to those whose mental activity is amused or occupied by books or +the concerns of life; but who can comprehend the insufferable +lassitude and despondency that overwhelm an African resident, +as he lies on his mat-covered arm-chest, and listens to the endless +deluge pouring for days, weeks, months, upon his leaky thatch?</p> + +<p>At last, however, the season of rain passed by, and the “dry +season” set in. This was the epoch for the arrival of caravans +from the interior; so that we were not surprised when our runners +appeared, with news that <span class="smcap">Ahmah-de-Bellah</span>, son of a noted +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +Fullah chief, was about to visit the Rio Pongo with an imposing +train of followers and merchandise. The only means of communication +with the interior of Africa are, for short distances, by +rivers, and, for longer ones, by “paths” or “trails” leading +through the dense forest and among the hills, to innumerable +“towns” that stud this prolific land. Stephenson and McAdam +have not been to Africa, and there are neither turnpikes nor +railways. Now, when the coast-traders of the west are apprised +that caravans are threading their way towards the Atlantic shores, +it is always thought advisable to make suitable preparations for +the chiefs, and especially to greet them by messages, before their +arrival at the beach. Accordingly, “<i>barkers</i>” are sent forth on the +forest “paths” to welcome the visitors with gifts of tobacco and +powder. “<i>Barkers</i>” are colored gentlemen, with fluent tongues +and flexible consciences, always in the train of factories on the +coast, who hasten to the wilderness at the first signal of a caravan’s +approach, and magnify the prosperity and merchandise of +their patrons with as much zeal and veracity as the “drummers” +of more Christian lands.</p> + +<p>A few days after our band of travelling agents had departed +on their mission, the crack of fire-arms was heard from the hills +in our rear, signifying that the Mongo’s “<i>barkers</i>” had been +successful with the caravan in tow. A prompt response to the +joyous signal was made by our cannons; so that, after half an +hour’s firing, Ahmah-de-Bellah and his party emerged from the +smoke, marshalled by our band of singers, who preceded him, +chanting with loud voices the praise of the youthful chieftain. +Behind the master came the principal traders and their slaves +laden with produce, and followed by forty captive negroes, +secured by bamboo withes. These were succeeded by three-score +bullocks, a large flock of sheep or goats, and the females +of the party; while the procession was closed by the demure +tread of a tame and stately <span class="smcap">Ostrich</span>!</p> + +<p>It was the first time I had seen so odd an assemblage of +beasts and humanity. Indeed, had the troupe been accompanied +by a bevy of ourang-outangs, I confess I might, at times, have +had difficulty in deciding the grade of animal life to which the +object in front of me belonged.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +Mr. Ormond, when put upon his mettle, was one of the +ablest traders in Africa, and received the Mahometan strangers +with becoming state. He awaited Ahmah-de-Bellah and his committee +of head-traders on the piazza of his receiving-house, which +was a rather stately edifice, one hundred and fifty feet in length, +built to be fire-proof for the protection of our stores. When +each Fullah stranger was presented, he shook hands and +“snapped fingers” with the Mongo several times; and, as every +petty peddler in the train wanted to <i>salaam</i>, the “white man for +good luck,” the process of presentation occupied at least an hour.</p> + +<p>According to coast custom, as soon as these compliments were +over, the caravan’s merchandise was deposited within our walls, +not only for security, but in order that we might gauge the <i>value +of the welcome</i> the owners were entitled to receive. This precaution, +though ungallant, is extremely necessary, inasmuch as +many of the interior dealers were in the habit of declaring, on +arrival, the value of their gold and ivory to be much greater than +it was in fact, in order to receive a more liberal “present.” +Even savages instinctively acquire the tricks of trade!</p> + +<p>When the goods were stored, a couple of fat bullocks, with +an abundant supply of rice, were given to the visitors, and the +chiefs of the caravan were billeted upon our townspeople. The +<i>canaille</i> built temporary huts for themselves in the outskirts; +while Ahmah-de-Bellah, a strict Mahometan, accompanied by two +of his wives, was furnished with a pair of neat houses that had +been hastily fitted up with new and elegant mats.<a name="FNanchor_A_2" id="FNanchor_A_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_2" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<p>While the merchandise of these large caravans is unpaid for, +their owners, by the custom of the country, remain a costly burden +upon the factories. We were naturally anxious to be free +from this expense as soon as possible, and gave notice next morning +that “trade would begin forthwith.” Ahmah-de-Bellah, the +chiefs of the caravans, and Mr. Ormond, at once entered into +negotiations, so that by nightfall a bargain had been struck, not +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +only for their presents, but for the price of merchandise, and the +percentage to be retained as “native duty.” Such a preliminary +liquidation with <i>the heads</i> of a caravan is ever indispensable, for, +without their assistance, it would be out of the question to traffic +with the ragamuffins who hang on the skirts of opulent chieftains.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +Each morning, at daylight, a crier went through the town, +announcing the character of the specific trade which would be +carried on during hours of business. One day it was in hides; +another, rice; another, cattle. When these were disposed of, a +time was specially appointed for the exchange of gold, ivory and +slaves; and, at the agreed hour, Mr. Ormond, Ahmah-de-Bellah, +and myself, locked the doors of the warehouse, and traded +through a window, while our “barkers” distributed the goods +to the Africans, often using their whips to keep the chattering +and disputatious scamps in order. Ahmah-de-Bellah pretended +to inspect the measurement of cloth, powder and tobacco, to insure +justice to his compatriots; but, in reality, like a true tax-gatherer, +he was busy ascertaining his lawful percentage on the +sale, in return for the protection from robbery he gave the petty +traders on their pilgrimage to the coast.</p> + +<p>At length the market was cleared of sellers and merchandise—except +the ostrich, which, when all was over, reached the Mongo’s +hands as a royal gift from the Ali-Mami of Footha-Yallon, +the pious father of Ahmah-de-Bellah. The bird, it is true, was +presented as a free offering; yet it was hinted that the worthy +Ali stood in need of reliable muskets, which his son would take +charge of on the journey home. As twenty of those warlike instruments +were dispatched by Ahmah-de-Bellah, the ostrich became +rather a costly as well as characteristic gift. Each of the +traders, moreover, expected a “bungee” or “dash” of some +sort, in token of good will, and in proportion to his sales; so that +we hastened to comply with all the common-law customs of the +country, in order to liberate Bangalang from the annoying +crowd. They dropped off rapidly as they were paid; and in a +short time Ahmah-de-Bellah, his wives, and immediate followers, +were all that remained of the seven hundred Fullahs.</p> + +<p>Ahmah-de-Bellah was a fine specimen of what may be considered +“Young Africa,” though he can hardly be classed among +the progressives or revolutionary propagandists of the age. In +person he was tall, graceful, and commanding. As the son of +an important chief, he had been free from those menial toils +which, in that climate, soon obliterate all intellectual characteristics. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +His face was well formed for an African’s. His high +and broad brow arched over a straight nose, while his lips had +nothing of that vulgar grossness which gives so sensual an expression +to his countrymen. Ahmah’s manners to strangers or superiors +were refined and courteous in a remarkable degree; but to +the mob of the coast and inferiors generally, he manifested that +harsh and peremptory tone which is common among the savages +of a fiery clime.</p> + +<p>Ahmah-de-Bellah was second son of the Ali-Mami, or King +of Footha-Yallon, who allowed him to exercise the prerogative +of leading for the first time, a caravan to the seaboard, in honor +of attaining the discreet age of “twenty four rainy seasons.” +The privilege however, was not granted without a view to profit +by the courage of his own blood; for the Ali-Mami was never +known to suffer a son or relative to depart from his jurisdiction +without a promise of <i>half</i> the products of the lucrative enterprise.</p> + +<p>The formation of a caravan, when the king’s permission has +been finally secured, is a work of time and skill. At the beginning +of the “dry season,” the privileged chieftain departs with +power of life and death over his followers, and “squats” in one +of the most frequented “paths” to the sea, while he dispatches +small bands of daring retainers to other trails throughout the +neighborhood, to blockade every passage to the beach. The siege +of the highways is kept up with vigor for a month or more, by +these black Rob Roys and Robin Hoods, until a sufficient number +of traders may be trapped to constitute a valuable caravan, and give +importance to its leader. While this is the main purpose of the +forest adventure, the occasion is taken advantage of to collect a +local tribute, due by small tribes to the Ali, which could not be +obtained otherwise. The despotic officer, moreover, avails himself +of the blockade to stop malefactors and absconding debtors. +Goods that are seized in the possession of the latter may be sequestrated +to pay his creditors; but if their value is not equal +to the debt, the delinquent, if a pagan, is sold as a slave, but is +let off with a <i>bastinado</i>, if he proves to be “one of the faithful.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +It is natural to suppose that every effort is made by the +small traders of the interior to avoid these savage press-gangs. +The poor wretches are not only subjected to annoying vassalage +by ruffian princes, but the blockade of the forest often diverts +them from the point they originally designed to reach,—forces +them to towns or factories they had no intention of visiting,—and, +by extreme delay, wastes their provisions and diminishes +their frugal profits. It is surprising to see how admirably even +savages understand and exercise the powers of sovereignty and +the rights of transit!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>While Ahmah-de-Bellah tarried at Bangalang, it was my habit +to visit him every night to hear his interesting chat, as it was +translated by an interpreter. Sometimes, in return, I would +recount the adventures of my sea-faring life, which seemed to +have a peculiar flavor for this child of the wilderness, who now +gazed for the first time on the ocean. Among other things, I +strove to convince him of the world’s rotundity; but, to the last, +he smiled incredulously at my daring assertion, and closed the +argument by asking me to prove it from the Koran? He allowed +me the honors due a traveller and “book-man;” but a +mind that had swallowed, digested, and remembered every text +of Mahomet’s volume, was not to be deceived by such idle fantasies. +He kindly undertook to conquer my ignorance of his creed +by a careful exposition of its mysteries in several long-winded +lectures, and I was so patient a listener, that I believe Ahmah +was entirely satisfied of my conversion.</p> + +<p>My seeming acquiescence was well repaid by the Fullah’s +confidence. He returned my nightly calls with interest; and, +visiting me in the warehouse during hours of business, became +so fervently wrapped up in my spiritual salvation, that he would +spout Mahometanism for hours through an interpreter. To +get rid of him, one day, I promised to follow the Prophet +with pleasure if he consented to receive me; but I insisted on +entering the “fold of the faithful” <i>without</i> submitting to the +peculiar rite of Mussulman baptism!</p> + +<p>Ahmah-de-Bellah took the jest kindly, laughing like a good +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +fellow, and from that day forward, we were sworn cronies. The +Fullah at once wrote down a favorite prayer in Arabic, requiring +as my spiritual guide, that I should commit it to memory for +constant and ready use. After a day or two, he examined me +in the ritual; but, finding I was at fault after the first sentence, +reproached me pathetically upon my negligence and exhorted +me to repentance,—much to the edification of our interpreter, +who was neither Jew, Christian, nor Mussulman.</p> + +<p>But the visit of the young chieftain, which began in trade +and tapered off in piety, drew to a close. Ahmah-de-Bellah +began to prepare for his journey homeward. As the day of departure +approached, I saw that my joke had been taken seriously +by the Fullah, and that he <i>relied</i> upon my apostasy. At the +last moment, Ahmah tried to put me to a severe test, by +suddenly producing the holy book, and requiring me to seal our +friendship by an oath that I would never abandon Islamism. I +contrived, however, adroitly to evade the affirmation by feigning +an excessive anxiety to acquire more profound knowledge of the +Koran, before I made so solemn a pledge.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>It came to pass that, out of the forty slaves brought in the +caravan, the Mongo rejected eight. After some altercation, +Ahmah-de-Bellah consented to discard seven; but he insisted +that the remaining veteran should be shipped, as he could neither +<i>kill</i> nor send him back to Footha-Yallon.</p> + +<p>I was somewhat curious to know the crime this culprit had +committed, which was so heinous as to demand his perpetual +exile, though it spared his life. The chief informed me that the +wretch had slain his son; and, as there was no punishment for +such an offence assigned by the Koran, the judges of his country +condemned him to be sold <i>a slave to Christians</i>,—a penalty +they considered worse than death.</p> + +<p>Another curious feature of African law was developed in the +sale of this caravan. I noticed a couple of women drawn along +with ropes around their necks, while others of their sex and class +were suffered to wander about without bonds. These females, +the chief apprised us, would have been burnt in his father’s +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +domains for witchcraft, had not his venerable ancestor been so +much distressed for powder that he thought their lives would be +more valuable to his treasury than their carcasses to outraged +law.</p> + +<p>It was a general complaint among the companions of Ahmah-de-Bellah +that the caravan was scant of slaves in consequence of +this unfortunate lack of powder. The young chieftain promised +better things in future. Next year, the Mongo’s barracoons +should teem with his conquests. When the “rainy season” +approached, the Ali-Mami, his father, meant to carry on a +“great war” against a variety of small tribes, whose captives +would replenish the herds, that, two years before, had been carried +off by a sudden blight.</p> + +<p>I learned from my intelligent Fullah, that while the Mahometan +courts of his country rescued by law the people of their +own faith from slavery, they omitted no occasion to inflict it, as +a penalty, upon the African “unbelievers” who fell within their +jurisdiction. Among these unfortunates, the smallest crime is +considered capital, and a “capital crime” merits the profitable +punishment of slavery. Nor was it difficult, he told me, for a +country of “true believers” to acquire a multitude of bondsmen. +They detested the institution, it is true, among themselves, and +among their own caste, but it was both right and reputable +among the unorthodox. The Koran commanded the “subjugation +of the tribes to the true faith,” so that, to enforce the Prophet’s +order against infidels, they resorted to the white man’s +cupidity, which authorized its votaries to enslave the negro! My +inquisitiveness prompted me to demand whether these holy wars +spoken of in the Koran were not somewhat stimulated, in our +time, at least, by the profits that ensued; and I even ventured +to hint that it was questionable whether the mighty chief of +Footha-Yallon would willingly storm a Kaffir fortification, were +he not prompted by the booty of slaves!</p> + +<p>Ahmah-de-Bellah was silent for a minute, when his solemn +face gradually relaxed into a quizzical smile, as he replied that, +in truth, Mahometans were no worse than Christians, so that it +was quite likely,—if the white elect of heaven, who knew how to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +make powder and guns, did not tempt the black man with their +weapons,—the commands of Allah would be followed with less +zeal, and implements not quite so dangerous!</p> + +<p>I could not help thinking that there was a good deal of quiet +satire in the gossip of this negro prince. According to the custom +of his country, we “exchanged names” at parting; and, +while he put in my pocket the gift of a well-thumbed <i>Koran</i>, I +slung over his shoulder a <i>double-barrelled gun</i>. We walked side +by side for some miles into the forest, as he went forth from +Bangalang; and as we “cracked fingers” for farewell, I promised, +with my hand on my heart, that the “next dry season” I +would visit his father, the venerable Ali-Mami, in his realm of +Footha-Yallon.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_2" id="Footnote_A_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_2"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> As it may be interesting to learn the nature of trade on this coast,—<i>which +is commonly misunderstood at consisting in slaves alone</i>,—I thought it +well to set down the inventory I made out of the caravan’s stock and its +result, as the various items were intrusted to my guardianship. The body +of the caravan itself consisted of seven hundred persons, principally men; +while the produce was as follows:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="60%" summary="Table of Produce"> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">3,500</td> + <td class="tdl">hides</td> + <td class="tdr">$1,750</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">19</td> + <td class="tdl">large and prime teeth of ivory,</td> + <td class="tdr">1,560</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Gold,</td> + <td class="tdr">2,500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">600</td> + <td class="tdl">pounds small ivory,</td> + <td class="tdr">320</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">15</td> + <td class="tdl">tons of rice,</td> + <td class="tdr">600</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">40</td> + <td class="tdl">slaves,</td> + <td class="tdr">1,600</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">36</td> + <td class="tdl">bullocks,</td> + <td class="tdr">360</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Sheep, goats, butter, vegetables,</td> + <td class="tdr">100</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">900</td> + <td class="tdl">pounds bees-wax,</td> + <td class="tdr">95</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Total value of the caravan’s merchandise,</td> + <td class="tdr"><span style="border-top: 1pt black solid; border-bottom: 1px black solid;"> $8,885</span></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Our profits on this speculation were very flattering, both as regards +sales and acquisitions. Rice cost us one cent per pound; hides were delivered +at eighteen or twenty cents each; a bullock was sold for twenty +or thirty pounds of tobacco; sheep, goats or hogs, cost two pounds of tobacco, +or a fathom of common cotton, each; ivory was purchased at the +rate of a dollar the pound for the best, while inferior kinds were given at +half that price. In fact, the profit on our merchandise was, at least, one +hundred and fifty per cent. As gold commands the very best fabrics in +exchange, and was paid for at the rate of sixteen dollars an ounce, we +made but seventy per cent. on the article. The slaves were delivered at +the rate of one hundred “<i>bars</i>” each. The “<i>bar</i>” is valued on the coast +at half a dollar; but a pound and a half of tobacco is also a “bar,” as +well as a fathom of ordinary cotton cloth, or a pound of powder, while a +common musket is equal to twelve “bars.” Accordingly, where slaves +were purchased for one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco, only eighteen +dollars were, in reality, paid; and when one hundred pounds of powder +were given, we got them for twenty dollars each. Our <i>British</i> muskets +cost us but three dollars apiece; yet we seldom purchased negroes for +this article alone. If the women, offered in the market, exceeded twenty-five +years of age, we made a deduction of twenty per cent.; but if they +were stanchly-built, and gave promising tokens for the future, we took +them at the price of an able-bodied man. The same estimate was made +for youths over four feet four inches high; but children were rarely purchased +at the factories, though they might be advantageously traded in +the native towns.</p></div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + + +<p>I was a close watcher of Mongo John whenever he engaged in +the purchase of slaves. As each negro was brought before him, +Ormond examined the subject, without regard to sex, from head +to foot. A careful manipulation of the chief muscles, joints, +arm-pits and groins was made, to assure soundness. The mouth, +too, was inspected, and if a tooth was missing, it was noted as a +defect liable to deduction. Eyes, voice, lungs, fingers and toes +were not forgotten; so that when the negro passed from the +Mongo’s hands without censure, he might have been readily +adopted as a good “life” by an insurance company.</p> + +<p>Upon one occasion, to my great astonishment, I saw a stout +and apparently powerful man discarded by Ormond as utterly +worthless. His full muscles and sleek skin, to my unpractised +eye, denoted the height of robust health. Still, I was told that +he had been medicated for the market with bloating drugs, and +sweated with powder and lemon-juice to impart a gloss to his +skin. Ormond remarked that these jockey-tricks are as common +in Africa as among horse-dealers in Christian lands; and desiring +me to feel the negro’s pulse, I immediately detected disease +or excessive excitement. In a few days I found the poor wretch, +abandoned by his owner, a paralyzed wreck in the hut of a villager +at Bangalang.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/canot03.png" width="700" height="519" alt="" /> +<span class="caption">INSPECTION AND SALE OF A NEGRO.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +When a slave becomes useless to his master in the interior, +or exhibits signs of failing constitution, he is soon disposed of to +a peddler or broker. These men call to their aid a quack, familiar +with drugs, who, for a small compensation, undertakes to refit an +impaired body for the temptation of green-horns. Sometimes +the cheat is successfully effected; but experienced slavers detect +it readily by the yellow eye, swollen tongue, and feverish skin.</p> + +<p>After a few more lessons, I was considered by the Mongo +sufficiently learned in the slave traffic to be intrusted with the +sole management of his stores. This exemption from commerce +enabled him to indulge more than ever in the use of ardent +spirits, though his vanity to be called “king,” still prompted +him to attend faithfully to all the “country palavers;”—and, +let it be said to his credit, his decisions were never defective in +judgment or impartiality.</p> + +<p>After I had been three months occupied in the multifarious +intercourse of Bangalang and its neighborhood, I understood the +language well enough to dispense with the interpreter, who was +one of the Mongo’s confidential agents. When my companion +departed on a long journey, he counselled me to make up with +Unga-golah, the <i>harem’s</i> Cerberus, as she suspected my intimacy +with Esther, who would doubtless be denounced to Ormond, +unless I purchased the beldame’s silence.</p> + +<p>Indeed, ever since the night of warning, when the beautiful +<i>quarteroon</i> visited my hovel, I had contrived to meet this charming +girl, as the only solace of my solitude. Amid all the wild, +passionate, and savage surroundings of Bangalang, Esther—the +Pariah—was the only golden link that still seemed to bind me +to humanity and the lands beyond the seas. On that burning +coast, I was not excited by the stirring of an adventurous life, +nor was my young heart seduced and bewildered by absorbing +avarice. Many a night, when the dews penetrated my flesh, as +I looked towards the west, my soul shrank from the selfish +wretches around me, and went off in dreams to the homes I had +abandoned. When I came back to myself,—when I was forced +to recognize my doom in Africa,—when I acknowledged that my +lot had been cast, perhaps unwisely, by myself, my spirit turned, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +like the worm from the crashing heel, and found nothing that +kindled for me with the light of human sympathy, save this outcast +girl. Esther was to me as a sister, and when the hint of +her harm or loss was given, I hastened to disarm the only hand +that could inflict a blow. Unga-golah was a woman, and a rope +of sparkling coral for her neck, smothered all her wrongs.</p> + +<p>The months I had passed in Africa without illness,—though +I went abroad after dark, and bathed in the river during the heat +of the day,—made me believe myself proof against malaria. +But, at length, a violent pain in my loins, accompanied by a +swimming head, warned me that the African fever held me in its +dreaded gripe. In two days I was delirious. Ormond visited +me; but I knew him not, and in my madness, called on Esther, +accompanying the name with terms of endearment. This, I was +told, stirred the surprise and jealousy of the Mongo, who forthwith +assailed the matron of his harem with a torrent of inquiries +and abuse. But Unga-golah was faithful. The beads had sealed +her tongue; so that, with the instinctive adroitness peculiar to +ladies of her color, she fabricated a story which not only quieted +the Mongo, but added lustre to Esther’s character.</p> + +<p>The credulous old man finding Unga so well disposed towards +his watchful clerk, restored the warehouse to her custody. This +was the height of her avaricious ambition; and, in token of +gratitude for my profitable malady, she contrived to let Esther +become the nurse and guardian of my sick bed.</p> + +<p>As my fever and delirium continued, a native doctor, renowned +for his skill, was summoned, who ordered me to be +cupped in the African fashion by scarifying my back and stomach +with a hot knife, and applying plantain leaves to the wounds. +The operation allayed my pulse for a few hours; but as the +fever came back with new vigor, it became necessary for my +attendants to arouse the Mongo to a sense of my imminent danger. +Yet Ormond, instead of springing with alacrity to succor +a friend and retainer in affliction, sent for a young man, named +Edward Joseph, who had formerly been in his employment, but +was now settled on his own account in Bangalang.</p> + +<p>Joseph proved a good Samaritan. As soon as he dared +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +venture upon my removal, he took me to his establishment at Kambia, +and engaged the services of another Mandingo doctor, in +whose absurdities he believed. But all the charms and incantations +of the savage would not avail, and I remained in a state of +utter prostration and apparent insensibility until morning. As +soon as day dawned, my faithful Esther was again on the field +of action; and this time she insisted upon the trial of her judgment, +in the person of an old white-headed woman, who accompanied +her in the guise of the greatest enchantress of the coast. +A slave, paid in advance, was the fee for which she undertook to +warrant my cure.</p> + +<p>No time was to be lost. The floor of a small and close mud +hut was intensely heated, and thickly strewn with moistened +lemon leaves, over which a cloth was spread for a couch. As +soon as the bed was ready, I was borne to the hovel, and, covered +with blankets, was allowed to steam and perspire, while my medical +attendant dosed me with half a tumbler of a green disgusting +juice which she extracted from herbs. This process of drinking +and barbecuing was repeated during five consecutive days, +at the end of which my fever was gone. But my convalescence +was not speedy. For many a day, I stalked about, a useless +skeleton, covering with ague, and afflicted by an insatiable appetite, +until a French physician restored me to health by the use +of cold baths at the crisis of my fever.</p> + +<p>When I was sufficiently recovered to attend to business, +Mongo John desired me to resume my position in his employment. +I heard, however, from Esther, that during my illness, +Unga-golah used her opportunities so profitably in the warehouse, +that there would be sad deficiencies, which, doubtless, +might be thrown on me, if the crone were badly disposed at any +future period. Accordingly, I thought it decidedly most prudent +to decline the clerkship, and requested the Mongo to recompense +me for the time and attention I had already bestowed on him. +This was refused by the indolent voluptuary; so we parted with +coolness, and I was once more adrift in the world.</p> + +<p>In these great outlying colonies and lodgments of European +nations in the East Indies and Africa, a stranger is commonly +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +welcome to the hospitality of every foreigner. I had no hesitation, +therefore, in returning to the house of Joseph, who, like +myself, had been a clerk of Ormond, and suffered from the pilferings +of the matron.</p> + +<p>My host, I understood, was a native of London, where he +was born of continental parents, and came to Sierra Leone with +Governor Turner. Upon the death or return of that officer,—I +do not recollect which,—the young adventurer remained in the +colony, and, for a time, enjoyed the post of harbor master. His +first visit to the Rio Pongo was in the capacity of supercargo of +a small coasting craft, laden with valuable merchandise. Joseph +succeeded in disposing of his wares, but was not equally fortunate +in collecting their avails. It was, perhaps, an ill-judged +act of the supercargo, but he declined to face his creditors with +a deficient balance-sheet; and quitting Sierra Leone for ever, +accepted service with Ormond. For a year he continued in this +employment; but, at the end of that period, considering himself +sufficiently informed of the trade and language of the river, he +sent a message to his creditors at the British settlement that he +could promptly pay them in full, if they would advance him +capital enough to commence an independent trade. The terms +were accepted by an opulent Israelite, and in a short time Edward +Joseph was numbered among the successful factors of Rio +Pongo.</p> + +<p>As I had nothing to do but get well and talk, I employed my +entire leisure in acquiring the native language perfectly. The +Soosoo is a dialect of the Mandingo. Its words, ending almost +universally in vowels, render it as glibly soft and musical as +Italian; so that, in a short time, I spoke it as fluently as my +native tongue.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + + +<p>The 15th of March, 1827, was an epoch in my life. I remember +it well, because it became the turning point of my +destiny. A few weeks more of indolence might have forced me +back to Europe or America, but the fortune of that day decided +my residence and dealings in Africa.</p> + +<p>At dawn of the 15th, a vessel was descried in the offing, and, +as she approached the coast, the initiated soon ascertained her +to be a Spanish slaver. But, what was the amazement of the +river grandees when the captain landed and consigned his vessel +<i>to me</i>!</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">La Fortuna</span>,” the property, chiefly, of my old friend the +Regla grocer, was successor of the Areostatico, which she +exceeded in size as well as comfort. Her captain was charged to +pay me my wages in full for the round voyage in the craft I had +abandoned, and handed me, besides, a purse of thirty doubloons +as a testimonial from his owners for my defence of their property +on the dreadful night of our arrival. The “Fortuna” was +dispatched to me for an “assorted cargo of slaves,” while +200,000 cigars and 500 ounces of Mexican gold, were on board +for their purchase. My commission was fixed at ten per cent., +and I was promised a command whenever I saw fit to abandon +my residence on the African coast.</p> + +<p>Having no factory, or <i>barracoon</i> of slaves, and being elevated +to the dignity of “a trader” in so sudden a manner, I thought +it best to summon all the factors of the river on board the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +schooner, with an offer to divide the cargo, provided they would +pledge the production of the slaves within thirty days. Dispatch +was all-important to the owners, and, so anxious was I to gratify +them, that I consented to pay fifty dollars for every slave that +should be accepted.</p> + +<p>After some discussion my offer was taken, and the cargo apportioned +among the residents. They declined, however, receiving +any share of the cigars in payment, insisting on liquidation in +gold alone.</p> + +<p>As this was my first enterprise, I felt at a loss to know how +to convert my useless tobacco into merchantable doubloons. In +this strait, I had recourse to the Englishman Joseph, who +hitherto traded exclusively in produce; but, being unable to +withstand the temptation of gold, had consented to furnish a +portion of my required negroes. As soon as I stated the difficulty +to Don Edward, he proposed to send the Havanas to his +Hebrew friend in Sierra Leone, where, he did not doubt, they +would be readily exchanged for Manchester merchandise. That +evening a canoe was dispatched to the English colony with the +cigars; and, on the tenth day after, the trusty Israelite appeared +in the Rio Pongo, with a cutter laden to the deck with superior +British fabrics. The rumor of five hundred doubloons disturbed +his rest in Sierra Leone! So much gold could not linger in the +hands of natives as long as Manchester and Birmingham were +represented in the colony; and, accordingly, he coasted the edge +of the surf, as rapidly as possible, to pay me a profit of four +dollars a thousand for the cigars, and to take his chances at the +exchange of my gold for the sable cargo! By this happy hit I +was enabled to pay for the required balance of negroes, as well +as to liquidate the schooners expenses while in the river. I was +amazingly rejoiced and proud at this happy result, because I +learned from the captain that the invoice of cigars was a malicious +trick, palmed off on the Areostatico’s owners by her +captain, in order to thwart or embarrass me, when he heard I +was to be intrusted with the purchase of a cargo on the coast.</p> + +<p>At the appointed day, La Fortuna sailed with 220 human +beings packed in her hold. Three months afterwards, I received +advices that she safely landed 217 in the bay of Matanzas, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +that their sale yielded a clear profit on the voyage of forty-one +thousand four hundred and thirty-eight dollars.<a name="FNanchor_B_3" id="FNanchor_B_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_3" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +As I am now fairly embarked in a trade which absorbed so +many of my most vigorous years, I suppose the reader will not +be loth to learn a little of my experience in the alleged “cruelties” +of this commerce; and the first question, in all likelihood, +that rises to his lips, is a solicitation to be apprised of the embarkation +and treatment of slaves on the dreaded voyage.</p> + +<p>An African factor of fair repute is ever careful to select his +human cargo with consummate prudence, so as not only to supply +his employers with athletic laborers, but to avoid any taint of +disease that may affect the slaves in their transit to Cuba or the +American main. Two days before embarkation, the head of +every male and female is neatly shaved; and, if the cargo belongs +to several owners, each man’s <i>brand</i> is impressed on the +body of his respective negro. This operation is performed with +pieces of silver wire, or small irons fashioned into the merchant’s +initials, heated just hot enough to blister without burning the +skin. When the entire cargo is the venture of but one proprietor, +the branding is always dispensed with.</p> + +<p>On the appointed day, the <i>barracoon</i> or slave-pen is made +joyous by the abundant “feed” which signalizes the negro’s +last hours in his native country. The feast over, they are taken +alongside the vessel in canoes; and as they touch the deck, they +are entirely stripped, so that women as well as men go out of +Africa as they came into it—<i>naked</i>. This precaution, it will be +understood, is indispensable; for perfect nudity, during the whole +voyage, is the only means of securing cleanliness and health. In +this state, they are immediately ordered below, the men to the +hold and the women to the cabin, while boys and girls are, day +and night, kept on deck, where their sole protection from the +elements is a sail in fair weather, and a <i>tarpaulin</i> in foul.</p> + +<p>At meal time they are distributed in messes of ten. Thirty +years ago, when the Spanish slave-trade was lawful, the captains +were somewhat more ceremoniously religious than at present, and +it was then a universal habit to make the gangs say grace before +meat, and give thanks afterwards. In our days, however, they +dispense with this ritual, and content themselves with a “<i>Viva +la Habana</i>,” or “hurrah for Havana,” accompanied by a clapping +of hands.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +This over, a bucket of salt water is served to each mess, by +way of “finger glasses” for the ablution of hands, after which a +<i>kidd</i>,—either of rice, farina, yams, or beans,—according to the +tribal habit of the negroes, is placed before the squad. In order +to prevent greediness or inequality in the appropriation of +nourishment, the process is performed by signals from a monitor, +whose motions indicate when the darkies shall dip and when +they shall swallow.</p> + +<p>It is the duty of a guard to report immediately whenever a +slave refuses to eat, in order that his abstinence may be traced +to stubbornness or disease. Negroes have sometimes been found +in slavers who attempted voluntary starvation; so that, when the +watch reports the patient to be “shamming,” his appetite is +stimulated by the medical antidote of a “cat.” If the slave, +however, is truly ill, he is forthwith ticketed for the sick list by +a bead or button around his neck, and dispatched to an infirmary +in the forecastle.</p> + +<p>These meals occur twice daily,—at ten in the morning and +four in the afternoon,—and are terminated by another ablution. +Thrice in each twenty-four hours they are served with half a pint +of water. Pipes and tobacco are circulated economically among +both sexes; but, as each negro cannot be allowed the luxury of a +separate bowl, boys are sent round with an adequate supply, +allowing a few whiffs to each individual. On regular days,—probably +three times a week,—their mouths are carefully rinsed +with vinegar, while, nearly every morning, a dram is given as an +antidote to scurvy.</p> + +<p>Although it is found necessary to keep the sexes apart, they +are allowed to converse freely during day while on deck. Corporal +punishment is <i>never</i> inflicted save by order of an officer, +and, even then, not until the culprit understands exactly why it +is done. Once a week, the ship’s barber scrapes their chins +without assistance from soap; and, on the same day, their nails +are closely pared, to insure security from harm in those nightly +battles that occur, when the slave contests with his neighbor +every inch of plank to which he is glued. During afternoons of +serene weather, men, women, girls, and boys are allowed to unite +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +in African melodies, which they always enhance by an extemporaneous +<i>tom-tom</i> on the bottom of a tub or tin kettle.</p> + +<p>These hints will apprise the reader that the greatest care, +compatible with safety, is taken of a negro’s health and cleanliness +on the voyage. In every well-conducted slaver, the captain, +officers, and crew, are alert and vigilant to preserve the cargo. +It is their personal interest, as well as the interest of humanity +to do so. The boatswain is incessant in his patrol of purification, +and disinfecting substances are plenteously distributed. +The upper deck is washed and swabbed daily; the slave deck is +scraped and holy-stoned; and, at nine o’clock each morning, the +captain inspects every part of his craft; so that no vessel, except +a man-of-war, can compare with a slaver in systematic order, +purity, and neatness. I am not aware that the ship-fever, which +sometimes decimates the emigrants from Europe, has ever prevailed +in these African traders.</p> + +<p>At sundown, the process of stowing the slaves for the night +is begun. The second mate and boatswain descend into the +hold, whip in hand, and range the slaves in their regular places; +those on the right side of the vessel facing forward, and lying +in each other’s lap, while those on the left are similarly stowed +with their faces towards the stern. In this way each negro lies +on his right side, which is considered preferable for the action of +the heart. In allotting places, particular attention is paid to +size, the taller being selected for the greatest breadth of the +vessel, while the shorter and younger are lodged near the bows. +When the cargo is large and the lower deck crammed, the supernumeraries +are disposed of on deck, which is securely covered +with boards to shield them from moisture. The <i>strict</i> discipline +of nightly stowage is, of course, of the greatest importance in +slavers, else every negro would accommodate himself as if he +were a passenger.</p> + +<p>In order to insure perfect silence and regularity during night, +a slave is chosen as constable from every ten, and furnished with +a “cat” to enforce commands during his appointed watch. In +remuneration for his services, which, it may be believed, are +admirably performed whenever the whip is required, he is adorned +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +with an old shirt or tarry trowsers. Now and then, billets of +wood are distributed among the sleepers, but this luxury is never +granted until the good temper of the negroes is ascertained, for +slaves have often been tempted to mutiny by the power of arming +themselves with these pillows from the forest.</p> + +<p>It is very probable that many of my readers will consider it +barbarous to make slaves lie down naked upon a board, but let +me inform them that native Africans are not familiar with the +use of feather-beds, nor do any but the free and rich in their +mother country indulge in the luxury even of a mat or raw-hide. +Among the Mandingo chiefs,—the most industrious and civilized +of Africans,—the beds, divans, and sofas, are heaps of mud, +covered with untanned skins for cushions, while logs of wood +serve for bolsters! I am of opinion, therefore, that emigrant +slaves experience very slight inconvenience in lying down on the +deck.</p> + +<p>But <i>ventilation</i> is carefully attended to. The hatches and +bulkheads of every slaver are grated, and apertures are cut +about the deck for ampler circulation of air. Wind-sails, too, are +constantly pouring a steady draft into the hold, except during a +chase, when, of course, every comfort is temporarily sacrificed +for safety. During calms or in light and baffling winds, when the +suffocating air of the tropics makes ventilation impossible, the +gratings are always removed, and portions of the slaves allowed +to repose at night on deck, while the crew is armed to watch the +sleepers.</p> + +<p>Handcuffs are rarely used on shipboard. It is the common +custom to secure slaves in the <i>barracoons</i>, and while shipping, +by chaining <i>ten</i> in a gang; but as these platoons would be extremely +inconvenient at sea, the manacles are immediately taken +off and replaced by leg-irons, which fasten them in pairs by the +feet. Shackles are never used but for <i>full-grown men</i>, while +<i>women</i> and <i>boys</i> are set at liberty as soon as they embark. It +frequently happens that when the behavior of <i>male</i> slaves warrants +their freedom, they are released from all fastenings long +before they arrive. Irons are altogether dispensed with on many +<i>Brazilian</i> slavers, as negroes from Anjuda, Benin, and Angola, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +are mild; and unaddicted to revolt like those who dwell east of +the Cape or north of the Gold Coast. Indeed, a knowing trader +will never use chains but when compelled, for the longer a slave +is ironed the more he deteriorates; and, as his sole object is to +land a healthy cargo, pecuniary interest, as well as natural feeling, +urges the sparing of metal.</p> + +<p>My object in writing this palliative description is not to exculpate +the slavers or their commerce, but to correct those exaggerated +stories which have so long been current in regard to the +<i>usual</i> voyage of a trader. I have always believed that the cause +of humanity, as well as any other cause, was least served by +over-statement; and I am sure that if the narratives given by +Englishmen are true, the voyages they detail must either have +occurred before my day, or were conducted in British vessels, +while her majesty’s subjects still considered the traffic lawful.<a name="FNanchor_C_4" id="FNanchor_C_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_4" class="fnanchor">[C]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_3" id="Footnote_B_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_3"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> As the reader may scarcely credit so large a profit, I subjoin an +account of the fitting of a slave vessel from Havana in 1827, and the +liquidation of her voyage in Cuba:—</p> + +<p class="center">1.—<span class="smcap">Expenses Out</span>.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="60%" summary="Table of Expenses Out"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cost of <span class="smcap">La Fortuna</span>, a 90 ton schooner,</td> + <td class="tdr">$3,700 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fitting out, sails, carpenter and cooper’s bills,</td> + <td class="tdr">2,500 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Provisions for crew and slaves,</td> + <td class="tdr">1,115 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wages advanced to 18 men before the mast,</td> + <td class="tdr">900 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="s100"> “</span> <span class="s175"> “</span> to captain, mates, boatswain, cook, and steward,</td> + <td class="tdr">440 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">200,000 cigars and 500 doubloons, cargo,</td> + <td class="tdr">10,900 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Clearance and hush-money,</td> + <td class="tdr">200 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"><span style="border-top: 1px black solid;"> $19,755 00</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Commission at 5 per cent.,</td> + <td class="tdr">987 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Full cost of voyage out,</td> + <td class="tdr"><span style="border-top: 1px black solid;"> $20,742 00</span></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="center">2.—<span class="smcap">Expenses Home</span>.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="60%" summary="Table of Expenses Home"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Captain’s head-money, at $8 a head,</td> + <td class="tdr">1,746 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Mate’s <span class="s350">“</span>$4<span class="s100"> “ </span></td> + <td class="tdr">873 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Second mate and boatswain’s head-money, at $2 each a head,</td> + <td class="tdr">873 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Captain’s wages,</td> + <td class="tdr">219 78</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">First mate’s wages</td> + <td class="tdr">175 56</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Second mate and boatswain’s wages,</td> + <td class="tdr">307 12</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cook and steward’s wages,</td> + <td class="tdr">264 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Eighteen sailors’ wages,</td> + <td class="tdr">1,972 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"><span style="border-top: 1px black solid;"> $27,172 46</span></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="center">3.—<span class="smcap">Expenses in Havana</span>.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="60%" summary="Table of Expenses in Havana"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Government officers, at $8 per head,</td> + <td class="tdr">1,736 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">My commission on 217 slaves, expenses off,</td> + <td class="tdr">5,565 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Consignees’ commissions,</td> + <td class="tdr">8,878 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">217 slave dresses, at $2 each,</td> + <td class="tdr">634 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Extra expenses of all kinds, say,</td> + <td class="tdr">1,000 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Total expenses,</td> + <td class="tdr"><span style="border-top: 1px black solid; border-bottom: 1px black solid;"> $39,980 46</span></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="center">4.—<span class="smcap">Returns</span>.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="60%" summary="Table of Returns"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Value of vessel at auction,</td> + <td class="tdr">$3,950 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Proceeds of 217 slaves,</td> + <td class="tdr">77,469 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"><span style="border-top: 1px black solid; border-bottom: 1px black solid;"> $81,419 00</span></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Resumé</span>.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="60%" summary="Table showing Resumé"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Total Returns,</td> + <td class="tdr">$81,419 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="s075">“</span> Expenses,</td> + <td class="tdr">39,980 46</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Nett profit,</td> + <td class="tdr"><span style="border-top: 1px black solid; border-bottom: 1px black solid;"> $41,438 54</span></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_4" id="Footnote_C_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_4"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> The treaty with Spain, which was designed by Great Britain to end +the slave-trade, failed utterly to produce the desired result.</p> + +<p>All <i>profitable</i> trade,—illicit, contraband, or what not,—<i>will</i> be carried +on by avaricious men, as long as the temptation continues. Accordingly, +whenever a trade becomes <i>forced</i>, the only and sure result of violent +restriction is to imperil still more both life and cargo.</p> + +<p>1st.—The treaty with Spain, it is said, was enforced some time before +it was properly promulgated or notified; so that British cruisers seized +over eighty vessels, one third of which certainly were not designed for +slave-trade.</p> + +<p>2d.—As the compact condemned slave vessels to be broken up, the +sailing qualities of craft were improved to facilitate escape, rather than +insure human comfort.</p> + +<p>3d.—The Spanish slavers had recourse to Brazilians and Portuguese to +cover their property; and, as slavers could not be fitted out in Cuba, other +nations sent their vessels ready equipped to Africa, and (under the jib-booms +of cruisers) Sardinians, Frenchmen and Americans, transferred them +to slave traders, while the captains and parts of the crew took passage home +in regular merchantmen.</p> + +<p>4th.—As the treaty created greater risk, every method of economy was +resorted to; and the crowding and cramming of slaves was one of the +most prominent results. Water and provisions were diminished; and +every thing was sacrificed for gain.</p></div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + + +<p>In old times, before treaties made slave-trade piracy, the landing +of human cargoes was as comfortably conducted as the disembarkation +of flour. But now, the enterprise is effected with +secrecy and hazard. A wild, uninhabited portion of the coast, +where some little bay or sheltering nook exists, is commonly +selected by the captain and his confederates. As soon as the +vessel is driven close to the beach and anchored, her boats are +packed with slaves, while the craft is quickly dismantled to avoid +detection from sea or land. The busy skiffs are hurried to and +fro incessantly till the cargo is entirely ashore, when the secured +gang, led by the captain, and escorted by armed sailors, is rapidly +marched to the nearest plantation. There it is safe from the +rapacity of local magistrates, who, if they have a chance, imitate +their superiors by exacting “<i>gratifications</i>.”</p> + +<p>In the mean time, a <i>courier</i> has been dispatched to the +owners in Havana, Matanzas, or Santiago de Cuba, who immediately +post to the plantation with clothes for the slaves and gold +for the crew. Preparations are quickly made through brokers +for the sale of the blacks; while the vessel, if small, is disguised, +to warrant her return under the coasting flag to a port of clearance. +If the craft happens to be large, it is considered perilous +to attempt a return with a cargo, or “<i>in distress</i>,” and, accordingly, +she is either sunk or burnt where she lies.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +When the genuine African reaches a plantation for the first +time, he fancies himself in paradise. He is amazed by the +generosity with which he is fed with fruit and fresh provisions. +His new clothes, red cap, and roasting blanket (a civilized +superfluity he never dreamed of), strike him dumb with delight, +and, in his savage joy, he not only forgets country, relations, +and friends, but skips about like a monkey, while he dons his +garments wrongside out or hind-part before! The arrival of a +carriage or cart creates no little confusion among the Ethiopian +groups, who never imagined that beasts could be made to work. +But the climax of wonder is reached when that paragon of oddities, +a Cuban <i>postilion</i>, dressed in his sky-blue coat, silver-laced +hat, white breeches, polished jack-boots, and ringing spurs, +leaps from his prancing quadruped, and bids them welcome in +their mother-tongue. Every African rushes to “snap fingers” +with his equestrian brother, who, according to orders, forthwith +preaches an edifying sermon on the happiness of being a white +man’s slave, taking care to jingle his spurs and crack his whip +at the end of every sentence, by way of <i>amen</i>.</p> + +<p>Whenever a cargo is owned by several proprietors, each one +takes his share at once to his plantation; but if it is the property +of speculators, the blacks are sold to any one who requires +them before removal from the original depot. The sale is, of +course, conducted as rapidly as possible, to forestall the interference +of British officials with the Captain-General.</p> + +<p>Many of the Spanish Governors in Cuba have respected +treaties, or, at least, promised to enforce the laws. Squadrons +of dragoons and troops of lancers have been paraded with convenient +delay, and ordered to gallop to plantations designated +by the representative of England. It generally happens, however, +that when the hunters arrive the game is gone. Scandal +declares that, while brokers are selling the blacks at the depot, +it is not unusual for their owner or his agent to be found +knocking at the door of the Captain-General’s secretary. It is +often said that the Captain-General himself is sometimes present +in the sanctuary, and, after a familiar chat about the happy +landing of “the contraband,”—as the traffic is amiably called, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +the requisite <i>rouleaux</i> are insinuated into the official desk under +the intense smoke of a fragrant <i>cigarillo</i>. The metal is always +considered the property of the Captain-General, but his scribe +avails himself of a lingering farewell at the door, to hint an +immediate and pressing need for “a very small darkey!” Next +day, the diminutive African does not appear; but, as it is believed +that Spanish officials prefer gold even to mortal flesh, his +algebraic equivalent is unquestionably furnished in the shape of +shining ounces!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>The prompt dispatch I gave the schooner Fortuna, started +new ideas among the traders of the Rio Pongo, so that it was +generally agreed my method of dividing the cargo among different +factors was not only most advantageous for speed, but prevented +monopoly, and gave all an equal chance. At a “grand +palaver” or assemblage of the traders on the river, it was resolved +that this should be the course of trade for the future. +All the factors, except Ormond, attended and assented; but +we learned that the Mongo’s people, with difficulty prevented +him from sending an armed party to break up our deliberations.</p> + +<p>The knowledge of this hostile feeling soon spread throughout +the settlement and adjacent towns, creating considerable excitement +against Ormond. My plan and principles were approved +by the natives as well as foreigners, so that warning was sent +the Mongo, if any harm befell Joseph and Theodore, it would +be promptly resented. Our native landlord, Ali-Ninpha, a +Foulah by descent, told him boldly, in presence of his people, +that the Africans were “tired of a mulatto Mongo;” and, from +that day, his power dwindled away visibly, though a show of +respect was kept up in consequence of his age and ancient importance.</p> + +<p>During these troubles, the Areostatico returned to my consignment, +and in twenty-two days was dispatched with a choice +cargo of Mandingoes,—a tribe, which had become fashionable for +house servants among the Havanese. But the luckless vessel +was never heard of, and it is likely she went down in some of +the dreadful gales that scourged the coast immediately after her +departure.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + + +<p>I had now grown to such sudden importance among the natives, +that the neighboring chiefs and kings sent me daily messages +of friendship, with trifling gifts that I readily accepted. One +of these bordering lords, more generous and insinuating than +the rest, hinted several times his anxiety for a closer connection +in affection as well as trade, and, at length, insisted upon becoming +my father-in-law!</p> + +<p>I had always heard in Italy that it was something to receive +the hand of a princess, even after long and tedious wooing; but +now that I was surrounded by a mob of kings, who absolutely +thrust their daughters on me, I confess I had the bad taste not +to leap with joy at the royal offering. Still, I was in a difficult +position, as no graver offence can be given a chief than to reject +his child. It is so serious an insult to refuse a wife, that, high +born natives, in order to avoid quarrels or war, accept the tender +boon, and as soon as etiquette permits, pass it over to a friend or +relation. As the offer was made to me personally by the king, I +found the utmost difficulty in escaping. Indeed, he would receive +no excuse. When I declined on account of the damsel’s +youth, he laughed incredulously. If I urged the feebleness of +my health and tardy convalescence, he insisted that a regular life +of matrimony was the best cordial for an impaired constitution. +In fact, the paternal solicitude of his majesty for my doubloons +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +was so urgent that I was on the point of yielding myself a +patient sacrifice, when Joseph came to my relief with the offer +of his hand as a substitute.</p> + +<p>The Gordian knot was cut. Prince Yungee in reality did not +care so much who should be his son-in-law as that he obtained +one with a white skin and plentiful purse. Joseph or Theodore, +Saxon or Italian, made no difference to the chief; and, as is the +case in all Oriental lands, the opinion of the lady was of no importance +whatever.</p> + +<p>I cannot say that my partner viewed this matrimonial project +with the disgust that I did. Perhaps he was a man of +more liberal philosophy and wider views of human brotherhood; +at any rate, his residence in Africa gave him a taste not only for +its people, habits, and superstitions, but he upheld practical +amalgamation with more fervor and honesty than a regular +abolitionist. Joseph was possessed by Africo-mania. He admired +the women, the men, the language, the cookery, the music. +He would fall into philharmonic ecstasies over the discord of a +bamboo <i>tom-tom</i>. I have reason to believe that even African +barbarities had charms for the odd Englishman; but he was +chiefly won by the <i>dolce far niente</i> of the natives, and the Oriental +license of polygamy. In a word, Joseph had the same taste for a +full-blooded <i>cuffee</i>, that an epicure has for the <i>haut gout</i> of a +stale partridge, and was in ecstasies at my extrication. He neglected +his <i>siestas</i> and his accounts; he wandered from house to +house with the rapture of an impatient bridegroom; and, till +every thing was ready for the nuptial rites, no one at the factory +had a moment’s rest.</p> + +<p>As the bride’s relations were eminent folks on the upper part +of the river, they insisted that the marriage ceremony should be +performed with all the honorable formalities due to the lady’s +rank. Esther, who acted as my mentor in every “country-question,” +suggested that it would be contrary to the Englishman’s +interest to ally himself with a family whose only motive was sordid. +She strongly urged that if he persisted in taking the girl, +he should do so without a “<i>colungee</i>” or ceremonial feast. But +Joseph was obstinate as a bull; and as he doubted whether he +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +would ever commit matrimony again, he insisted that the nuptials +should be celebrated with all the fashionable splendor of +high life in Africa.</p> + +<p>When this was decided, it became necessary, by a fiction +of etiquette, to ignore the previous offer of the bride, and to +begin anew, as if the damsel were to be sought in the most delicate +way by a desponding lover. She must be demanded formally, +by the bridegroom from her reluctant mother; and accordingly, +the most respectable matron in our colony was chosen by +Joseph from his colored acquaintances to be the bearer of his +valentine. In the present instance, the selected Cupid was the +principal wife of our native landlord, Ali-Ninpha; and, as Africans +as well as Turks love by the pound, the dame happened to +be one of the fattest, as well as most respectable, in our parish. +Several female <i>attachés</i> were added to the suite of the ambassadress, +who forthwith departed to make a proper “<i>dantica</i>.” +The gifts selected were of four kinds. First of all, two demijohns +of <i>trade</i>-rum were filled to gladden the community of Mongo-Yungee’s +town. Next, a piece of blue cotton cloth, a musket, +a keg of powder, and a demijohn of <i>pure</i> rum, were packed for +papa. Thirdly, a youthful virgin dressed in a white “tontongee,”<a name="FNanchor_2_5" id="FNanchor_2_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_5" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +a piece of white cotton cloth, a white basin, a white sheep, +and a basket of white rice, were put up for mamma, in token of her +daughter’s purity. And, lastly, a German looking-glass, several +bunches of beads, a coral necklace, a dozen of turkey-red handkerchiefs, +and a spotless white country-cloth, were presented to +the bride; together with a decanter of white palm-oil for the +anointment of her ebony limbs after the bath, which is never neglected +by African <i>belles</i>.</p> + +<p>While the missionary of love was absent, our sighing swain +devoted his energies to the erection of a bridal palace; and the +task required just as many days as were employed in the creation +of the world. The building was finished by the aid of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +bamboos, straw, and a modicum of mud; and, as Joseph imagined +that love and coolness were secured in such a climate by +utter darkness, he provided an abundance of that commodity by +omitting windows entirely. The furnishing of the domicil was +completed with all the luxury of native taste. An elastic four-poster +was constructed of bamboos; some dashing crockery was +set about the apartment for display; a cotton quilt was cast over +the matted couch; an old trunk served for bureau and wardrobe; +and, as negresses adore looking-glasses, the largest in our +warehouse was nailed against the door, as the only illuminated +part of the edifice.</p> + +<p>At last all was complete, and Joseph snapped his fingers with +delight, when the corpulent dame waddled up asthmatically, and +announced with a wheeze that her mission was prosperous. If +there had ever been doubt, there was now no more. The oracular +“<i>fetiche</i>” had announced that the delivery of the bride to +her lord might take place “on the tenth day of the new +moon.”</p> + +<p>As the planet waxed from its slender sickle to the thicker +quarter, the impatience of my Cockney waxed with it; but, at +length, the firing of muskets, the twang of horns, and the rattle +of tom-toms, gave notice from the river that <span class="smcap">Coomba</span>, the bride, +was approaching the quay. Joseph and myself hastily donned +our clean shirts, white trousers, and glistening pumps; and, under +the shade of broad <i>sombreros</i> and umbrellas, proceeded to greet +the damsel. Our fat friend, the matron; Ali-Ninpha, her husband; +our servants, and a troop of village ragamuffins, accompanied +us to the water’s brink, so that we were just in time to +receive the five large canoes bearing the escort of the king and +his daughter. Boat after boat disgorged its passengers; but, to +our dismay, they ranged themselves apart, and were evidently +displeased. When the last canoe, decorated with flags, containing +the bridal party, approached the strand, the chief of the escort +signalled it to stop and forbade the landing.</p> + +<p>In a moment there was a general row—a row, conceivable +only by residents of Africa, or those whose ears have been regaled +with the chattering of a “wilderness of monkeys.” Our +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +lusty <i>factotum</i> was astonished. The Cockney aspirated his <i>h’s</i> +with uncommon volubility. We hastened from one to the other +to inquire the cause; nor was it until near half an hour had +been wasted in palaver, that I found they considered themselves +slighted, first of all because we had not fired a salvo in their +honor, and secondly because we failed to spread mats from the +beach to the house, upon which the bride might place her virgin +feet without defilement! These were indispensable formalities +among the “upper ten;” and the result was that <span class="smcap">Coomba</span> could +not land unless the etiquette were fulfilled.</p> + +<p>Here, then, was a sad dilemma. The guns could be fired instantly;—but +where, alas! at a moment’s notice, were we to +obtain mats enough to carpet the five hundred yards of transit +from the river to the house? The match must be broken off!</p> + +<p>My crest-fallen cockney immediately began to exculpate himself +by pleading ignorance of the country’s customs,—assuring +the strangers that he had not the slightest inkling of the requirement. +Still, the stubborn “master of ceremonies” would not +relax an iota of his rigorous behests.</p> + +<p>At length, our bulky dame approached the master of the +bridal party, and, squatting on her knees, confessed her neglectful +fault. Then, for the first time, I saw a gleam of hope. +Joseph improved the moment by alleging that he employed this +lady patroness to conduct every thing in the sublimest style imaginable, +because it was presumed no one knew better than she +all that was requisite for so admirable and virtuous a lady as +<span class="smcap">Coomba</span>. Inasmuch, however, as he had been disappointed by +her unhappy error, he did not think the blow should fall on <i>his</i> +shoulders. The negligent matron ought to pay the penalty; and, +as it was impossible now to procure the mats, she should forfeit +the value of a slave to aid the merry-making, <i>and carry the +bride on her back from the river to her home</i>!</p> + +<p>A clapping of hands and a quick murmur of assent ran through +the crowd, telling me that the compromise was accepted. But +the porterage was no sinecure for the delinquent elephant, who +found it difficult at times to get along over African sands even +without a burden. Still, no time was lost in further parley or +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +remonstrance. The muskets and cannon were brought down and +exploded; the royal boat was brought to the landing; father, +mother, brothers, and relations were paraded on the strand; tom-toms +and horns were beaten and blown; and, at last, the suffering +missionary waddled to the canoe to receive the veiled form +of the slender bride.</p> + +<p>The process of removal was accompanied by much merriment. +Our corpulent porter groaned as she “larded the lean earth” +beneath her ponderous tread; but, in due course of labor +and patience, she sank with her charge on the bamboo couch of +Master Joseph.</p> + +<p>As soon as the bearer and the burden were relieved from +their fatigue, the maiden was brought to the door, and, as her +long concealing veil of spotless cotton was unwrapped from head +and limbs, a shout of admiration went up from the native crowd +that followed us from the quay to the hovel. As Joseph received +the hand of <span class="smcap">Coomba</span>, he paid the princely fee of a slave to +the matron.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Coomba</span> had certainly not numbered more than sixteen years, +yet, in that burning region, the sex ripen long before their pallid +sisters of the North. She belonged to the Soosoo tribe, but was +descended from Mandingo ancestors, and I was particularly struck +by the uncommon symmetry of her tapering limbs. Her features +and head, though decidedly African, were not of that coarse +and heavy cast that marks the lineaments of her race. The +grain of her shining skin was as fine and polished as ebony. A +melancholy languor subdued and deepened the blackness of her +large eyes, while her small and even teeth gleamed with the brilliant +purity of snow. Her mouth was rosy and even delicate; +and, indeed, had not her ankles, feet, and wool, manifested the +unfortunate types of her kindred, <span class="smcap">Coomba</span>, the daughter of +Mongo-Yungee, might have passed for a <i>chef d’œuvre in black +marble</i>.</p> + +<p>The scant dress of the damsel enabled me to be so minute in +this catalogue of her charms; and, in truth, had I not inspected +them closely, I would have violated matrimonial etiquette as +much as if I failed to admire the <i>trousseau</i> and gifts of a bride +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +at home. Coomba’s costume was as innocently primitive as +Eve’s after the expulsion. Like all maidens of her country, she +had beads round her ankles, beads round her waist, beads round +her neck, while an abundance of bracelets hooped her arms from +wrist to elbow. The white <i>tontongee</i> still girdled her loins; +but Coomba’s climate was her mantuamaker, and indicated more +necessity for ornament than drapery. Accordingly, Coomba was +obedient to Nature, and troubled herself very little about a supply +of useless garments, to load the presses and vex the purse of +her bridegroom.</p> + +<p>As soon as the process of unveiling was over, and time had +been allowed the spectators to behold the damsel, her mother led +her gently to the fat ambassadress, who, with her companions, +bore the girl to a bath for ablution, anointment, and perfuming. +While Coomba underwent this ceremony at the hands +of our matron, flocks of sable dames entered the apartment; +and, as they withdrew, shook hands with her mother, in token +of the maiden’s purity, and with the groom in compliment to his +luck.</p> + +<p>As soon as the bath and <i>oiling</i> were over, six girls issued +from the hut, bearing the glistening bride on a snow-white sheet +to the home of her spouse. The transfer was soon completed, +and the burden deposited on the nuptial bed. The dwelling was +then closed and put in charge of sentinels; when the plump +plenipotentiary approached the Anglo-Saxon, and handing him +the scant fragments of the bridal dress, pointed to the door, and, +in a loud voice, exclaimed: “White man, this authorizes you to +take possession of your wife!”</p> + +<p>It may naturally be supposed that our radiant cockney was +somewhat embarrassed by so public a display of matrimonial +happiness, at six o’clock in the afternoon, on the thirtieth day of +a sweltering June. Joseph could not help looking at me with a +blush and a laugh, as he saw the eyes of the whole crowd fixed +on his movements; but, nerving himself like a man, he made a +profound <i>salaam</i> to the admiring multitude, and shaking my +hand with a convulsive grip, plunged into the darkness of his +abode. A long pole was forthwith planted before the door, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +a slender strip of white cotton, about the size of a “<i>tontongee</i>,” +was hoisted in token of privacy, and floated from the staff like a +pennant, giving notice that the commodore is aboard.</p> + +<p>No sooner were these rites over, than the house was surrounded +by a swarm of women from the adjacent villages, whose +incessant songs, screams, chatter, and <i>tom-tom</i> beatings, drowned +every mortal sound. Meanwhile, the men of the party—whose +merriment around an enormous <i>bonfire</i> was augmented by abundance +of liquor and provisions—amused themselves in dancing, +shouting, yelling, and discharging muskets in honor of the nuptials.</p> + +<p>Such was the ceaseless serenade that drove peace from the +lovers’ pillow during the whole of that memorable night. At +dawn, the corpulent matron again appeared from among the +wild and reeling crowd, and concluding her functions by some +mysterious ceremonies, led forth the lank groom from the dark +cavity of his hot and sleepless oven, looking more like a bewildered +wretch rescued from drowning, than a radiant lover fresh +from his charmer. In due time, the bride also was brought forth +by the matrons for the bath, where she was anointed from head +to foot with a vegetable butter,—whose odor is probably more +agreeable to Africans than Americans,—and fed with a bowl of +broth made from a young and tender pullet.</p> + +<p>The marriage <i>fêtes</i> lasted three days, after which I insisted +that Joseph should give up nonsense for business, and sobered +his ecstasies by handing him a wedding-bill for five hundred and +fifty dollars.</p> + +<p>There is hardly a doubt that he considered <span class="smcap">Coomba</span> very +<i>dear</i>, if not absolutely adorable!</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_5" id="Footnote_2_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_5"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> A <i>tontongee</i> is a strip of white cotton cloth, three inches wide and +four feet long, used as a <i>virgin African’s only dress</i>. It is wound round +the limbs, and, hanging partly in front and partly behind, is supported +from the maiden’s waist by strands of <i>showee-beads</i>.</p></div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + + +<p>I am sorry to say that my colleague’s honeymoon did not last +long, although it was not interrupted by domestic discord. One +of his malicious Sierra Leone creditors, who had not been dealt +with quite as liberally as the rest, called on the colonial governor +of that British establishment, and alleged that a certain +Edward Joseph, an Englishman, owned a factory on the Rio +Pongo, in company with a Spaniard, and was engaged in the +slave-trade!</p> + +<p>At this the British lion, of course, growled in his African +cage, and bestirred himself to punish the recreant cub. An expedition +was forthwith fitted out to descend upon our little establishment; +and, in all likelihood, the design would have been +executed, had not our friendly Israelite in Sierra Leone sent us +timely warning. No sooner did the news arrive than Joseph +embarked in a slaver, and, packing up his valuables, together +with sixty negroes, fled from Africa. His disconsolate bride +was left to return to her parents.</p> + +<p>As the hostile visit from the British colony was hourly expected, +I did not tarry long in putting a new face on Kambia. +Fresh books were made out in my name exclusively; their dates +were carefully suited to meet all inquiries; and the townspeople +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +were prepared to answer impertinent questions; so that, when +Lieutenant Findlay, of Her Britannic Majesty’s naval service, +made his appearance in the river, with three boats bearing the +cross of St. George, no man in the settlement was less anxious +than Don Téodore, the <i>Spaniard</i>.</p> + +<p>When the lieutenant handed me an order from the governor +of Sierra Leone and its dependencies, authorizing him to burn or +destroy the property of Joseph, as well as to arrest that personage +himself, I regretted that I was unable to facilitate his patriotic +projects, inasmuch as the felon was afloat on salt water, while +all his property had long before been conveyed to me by a regular +bill of sale. In proof of my assertions, I produced the instrument +and the books; and when I brought in our African +landlord to sustain me in every particular, the worthy lieutenant +was forced to relinquish his hostility and accept an invitation to +dinner. His conduct during the whole investigation was that of +a gentleman; which, I am sorry to say, was not always the case +with his professional countrymen.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>During the rainy season, which begins in June and lasts till +October, the stores of provisions in establishments along the +Atlantic coast often become sadly impaired. The Foulah and +Mandingo tribes of the interior are prevented by the swollen +condition of intervening streams from visiting the beach with +their produce. In these straits, the factories have recourse by +canoes to the smaller rivers, which are neither entered by sea-going +vessels, nor blockaded for the caravans of interior chiefs.</p> + +<p>Among the tribes or clans visited by me in such seasons, I +do not remember any whose intercourse afforded more pleasure, +or exhibited nobler traits, than the <span class="smcap">Bagers</span>, who dwell on the +solitary margins of these shallow rivulets, and subsist by boiling +salt in the dry season and making palm-oil in the wet. I have +never read an account of these worthy blacks, whose civility, +kindness, and honesty will compare favorably with those of more +civilized people.</p> + +<p>The Bagers live very much apart from the great African +tribes, and keep up their race by intermarriage. The language +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +is peculiar, and altogether devoid of that Italian softness that +makes the Soosoo so musical.</p> + +<p>Having a week or two of perfect leisure, I determined to +set out in a canoe to visit one of these establishments, especially +as no intelligence had reached me for some time from one of my +country traders who had been dispatched thither with an invoice +of goods to purchase palm-oil. My canoe was comfortably fitted +with a waterproof awning, and provisioned for a week.</p> + +<p>A tedious pull along the coast and through the dangerous +surf, brought us to the narrow creek through whose marshy +mesh of <i>mangroves</i> we squeezed our canoe to the bank. Even +after landing, we waded a considerable distance through marsh +before we reached the solid land. The Bager town stood some +hundred yards from the landing, at the end of a desolate savanna, +whose lonely waste spread as far as the eye could reach. The +village itself seemed quite deserted, so that I had difficulty in +finding “the oldest inhabitant,” who invariably stays at home +and acts the part of chieftain. This venerable personage welcomed +me with great cordiality; and, having made my <i>dantica</i>, +or, in other words, declared the purpose of my visit, I desired to +be shown the trader’s house. The patriarch led me at once to a +hut, whose miserable thatch was supported by four posts. Here +I recognized a large chest, a rum cask, and the grass hammock +of my agent. I was rather exasperated to find my property thus +neglected and exposed, and began venting my wrath in no seemly +terms on the delinquent clerk, when my conductor laid his hand +gently on my sleeve, and said there was no need to blame him. +“This,” continued he, “is his house; here your property is sheltered +from sun and rain; and, among the Bagers, whenever your +goods are protected from the elements, they are safe from every +danger. Your man has gone across the plain to a neighboring +town for oil; to-night he will be back;—in the mean time, look +at your goods!”</p> + +<p>I opened the chest, which, to my surprise, was unlocked, +and found it nearly full of the merchandise I had placed in it. +I shook the cask, and its weight seemed hardly diminished. I +turned the spigot, and lo! the rum trickled on my feet. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +Hard-by was a temporary shed, filled to the roof with hides and +casks of palm-oil, all of which, the gray-beard declared was my +property.</p> + +<p>Whilst making this inspection, I have no doubt the expression +of my face indicated a good deal of wonder, for I saw the +old man smile complacently as he followed me with his quiet +eye.</p> + +<p>“Good!” said the chief, “it is all there,—is it not? We +Bagers are neither Soosoos, Mandingoes, Foulahs, nor <i>White-men</i>, +that the goods of a stranger are not safe in our towns! +We work for a living; we want little; big ships never come to +us, and we neither steal from our guests nor go to war to sell one +another!”</p> + +<p>The conversation, I thought, was becoming a little personal; +and, with a gesture of impatience, I put a stop to it. On second +thoughts, however, I turned abruptly round, and shaking the +noble savage’s hand with a vigor that made him wince, presented +him with a piece of cloth. Had Diogenes visited Africa in +search of his man, it is by no means unlikely that he might have +extinguished his lamp among the Bagers!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>It was about two o’clock in the afternoon when I arrived in +the town, which, as I before observed, seemed quite deserted, +except by a dozen or two ebony antiquities, who crawled into +the sunshine when they learned the advent of a stranger. The +young people were absent gathering palm nuts in a neighboring +grove. A couple of hours before sundown, my trader returned; +and, shortly after, the merry gang of villagers made +their appearance, laughing, singing, dancing, and laden with +fruit. As soon as the gossips announced the arrival of a white +man during their absence, the little hut that had been hospitably +assigned me was surrounded by a crowd, five or six deep, of men, +women, and children. The pressure was so close and sudden +that I was almost stifled. Finding they would not depart until +I made myself visible, I emerged from concealment and shook +hands with nearly all. The women, in particular, insisted on +gratifying themselves with a <i>sumboo</i> or smell at my face,—which +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +is the native’s kiss,—and folded their long black arms in an +embrace of my neck, threatening peril to my shirt with their +oiled and dusty flesh. However, I noticed so much <i>bonhommie</i> +among the happy crew that my heart would not allow +me to repulse them; so I kissed the youngest and shunned the +crones. In token of my good will, I led a dozen or more of +the prettiest to the rum-barrel, and made them happy for the +night.</p> + +<p>When the townsfolks had comfortably nestled themselves in +their hovels, the old chief, with a show of some formality, presented +me a heavy ram-goat, distinguished for its formidable +head-ornaments, which, he said, was offered as a <i>bonne-bouche</i>, for +my supper. He then sent a crier through the town, informing +the women that a white stranger would be their guest during +the night; and, in less than half an hour, my hut was visited +by most of the village dames and damsels. One brought a pint +of rice; another some roots of <i>cassava</i>; another, a few spoonfuls +of palm-oil; another a bunch of peppers; while the oldest +lady of the party made herself particularly remarkable by the +gift of a splendid fowl. In fact, the crier had hardly gone his +rounds, before my mat was filled with the voluntary contributions +of the villagers; and the wants, not only of myself but of my +eight rowers, completely supplied.</p> + +<p>There was nothing peculiar in this exhibition of hospitality, +on account of my nationality. It was the mere fulfilment of a +Bager law; and the poorest <i>black stranger</i> would have shared +the rite as well as myself. I could not help thinking that I +might have travelled from one end of England or America to the +other, without meeting a Bager <i>welcome</i>. Indeed, it seemed +somewhat questionable, whether it were better for the English to +civilize Africa, or for the Bagers to send missionaries to their +brethren in Britain!</p> + +<p>These reflections, however, did not spoil my appetite, for I +confess a feeling of unusual content and relish when the patriarch +sat down with me before the covered bowls prepared for our supper. +But, alas! for human hopes and tastes! As I lifted the +lid from the vessel containing the steaming stew, its powerful +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +fragrance announced the remains of that venerable quadruped +with which I had been welcomed. It was probably not quite in +etiquette among the Bagers to decline the stew, yet, had starvation +depended on it, I could not have touched a morsel. Accordingly, +I forbore the mess and made free with the rice, seasoning +it well with salt and peppers. But my amiable landlord +was resolved that I should not go to rest with such penitential +fare, and ordered one of his wives to bring her supper to my +lodge. A taste of the dish satisfied me that it was edible, +though intensely peppered. I ate with the appetite of an alderman, +nor was it till two days after that my trader informed +me I had supped so heartily on the spareribs of an alligator! +It was well that the hours of digestion had gone by, for though +partial to the chase, I had never loved “water fowl” of so wild +a character.</p> + +<p>When supper was over, I escaped from the hut to breathe a +little fresh air before retiring for the night. Hardly had I put +my head outside when I found myself literally inhaling the mosquitoes +that swarmed at nightfall over these marshy flats. I +took it for granted that there was to be no rest for me in darkness +among the Bagers; but, when I mentioned my trouble to +the chief, he told me that another hut had already been provided +for my sleeping quarters, where my bed was made of certain +green and odorous leaves which are antidotes to mosquitoes. +After a little more chat, he offered to guide me to the hovel, a +low, thickly matted bower, through whose single aperture I +crawled on hands and knees. As soon as I was in, the entrance +was closed, and although I felt very much as if packed in my +grave, I slept an unbroken sleep till day-dawn.<a name="FNanchor_D_6" id="FNanchor_D_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_6" class="fnanchor">[D]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +My return to the Rio Pongo was attended with considerable +danger, yet I did not regret the trial of my spirit, as it +enabled me to see a phase of African character which otherwise +might have been missed.</p> + +<p>After passing two days among the Bagers, I departed once +more in my canoe, impelled by the stout muscles of the Kroomen. +The breeze freshened as we passed from the river’s mouth +across the boiling surf of the bar, but, when we got fairly to sea, +I found the Atlantic so vexed by the rising gale, that, in spite +of waterproof awning and diligent bailing, we were several times +near destruction. Still, I had great confidence in the native +boatmen, whose skill in their skiffs is quite as great as their +dexterity when naked in the water. I had often witnessed their +agility as they escaped from capsized boats on the surf of our bar; +and often had I rewarded them with a dram, when they came, +as from a frolic, dripping and laughing to the beach.</p> + +<p>When night began to fall around us the storm increased, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +I could detect, by the low chatter and anxious looks of the +rowers, that they were alarmed. As far as my eye reached +landward, I could descry nothing but a continuous reef on which +the chafed sea was dashing furiously in columns of the densest +spray. Of course I felt that it was not my duty, nor would it +be prudent, to undertake the guidance of the canoe in such circumstances. +Yet, I confess that a shudder ran through my +nerves when I saw my “head-man” suddenly change our course +and steer the skiff directly towards the rocks. On she bounded +like a racer. The sea through which they urged her foamed like +a caldron with the rebounding surf. Nothing but wave-lashed +rock was before us. At last I could detect a narrow gap in the +iron wall, which was filled with surges in the heaviest swells. +We approached it, and paused at the distance of fifty feet. A +wave had just burst through the chasm like a storming army. +We waited for the succeeding lull. All hands laid still,—not a +word was spoken or paddle dipped. Then came the next enormous +swell under our stern;—the oars flew like lightning;—the +canoe rose as a feather on the crest of the surf;—in a moment +she shot through the cleft and reposed in smooth water near the +shore. As we sped through the gap, I might have touched the +rocks on both sides with my extended arms!</p> + +<p>Such is the skill and daring of Kroomen.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_6" id="Footnote_D_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_6"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> These Bagers are remarkable for their honesty, as I was convinced +by several anecdotes related, during my stay in this village, by my trading +clerk. He took me to a neighboring lemon-tree, and exhibited an English +brass steelyard hanging on its branches, which had been left there by a +mulatto merchant from Sierra Leone, who died in the town on a trading +trip. This article, with a chest half full of goods, deposited in the “palaver-house,” +had been kept securely more than twelve years in expectation +that some of his friends would send for them from the colony. The Bagers, +I was told, have no <i>jujus</i>, <i>fetiches</i>, or <i>gree-grees</i>;—they worship no god or +evil spirit;—their dead are buried without tears or ceremony;—and their +hereafter in eternal oblivion.</p> + +<p>The males of this tribe are of middling size and deep black color; broad-shouldered, +but neither brave nor warlike. They keep aloof from other +tribes, and by a Fullah law, are protected from foreign violence in consequence +of their occupation as salt-makers, which is regarded by the interior +natives as one of the most useful trades. Their fondness for palm-oil +and the little work they are compelled to perform, make them generally +indolent. Their dress is a single handkerchief, or a strip of country +cloth four or five inches wide, most carefully put on.</p> + +<p>The young women have none of the sylphlike appearance of the Mandingoes +or Soosoos. They work hard and use palm-oil plentifully both internally +and externally, so that their relaxed flesh is bloated like blubber. +Both sexes shave their heads, and adorn their noses and lower lips with +rings, while they penetrate their ears with porcupine quills or sticks. +<i>They neither sell nor buy each other</i>, though they acquire children of both +sexes from other tribes, and adopt them into their own, or dispose of them +if not suitable. Their avails of work are commonly divided; so the Bagers +may be said to resemble the Mormons in polygamy, the Fourierites in community, +but to exceed both in honesty!</p> + +<p>I am sorry that their nobler characteristics have so few imitators among +the other tribes of Africa.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + + +<p>When the rains began to slacken, a petty caravan now and then +straggled towards the coast; but, as I was only a new comer in +the region, and not possessed of abundant means, I enjoyed a +slender share of the trade. Still I consoled myself with the hope +of better luck in the dry season.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, however, I not only heard of Joseph’s safe +arrival at Matanzas, but received a clerk whom he dispatched to +dwell in Kambia while I visited the interior. Moreover, I built +a boat, and sent her to Sierra Leone with a cargo of palm-oil, to +be exchanged for British goods; and, finally, during my perfect +leisure, I went to work with diligence <i>to study</i> the trade in which +fortune seemed to have cast my lot.</p> + +<p>It would be a task of many pages if I attempted to give a +full account of the origin and causes of <i>slavery in Africa</i>. As +a national institution, it seems to have existed always. Africans +have been bondsmen every where: and the oldest monuments bear +their images linked with menial toils and absolute servitude. +Still, I have no hesitation in saying, that three fourths of the +slaves <i>sent abroad</i> from Africa are the fruit of native wars, +fomented by the avarice and temptation of our own race. I +cannot exculpate any commercial nation from this sweeping +censure. We stimulate the negro’s passions by the introduction +of wants and fancies never dreamed of by the simple native, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +while slavery was an institution of domestic need and comfort +alone. But what was once a luxury has now ripened into an +absolute necessity; so that <span class="smcap lowercase">MAN</span>, <i>in truth, has become the coin +of Africa, and the “legal tender” of a brutal trade</i>.</p> + +<p>England, to-day, with all her philanthropy, sends, under the +cross of St. George, to convenient magazines of <i>lawful commerce</i> +on the coast, her Birmingham muskets, Manchester cottons, and +Liverpool lead, all of which are righteously swapped at Sierra +Leone, Acra, and on the Gold coast, for Spanish or Brazilian +bills on London. Yet, what British merchant does not know +the traffic on which those bills are founded, and for whose support +his wares are purchased? France, with her <i>bonnet rouge</i> +and fraternity, dispatches her Rouen cottons, Marseilles brandies, +flimsy taffetas, and indescribable variety of tinsel gewgaws. +Philosophic Germany demands a slice for her looking-glasses and +beads; while multitudes of our own worthy traders, who would +hang a slaver as a pirate <i>when caught</i>, do not hesitate to supply +him indirectly with tobacco, powder, cotton, Yankee rum, and +New England notions, in order to bait the trap in which he <i>may</i> +be caught! It is the temptation of these things, I repeat, that +feeds the slave-making wars of Africa, and forms the human +basis of those admirable bills of exchange.</p> + +<p>I did not intend to write a homily on Ethiopian commerce +when I begun this chapter; but, on reviewing the substantial +motives of the traffic, I could not escape a statement which tells +its own tale, and is as unquestionable as the facts of verified history.</p> + +<p>Such, then, may be said to be the <i>predominating</i> influence +that supports the African slave-trade; yet, if commerce of all +kinds were forbidden with that continent, the customs and laws +of the natives would still encourage slavery as a domestic affair, +though, of course, in a very modified degree. The rancorous +family quarrels among tribes and parts of tribes, will always +promote conflicts that resemble the forays of our feudal ancestors, +while the captives made therein will invariably become +serfs.</p> + +<p>Besides this, the financial genius of Africa, instead of devising +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +bank notes or the precious metals as a circulating medium, has +from time immemorial, declared that a human creature,—<i>the true +representative and embodiment of labor</i>,—is the most valuable +article on earth. A man, therefore, becomes the standard of +prices. A slave is a note of hand, that may be discounted or +pawned; he is a bill of exchange that carries himself to his destination +and pays a debt bodily; he is a tax that walks corporeally +into the chieftain’s treasury. Thus, slavery is not likely to be +surrendered by the negroes themselves as a national institution. +Their social interests will continue to maintain hereditary bondage; +they will send the felon and the captive to foreign <i>barracoons</i>; +and they will sentence to domestic servitude the orphans +of culprits, disorderly children, gamblers, witches, vagrants, +cripples, insolvents, the deaf, the mute, the barren, and the +faithless. Five-sixths of the population is in chains.<a name="FNanchor_3_7" id="FNanchor_3_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_7" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>To facilitate the sale of these various unfortunates or malefactors, +there exists among the Africans a numerous class of brokers, +who are as skilful in their traffic as the jockeys of civilized +lands. These adroit scoundrels rove the country in search of +objects to suit different patrons. They supply the body-guard of +princes; procure especial tribes for personal attendants; furnish +laborers for farms; fill the <i>harems</i> of debauchees; pay or collect +debts in flesh; and in cases of emergency take the place of +bailiffs, to kidnap under the name of sequestration. If a native +king lacks cloth, arms, powder, balls, tobacco, rum, or salt, and +does not trade personally with the factories on the beach, he +employs one of these dexterous gentry to effect the barter; and +thus both British cotton and Yankee rum ascend the rivers from +the second hands into which they have passed, while the slave +approaches the coast to become the ebony basis of a bill of exchange!</p> + +<p>It has sometimes struck me as odd, how the extremes of society +almost meet on similar principles; and how much some +African short-comings resemble the conceded civilizations of other +lands!</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_7" id="Footnote_3_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_7"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Dr. Lugenbeel’s “Sketches of Liberia.”: 1853. p. 45, 2d ed.</p></div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + + +<p>The month of November, 1827, brought the wished-for “dry +season;” and with it came a message from the leader of a caravan, +that, at the full of the moon, he would halt in my village +with all the produce he could impress. The runner represented +his master as bearing a missive from his beloved nephew Ahmah-de-Bellah, +and declared that he only lingered on the path to swell +his caravan for the profit of my coffers.</p> + +<p>I did not let the day pass before I sent an interpreter to greet +my promised guest with suitable presents; while I took advantage +of his delay to build a neat cottage for his reception, inasmuch +as no Fullah Mahometan will abide beneath the same roof +with an infidel. I furnished the establishment, according to their +taste, with green hides and several fresh mats.</p> + +<p>True to his word, Mami-de-Yong made known his arrival in +my neighborhood on the day when the planet attained its full +diameter. The moment the pious Mussulman, from the high +hills in the rear of my settlement, espied the river winding to the +sea, he turned to the east, and raising his arms to heaven, and +extending them towards Mecca, gave thanks for his safe arrival +on the beach. After repeated genuflections, in which the earth +was touched by his prostrate forehead, he arose, and taking +the path towards Kambia, struck up a loud chant in honor of +the prophet, in which he was joined by the interminable procession.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +It was quite an imposing sight—this Oriental parade and +barbaric pomp. My native landlord, proud of the occasion, as +well as of his Mahometan progenitors, joined in the display. As +the train approached my establishment, I ordered repeated salutes +in honor of the stranger, and as I had no minstrels or music to +welcome the Fullah, I commanded my master of ceremonies to +conceal the deficiency by plenty of smoke and a dozen more +rounds of rattling musketry.</p> + +<p>This was the first caravan and the first leader of absolutely +royal pretensions that visited my settlement; so I lined my +piazza with mats, put a body-guard under arms behind me, decorated +the front with fancy flags, and opposite the stool where I +took my seat, caused a pure white sheepskin of finest wool +to be spread for the accommodation of the noble savage. Advancing +to the steps of my dwelling, I stood uncovered as the +Fullah approached and tendered me a silver-mounted gazelle-horn +snuff-box—the credential by which Ahmah-de-Bellah had +agreed to certify the mission. Receiving the token with a <i>salaam</i>, +I carried it reverently to my forehead, and passed it to Ali-Ninpha, +who, on this occasion, played the part of my scribe. +The ceremony over, we took him by the hands and led him to +his allotted sheepskin, while, with a bow, I returned to my stool.</p> + +<p>According to “country custom,” Mami-de-Yong then began +the <i>dantica</i>, or exposition of purposes, first of all invoking +<span class="smcap">Allah</span> to witness his honor and sincerity. “Not only,” said +the Mussulman, “am I the bearer of a greeting from my dear +nephew Ahmah-de-Bellah, but I am an envoy from my royal master +the Ali-Mami, of Footha-Yallon, who, at his son’s desire, has +sent me with an escort to conduct you on your promised visit to +Timbo. During your absence, my lord has commanded us to +dwell in your stead at Kambia, so that your property may be +safe from the Mulatto Mongo of Bangalang, whose malice +towards your person has been heard of even among our distant +hills!”</p> + +<p>The latter portion of this message somewhat surprised me, +for though my relations with Mongo John were by no means +amicable, I did not imagine that the story of our rupture had +spread so far, or been received with so much sympathy.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +Accordingly, when Mami-de-Yong finished his message, I approached +him with thanks for his master’s interest in my welfare; +and, placing Ahmah-de-Bellah’s Koran—which I had previously +wrapped in a white napkin—in his hands, as a token of +the nephew’s friendship, I retired once more to my seat. As +soon as the holy book appeared from the folds, Mami-de-Yong +drew a breath of surprise, and striking his breast, fell on his +knees with his head on the ground, where he remained for several +minutes apparently in rapt devotion. As he rose—his forehead +sprinkled with dust, and his eyes sparkling with tears—he +opened the volume, and pointed out to me and his people his +own handwriting, which he translated to signify that “Mami-de-Yong +gave this word of God to Ahmah-de-Bellah, his kinsman.” +At the reading of the sentence, all the Fullahs shouted, “Glory +to Allah and Mahomet his Prophet!” Then, coming forward +again to the chief, I laid my hand on the Koran, and swore by +the help of God, to accept the invitation of the great king of +Footha-Yallon.</p> + +<p>This terminated the ceremonial reception, after which I hastened +to conduct Mami-de-Yong to his quarters, where I presented +him with a sparkling new kettle and an inkstand, letting +him understand, moreover, I was specially anxious to know that +all the wants of his attendants in the caravan were completely +satisfied.</p> + +<p>Next morning early, I remembered the joy of his nephew +Ahmah-de-Bellah, when I first treated him to <i>coffee</i>; and determined +to welcome the chief, as soon as he came forth from his +ablutions to prayers, with a cup distilled from the fragrant berry. +I could not have hit upon a luxury more gratifying to the old +gentleman. Thirty years before had he drank it in Timbuctoo, +where it is used, he said, by the Moses-people (meaning the Hebrews), +with milk and honey; and its delicious aroma brought the +well-remembered taste to his lips ere they touched the sable fluid.</p> + +<p>Long before Mami-de-Yong’s arrival, his fame as a learned +“book-man” and extensive traveller preceded him, so that when +he mentioned his travel to Timbuctoo, I begged him to give me +some account of that “capital of capitals,” as the Africans call +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +it. The royal messenger promised to comply as soon as he finished +the morning lessons of the caravan’s children. His quarters +were filled with a dozen or more of young Fullahs and +Mandingoes squatted around a fire, while the prince sat apart +in a corner with inkstand, writing reeds, and a pile of old manuscripts. +Ali-Ninpha, our backsliding Mahometan, stood by, pretending +devoted attention to Mami’s precepts and the Prophet’s +versus. The sinner was a scrupulous follower in the presence of +the faithful; but when their backs were turned, I know few +who relished a porker more lusciously, or avoided water with +more scrupulous care. Yet why should I scoff at poor Ali? Joseph +and I had done our best to <i>civilize</i> him!</p> + +<p>Mami-de-Yong apologized for the completion of his daily task +in my presence, and went on with his instruction, while the +pupils wrote down notes, on wooden slabs, with reeds and a fluid +made of powder dissolved in water.</p> + +<p>I am sorry to say that these Ethiopian Mahometans are but +poor scholars. Their entire instruction amounts to little more +than the Koran, and when they happen to write or receive a +letter, its interpretation is a matter over which many an hour is +toilsomely spent. Mami-de-Yong, however, was superior to most +of his countrymen; and, in fact, I must record him in my narrative +as the most erudite Negro I ever encountered.</p> + + +<h3>HIS TRIP TO TIMBUCTOO.</h3> + +<p>True to his promise, the envoy came to my piazza, as soon as +school was over, and squatting sociably on our mats and sheepskins, +with a plentiful supply of pipes and tobacco, we formed +as pleasant a little party as was assembled that day on the banks +of the Rio Pongo. Ali-Ninpha acted as interpreter, having prepared +himself for the long-winded task by a preliminary dram +from my private locker, out of sight of the noble Mahometan.</p> + +<p>Invoking the Lord’s name,—as is usual among Mussulmen,—Mami-de-Yong +took a long whiff at his pipe, and, receiving +from his servant a small bag of fine sand, spread it smoothly +on the floor, leaving the mass about a quarter of an inch in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +thickness. This was his black-board, designed to serve for +the delineation of his journey. On the westernmost margin of +his sand, he dotted a point with his finger for the starting at +Timbo. As he proceeded with his track over Africa towards +the grand capital, he marked the outlines of the principal territories, +and spotted the remarkable towns through which he +passed. By a thick or thin line, he denoted the large rivers and +small streams that intercepted his path, while he heaved up the +sand into heaps to represent a mountain, or smoothed it into perfect +levels to imitate the broad prairies and savannas of the interior. +When he came to a dense forest, his snuff-box was +called in requisition, and a pinch or two judiciously sprinkled, +stood for the monarchs of the wood.</p> + +<p>Like all Oriental story-tellers, Mami proved rather prolix. +His tale was nearly as long as his travel. He insisted on describing +his reception at every village. At each river he had his +story of difficulty and danger in constructing rafts or building +bridges. He counted the minutes he lost in awaiting the diminution +of floods. Anon, he would catalogue the various fish with +which a famous river teemed; and, when he got fairly into the +woods, there was no end of adventures and hairbreadth escapes +from alligators, elephants, anacondas, vipers, and the fatal tape +snake, whose bite is certain death. In the mountains he encountered +wolves, wild asses, hyænas, zebras, and eagles.</p> + +<p>In fact, the whole morning glided away with a geographical, +zoological, and statistical overture to his tour; so that, when +the hour of prayer and ablution arrived, Mami-de-Yong had +not yet reached Timbuctoo! The double rite of cleanliness and +faith required him to pause in his narrative; and, apologizing +for the interruption, he left a slave to guard the map while he +retired to perform his religious services.</p> + +<p>When the noble Fullah got back, I had a nice lunch prepared +on a napkin in the neighborhood of his diagram, so that he could +munch his biscuits and sugar without halting on his path. Before +he began, however, I took the liberty to offer a hint about the +precious value of time in this brief life of ours, whilst I asked +a question or two about the “capital of capitals,” to indicate +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +my eagerness to enter the walls of Timbuctoo. Mami-de-Yong, +who was a man of tact as well as humor, smiled at my insinuation, +and apologizing like a Christian for the natural tediousness +of all old travellers, skipped a degree or two of the wilderness, +and at once stuck his buffalo-horn snuff-box into the eastern +margin of the sand, to indicate that he was at his journey’s end.</p> + +<p>Mami had visited many of the European colonies and Moorish +kingdoms on the north coast of Africa, so that he enjoyed +the advantage of comparison, and, of course, was not stupefied +by the untravelled ignorance of Africans who consider Timbuctoo +a combination of Paris and paradise. Indeed, he did not presume, +like most of the Mandingo chiefs, to prefer it to Senegal +or Sierra Leone. He confessed that the royal palace was nothing +but a vast inclosure of mud walls, built without taste or symmetry, +within whose labyrinthine mesh there were numerous +buildings for the wives, children, and kindred of the sovereign. +If the royal palace of Timbuctoo was of <i>such</i> a character,—“What,” +said he, “were the dwellings of nobles and townsfolk?” +The streets were paths;—the stores were shops;—the +suburb of an European colony was <i>superior</i> to their best display! +The markets of Timbuctoo, alone, secured his admiration. Every +week they were thronged with traders, dealers, peddlers and +merchants, who either dwelt in the neighboring kingdoms, or +came from afar with slaves and produce. Moors and Israelites, +from the north-east, were the most eminent and opulent merchants; +and among them he counted a travelling class, crowned +with peculiar turbans, whom he called “Joseph’s-people,” or, in +all likelihood, Armenians.</p> + +<p>The prince had no mercy on the government of this influential +realm. Strangers, he said, were watched and taxed. Indeed, +he spoke of it with the peculiar love that we would suppose +a Hungarian might bear towards Austria, or a Milanese to +the inquisitorial powers of Lombardy. In fact, I found that, +despite of its architectural meanness, Timbuctoo was a great +central mart for exchange, and that commercial men as well as +the innumerable petty kings, frequented it not only for the +abundant mineral salt in its vicinity, <i>but because they could +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +exchange their slaves for foreign merchandise</i>. I asked the Fullah +why he preferred the markets of Timbuctoo to the well-stocked +stores of regular European settlements on a coast which was +reached with so much more ease than this core of Africa? +“Ah!” said the astute trafficker, “no market is a good one for +the genuine African, in which he cannot openly exchange his +<i>blacks</i> for whatever the original owner or importer can sell without +fear! <i>Slaves, Don Téodore, are our money!</i>”</p> + +<p>The answer solved in my mind one of the political problems +in the question of African civilization, which I shall probably develope +in the course of this narrative.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + + +<p>Having completed the mercantile negotiations of the caravan, +and made my personal arrangements for a protracted absence, I +put the noble Fullah in charge of my establishment, with special +charges to my retainers, clerks, runners, and villagers, to regard +the Mami as my second self. I thought it well, moreover, before +I plunged into the wilderness,—leaving my worldly goods +and worldly prospects in charge of a Mussulman stranger,—to +row down to Bangalang for a parting chat with Mongo John, +in which I might sound the veteran as to his feeling and projects. +Ormond was in trouble as soon as I appeared. He was willing +enough that I might perish by treachery on the roadside, yet he +was extremely reluctant that I should penetrate Africa and +make alliances which should give me superiority over the monopolists +of the beach. I saw these things passing through his jealous +heart as we talked together with uncordial civility. At parting +I told the Mongo, for the first time, that I was sure my establishment +would not go to decay or suffer harm in my absence, +inasmuch as that powerful Fullah, the Ali-Mami of Footha-Yallon +had deputed a lieutenant to watch Kambia while I travelled, +and that he would occupy my village with his chosen warriors. +The mulatto started with surprise as I finished, and abruptly left +the apartment in silence.</p> + +<p>I slept well that night, notwithstanding the Mongo’s displeasure. +My confidence in the Fullah was perfect. Stranger +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +as he was, I had an instinctive reliance on his protection of my +home, and his guardianship of my person through the wilderness.</p> + +<p>At day-dawn I was up. It was a fresh and glorious morning. +As nature awoke in the woods of that primitive world, the mists +stole off from the surface of the water; and, as the first rays +shot through the glistening dew of the prodigious vegetation, a +thousand birds sent forth their songs as if to welcome me into +their realm of unknown paths.</p> + +<p>After a hearty breakfast my Spanish clerk was furnished with +minute instructions in writing, and, at the last moment, I presented +the Fullah chief to my people as a temporary master to +whom they were to pay implicit obedience for his generous +protection. By ten o’clock, my caravan was in motion. It consisted +of thirty individuals deputed by Ahmah-de-Bellah, headed +by one of his relations as captain. Ten of my own servants +were assigned to carry baggage, merchandise, and provisions; +while Ali-Ninpha, two interpreters, my body-servant, a waiter, and +a hunter, composed my immediate guard. In all, there were +about forty-five persons.</p> + +<p>When we were starting, Mami-de-Yong approached to “snap +fingers,” and put in my hands a verse of the Koran in his master’s +handwriting,—“hospitality to the wearied stranger is the +road to heaven,”—which was to serve me as a passport among all +good Mahometans. If I had time, no doubt I would have +thought how much more Christian this document was than the +formal paper with which we are fortified by “foreign offices” +and “state departments,” when we go abroad from civilized +lands;—but, before I could summon so much sentiment, the +Fullah chief stooped to the earth, and filling his hands with dust, +sprinkled it over our heads, in token of a prosperous journey. +Then, prostrating himself with his head on the ground, he bade +us “go our way!”</p> + +<p>I believe I have already said that even the best of African +roads are no better than goat-paths, and barely sufficient for the +passage of a single traveller. Accordingly, our train marched +off in single file. Two men, cutlass in hand, armed, besides, with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +loaded muskets, went in advance not only to scour the way and +warn us of danger, but to cut the branches and briers that soon +impede an untravelled path in this prolific land. They marched +within hail of the caravan, and shouted whenever we approached +bee-trees, ant-hills, hornet-nests, reptiles, or any of the Ethiopian +perils that are unheard of in our American forests. Behind +these pioneers, came the porters with food and luggage; the centre +of the caravan was made up of women, children, guards, and +followers; while the rear was commanded by myself and the +chiefs, who, whips in hand, found it sometimes beneficial to +stimulate the steps of stragglers. As we crossed the neighboring +Soosoo towns, our imposing train was saluted with discharges +of musketry, while crowds of women and children followed +their “<i>cupy</i>,” or “white-man,” to bid him farewell on the border +of the settlement.</p> + +<p>For a day or two our road passed through a rolling country, +interspersed with forests, cultivated fields, and African villages, +in which we were welcomed by the generous chiefs with <i>bungees</i>, +or trifling gifts, in token of amity. Used to the scant exercise +of a lazy dweller on the coast, whose migrations are confined to +a journey from his house to the landing, and from the landing to +his house, it required some time to habituate me once more to +walking. By degrees, however, I overcame the foot-sore weariness +that wrapped me in perfect lassitude when I sank into my +hammock on the first night of travel. However, as we became better +acquainted with each other and with wood-life, we tripped along +merrily in the shadowy silence of the forest,—singing, jesting, +and praising Allah. Even the slaves were relaxed into familiarity +never permitted in the towns; while masters would sometimes +be seen relieving the servants by bearing their burdens. At nightfall +the women brought water, cooked food, and distributed rations; +so that, after four days pleasant wayfaring in a gentle +trot, our dusty caravan halted at sunset before the closed gates +of a fortified town belonging to Ibrahim Ali, the Mandingo chief +of Kya.</p> + +<p>It was some time before our shouts and beating on the gates +aroused the watchman to answer our appeal, for it was the hour +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +of prayer, and Ibrahim was at his devotions. At last, pestered +by their dalliance, I fired my double-barrelled gun, whose loud +report I knew was more likely to reach the ear of a praying +Mussulman. I did not reckon improperly, for hardly had the +echoes died away before the great war-drum of the town was rattled, +while a voice from a loophole demanded our business. I +left the negotiation for our entry to the Fullah chief, who forthwith +answered that “the <i>Ali-Mami’s</i> caravan, laden with goods, +demanded hospitality;” while Ali-Ninpha informed the questioner, +that Don Téodore, the “white man of Kambia,” craved +admittance to the presence of Ibrahim the faithful.</p> + +<p>In a short time the wicket creaked, and Ibrahim himself put +forth his head to welcome the strangers, and to admit them, one +by one, into the town. His reception of myself and Ali-Ninpha +was extremely cordial; but the Fullah chief was addressed with +cold formality, for the Mandingoes have but little patience with +the well-known haughtiness of their national rivals.</p> + +<p>Ali-Ninpha had been Ibrahim’s playmate before he migrated +to the coast. Their friendship still existed in primitive sincerity, +and the chieftain’s highest ambition was to honor the +companion and guest of his friend. Accordingly, his wives and +females were summoned to prepare my quarters with comfort and +luxury. The best house was chosen for my lodging. The +earthen floor was spread with mats. Hides were stretched on +<i>adobe</i> couches, and a fire was kindled to purify the atmosphere. +Pipes were furnished my companions; and, while a hammock +was slung for my repose before supper, a chosen henchman was +dispatched to seek the fattest sheep for that important meal.</p> + +<p>Ibrahim posted sentinels around my hut, so that my slumbers +were uninterrupted, until Ali-Ninpha roused me with the +pleasant news that the bowls of rice and stews were smoking on +the mat in the chamber of Ibrahim himself. Ninpha knew my +tastes and superintended the cook. He had often jested at the +“white man’s folly,” when my stomach turned at some disgusting +dish of the country; so that the pure roasts and broils of +well-known pieces slipped down my throat with the appetite of a +trooper. While these messes were under discussion, the savory +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +steam of a rich stew with a creamy sauce saluted my nostrils, +and, without asking leave, I plunged my spoon into a dish that +stood before my entertainers, and seemed prepared exclusively +for themselves. In a moment I was invited to partake of the +<i>bonne-bouche</i>; and so delicious did I find it, that, even at this +distance of time, my mouth waters when I remember the forced-meat +balls of mutton, minced with roasted ground-nuts, that I +devoured that night in the Mandingo town of Kya.</p> + +<p>But the best of feasts is dull work without an enlivening +bowl. Water alone—pure and cool as it was in this hilly region—did +not quench our thirst. Besides this, I recollected the +fondness of my landlord, Ali-Ninpha, for strong distillations, and +I guessed that his playmate might indulge, at least privately, in +a taste for similar libations. I spoke, therefore, of “cordial bitters,”—(a +name not unfamiliar even to the most temperate +Christians, in defence of flatulent stomachs,)—and at the same +time producing my travelling canteen of Otard’s best, applied it +to the nostrils of the pair.</p> + +<p>I know not how it happened, but before I could warn the +Mahometans of the risk they incurred, the lips of the bottle slid +from their noses to their mouths, while upheaved elbows long +sustained in air, gave notice that the flask was relishing and the +draft “good for their complaints.” Indeed, so appetizing was +the liquor, that another ground-nut stew was demanded; and, +of course, another bottle was required to allay its dyspeptic +qualities.</p> + +<p>By degrees, the brandy did its work on the worthy Mahometans. +While it restored Ali-Ninpha to his early faith, and +brought him piously to his knees with prayers to Allah, it had a +contrary effect on Ibrahim, whom it rendered wild and generous. +Every thing was mine;—house, lands, slaves, and children. He +dwelt rapturously on the beauty of his wives, and kissed Ali-Ninpha +in mistake for one of them. This only rendered the +apostate more devout than ever, and set him roaring invocations +like a muezzin from a minaret. In the midst of these orgies, I +stole off at midnight, and was escorted by my servant to a +delicious hammock.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +It was day-dawn when the caravan’s crier aroused me, as he +stood on a house-top calling the faithful to prayer previous to +our departure. Before I could stir, Ali-Ninpha, haggard, sick, +and crest-fallen, from his debauch, rolled into my chamber, and +begged the postponement of our departure, as it was impossible +for <i>Ibrahim Ali</i> to appear, being perfectly vanquished by—“the +bitters!” The poor devil hiccoughed between his words, and +so earnestly and with so many bodily gyrations implored my interference +with the Fullah guide, that I saw at once he was in no +condition to travel.</p> + +<p>As the caravan was my personal escort and designed exclusively +for my convenience, I did not hesitate to command a halt, +especially as I was in some measure the cause of my landlord’s +malady. Accordingly, I tied a kerchief round my head, covered +myself with a cloak, and leaning very lackadaisically on the +edge of my hammock, sent for the Fullah chief.</p> + +<p>I moaned with pain as he approached, and, declaring that I +was prostrated by sudden fever, hoped he would indulge me by +countermanding the order for our march. I do not know +whether the worthy Mussulman understood my case or believed +my fever, but the result was precisely the same, for he assented +to my request like a gentleman, and expressed the deepest sympathy +with my sufferings. His next concern was for my cure. +True to the superstition and bigotry of his country, the good-natured +Fullah insisted on taking the management of matters +into his own hands, and forthwith prescribed a dose from the +Koran, diluted in water, which he declared was a specific remedy +for my complaint. I smiled at the idea of making a drug of +divinity, but as I knew that homœopathy was harmless under the +circumstances, I requested the Fullah to prepare his physic on +the spot. The chief immediately brought his Koran, and turning +over the leaves attentively for some time, at last hit on the +appropriate verse, which he wrote down on a board with gunpowder +ink, which he washed off into a bowl with clean water. This +was given me to swallow, and the Mahometan left me to the +operation of his religious charm, with special directions to the +servant to allow no one to disturb my rest.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +I have no doubt that the Fullah was somewhat of a quiz, +and thought a chapter in his Bible a capital lesson after a reckless +debauch; so I ordered my door to be barricaded, and slept +like a dormouse, until Ibrahim and Ali-Ninpha came thundering +at the portal long after mid-day. They were sadly chopfallen. +Penitence spoke from their aching brows; nor do I hesitate to +believe they were devoutly sincere when they forswore “<i>bitters</i>” +for the future. In order to allay suspicion, or quiet his conscience, +the Fullah had been presented with a magnificent ram-goat, +flanked by baskets of choicest rice.</p> + +<p>When I sallied forth into the town with the suffering sinners, +I found the sun fast declining in the west, and, although my +fever had left me, it was altogether too late to depart from the +village on our journey. I mentioned to Ibrahim a report on the +coast that his town was bordered by a sacred spring known as +the <span class="smcap">Devil’s Fountain</span>, and inquired whether daylight enough +still remained to allow us a visit. The chief assented; and as +in his generous fit last night, he had offered me a horse, I now +claimed the gift, and quickly mounted in search of the aqueous +demon.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + + +<p>Ah! what joy, after so many years, to be once more in the +saddle in an open country, with a steed of fire and spirit bounding +beneath my exhilarated frame! It was long before I could +consent to obey the summons of our guide to follow him on the path. +When the gates of Kya were behind, and the wider roads opened +invitingly before me, I could not help giving rein to the mettlesome +beast, as he dashed across the plain beneath the arching +branches of magnificent cotton-woods. The solitude and the motion +were both delightful. Never, since I last galloped from the +<i>paseo</i> to Atares, and from Atares to El Principe, overlooking +the beautiful bay of Havana, and the distant outline of her +purple sea, had I felt so gloriously the rush of joyous blood that +careered through my veins like electric fire. Indeed, I know +not how long I would have traversed the woods had not the +path suddenly ended at a town, where my Arabian turned of his +own accord, and dashed back along the road till I met my wondering +companions.</p> + +<p>Having sobered both our bloods, I felt rather better prepared +for a visit to the Satanic personage who was the object of our +excursion. About two miles from Kya, we struck the foot of +a steep hill, some three hundred feet in height, over whose +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +shoulder we reached a deep and tangled dell, watered by a slender +stream which was hemmed in by a profusion of shrubbery. +Crossing the brook, we ascended the opposite declivity for a short +distance till we approached a shelving precipice of rock, along +whose slippery side the ledgelike path continued. I passed it at +a bound, and instantly stood within the arched aperture of a deep +cavern, whence a hot and sulphurous stream trickled slowly +towards the ravine. This was the fountain, and the demon who +presided over its source dwelt within the cave.</p> + +<p>Whilst I was examining the rocks to ascertain their quality, +the guide apprised me that the impish proprietor of these waters +was gifted with a “multitude of tongues,” and, in all probability, +would reply to me in my own, if I thought fit to address him. +“Indeed,” said the savage, “he will answer you <i>word for word</i> +and that, too, almost before you can shape your thought in +language. Let us see if he is at home?”</p> + +<p>I called, in a loud voice, “<span class="smcap">Kya</span>!” but as no reply followed, +I perceived at once the wit of the imposture, and without waiting +for him to place me, took my own position at a spot inside the +cavern, where I knew the <i>echoes</i> would be redoubled. “Now,” +said I, “I know the devil is at home, as well as you do;”—and, +telling my people to listen, I bellowed, with all my might—“<i>caffra +fure!</i>” “infernal black one!”—till the resounding +rocks roared again with demoniac responses. In a moment the +cavern was clear of every African; so that I amused myself +letting off shrieks, howls, squeals, and pistols, until the affrighted +natives peeped into the mouth of the cave, thinking the devil in +reality had come for me in a double-breasted garment of thunder +and lightning. I came forth, however, with a whole skin and so +hearty a laugh, that the Africans seized my hands in token of +congratulation, and looked at me with wonderment, as something +greater than the devil himself. Without waiting for a +commentary, I leaped on my Arab and darted down the hill.</p> + +<p>“And so,” said I, when I got back to Kya, “dost thou in +truth believe, beloved Ibrahim, that the devil dwells in those +rocks of the sulphur stream?”</p> + +<p>“Why not, brother Theodore? Isn’t the water poison? If you +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> +drink, will it not physic you? When animals lick it in the dry +season, do they not die on the margin by scores? Now, a ‘book-man’ +like you, my brother, knows well enough that <i>water</i> alone +can’t kill; so that whenever it does, the devil <i>must</i> be in it; +and, moreover, is it not he who speaks in the cavern?”</p> + +<p>“Good,” replied I; “but, pry’thee, dear Ibrahim, read me +this riddle: if the devil gets into <i>water</i> and kills, why don’t he +kill when he gets into ‘<i>bitters</i>?’”</p> + +<p>“Ah!” said the Ali—“you white men are infidels and scoffers!” +as he laughed like a rollicking trooper, and led me, with +his arm round my neck, into supper. “And yet, Don Téodore, +don’t forget the portable imp that you carry in that Yankee +flask in your pocket!”</p> + +<p>We did not dispute the matter further. I had been long +enough in Africa to find out that white men made themselves odious +to the natives and created bitter enemies, by despising or ridiculing +their errors; and as I was not abroad on a mission of civilization, +I left matters just as I found them. When I was among +the Mahometans, I was an excellent Mussulman, while, among +the heathen, I affected considerable respect for their <i>jujus</i>, +<i>gree-grees</i>, <i>fetiches</i>, <i>snakes</i>, <i>iguanas</i>, <i>alligators</i>, and wooden +images.</p> + +<p>Ere we set forth next morning, my noble host caused a generous +meal to be dispensed among the caravan. The breakfast +consisted of boiled rice dried in the sun, and then boiled again +with milk or water after being pounded finely in a mortar. This +nutritive dish was liberally served; and, as a new Mongo, I was +tendered an especial platter, flanked by copious bowls of cream +and honey.</p> + +<p>It is true Mandingo etiquette, at the departure of an honored +friend, for the Lord of the Town to escort him on his way to +the first brook, drink of the water with the wayfarer, toast a +prompt return, invoke Allah for a prosperous voyage, shake +bands, and snap fingers, in token of friendly adieu. The host +who tarries then takes post in the path, and, fixing his eyes on +the departing guest, never stirs till the traveller is lost in the +folds of the forest, or sinks behind the distant horizon.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +Such was the conduct of my friend Ibrahim on this occasion; +nor was it all. It is a singular habit of these benighted people, +to keep their word whenever they make a promise! I dare +say it is one of the marks of their faint civilization; yet I am +forced to record it as a striking fact. When I sallied forth from +the gate of the town, I noticed a slave holding the horse I rode +the day before to the Devil’s fountain, ready caparisoned and +groomed as for a journey. Being accompanied by Ibrahim on +foot, I supposed the animal was designed for his return after our +complimentary adieus. But when we had passed at least a mile +beyond the parting brook, I <i>again</i> encountered the beast, whose +leader approached Ali-Ninpha, announcing the horse as a gift +from his master to help me on my way. Ere I backed the +blooded animal, an order was directed to my clerk at Kambia for +two muskets, two kegs of powder, two pieces of blue cotton, and +one hundred pounds of tobacco. I advised my official, moreover, +to inclose in the core of the tobacco the stoutest flask he could +find of our fourth proof “bitters!”</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + + +<p>The day was cloudy, but our trotting caravan did not exceed +twenty miles in travel. In Africa things are done leisurely, for +neither life, speculation, nor ambition is so exciting or exacting +as to make any one in a hurry. I do not recollect to have ever +seen an individual <i>in haste</i> while I dwelt in the torrid clime. +The shortest existence is long enough, when it is made up of +sleep, slave-trade, and mastication.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>At sunset no town was in sight; so it was resolved to +bivouac in the forest on the margin of a beautiful brook, where +rice, tea, and beef, were speedily boiled and smoking on the mats. +When I was about to stretch my weary limbs for the night +on the ground, my boy gave me another instance of Ibrahim’s +true and heedful hospitality, by producing a grass hammock he +had secretly ordered to be packed among my baggage. With a +hammock and a horse I was on velvet in the forest!</p> + +<p>Delicious sleep curtained my swinging couch between two +splendid cotton-woods until midnight, when the arm of our +Fullah chief was suddenly laid on my shoulder with a whispered +call to prepare for defence or flight. As I leaped to the ground +the caravan was already afoot, though the profoundest silence +prevailed throughout the wary crowd. The watch announced +strangers in our neighborhood, and two guides had been +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +despatched immediately to reconnoitre the forest. This was all the +information they could give me.</p> + +<p>The native party was fully prepared and alert with spears, +lances, bows and arrows. I commanded my own men to re-prime +their muskets, pistols, and rifles; so that, when the guides +returned with a report that the intruders were supposed to +form a party of fugitive slaves, we were ready for our customers.</p> + +<p>Their capture was promptly determined. Some proposed +we should delay till daylight; but Ali-Ninpha, who was a +sagacious old fighter, thought it best to complete the enterprise +by night, especially as the savages kept up a smouldering fire in +the midst of their sleeping group, which would serve to guide us.</p> + +<p>Our little band was immediately divided into two squads, one +under the lead of the Fullah, and the other commanded by Ali-Ninpha. +The Fullah was directed to make a circuit until he got +in the rear of the slaves, while Ali-Ninpha, at a concerted signal, +began to advance towards them from our camp. Half an hour +probably elapsed before a faint call, like the cry of a child, was +heard in the distant forest, upon which the squad of my landlord +fell on all-fours, and crawled cautiously, like cats, through the +short grass and brushwood, in the direction of the sound. The +sleepers were quickly surrounded. The Mandingo gave the signal +as soon as the ends of the two parties met and completed +the circle; and, in an instant, every one of the runaways, except +two, was in the grasp of a warrior, with a cord around his throat. +Fourteen captives were brought into camp. The eldest of the +party alleged that they belonged to the chief of Tamisso, a town +on our path to Timbo, and were bound to the coast for sale. On +their way to the <i>foreign</i> factories, which they were exceedingly +anxious to reach, their owner died, so that they came under the +control of his brother, who threatened to change their destination, +and sell them in the interior. In consequence of this they +fled; and, as their master would surely slay them if restored to +Tamisso, they besought us with tears not to take them thither.</p> + +<p>Another council was called, for we were touched by the +earnest manner of the negroes. Ali-Ninpha and the Fullah were +of opinion that the spoil was fairly ours, and should be divided +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> +in proportion to the men in both parties. Yet, as our road +passed by the objectionable town, it was impossible to carry the +slaves along, either in justice to ourselves or them. In this +strait, which puzzled the Africans sorely, I came to their relief, +by suggesting their dispatch to my factory with orders for the +payment of their value in merchandise.</p> + +<p>The proposal was quickly assented to as the most feasible, +and our fourteen captives were at once divided into two gangs, of +seven each. Hoops of bamboo were soon clasped round their +waists, while their hands were tied by stout ropes to the hoops. +A long tether was then passed with a slip-knot through each +rattan belt, so that the slaves were firmly secured to each +other, while a small coil was employed to link them more securely +in a band by their necks. These extreme precautions were +needed, because we dared not diminish our party to guard the +gang. Indeed, Ali-Ninpha was only allowed the two interpreters +and four of my armed people as his escort to Kya, where, it was +agreed, he should deliver the captives to Ibrahim, to be forwarded +to my factory, while he hastened to rejoin us at the river +Sanghu, where we designed tarrying.</p> + +<p>For three days we journeyed through the forest, passing +occasionally along the beds of dried-up streams and across lonely +tracts of wood which seemed never to have been penetrated, +save by the solitary path we were treading. As we were anxious +to be speedily reunited with our companions, our steps were not +hastened; so that, at the end of the third day, we had not +advanced more than thirty miles from the scene of capture, +when we reached a small <i>Mandingo</i> village, recently built by an +upstart trader, who, with the common envy and pride of his +tribe, gave our <i>Fullah</i> caravan a frigid reception. A single hut +was assigned to the chief and myself for a dwelling, and the +rage of the Mahometan may readily be estimated by an insult +that would doom him to sleep beneath the same roof with a +Christian!</p> + +<p>I endeavored to avert an outburst by apprising the Mandingo +that I was a bosom friend of Ali-Ninpha, his countryman and +superior, and begged that he would suffer the “head-man” of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +our caravan to dwell in a house <i>alone</i>. But the impudent +<i>parvenu</i> sneered at my advice; “he knew no such person as +Ali-Ninpha, and cared not a snap of his finger for a Fullah chief, +or a beggarly white man!”</p> + +<p>My body-servant was standing by when this tart reply fell +from the Mandingo’s lips, and, before I could stop the impetuous +youth, he answered the trader with as gross an insult as an +African can utter. To this the Mandingo replied by a blow over +the boy’s shoulders with the flat of a cutlass; and, in a twinkling, +there was a general shout for “rescue” from all my party +who happened to witness the scene. Fullahs, Mandingoes, and +Soosoos dashed to the spot, with spears, guns, and arrows. The +Fullah chief seized my double-barrelled gun and followed the +crowd; and when he reached the spot, seeing the trader still +waving his cutlass in a menacing manner, he pulled both triggers +at the inhospitable savage. Fortunately, however, it was always +my custom on arriving in <i>friendly</i> towns, to remove the copper +caps from my weapons, so that, when the hammers fell, the gun +was silent. Before the Fullah could club the instrument and +prostrate the insulter, I rushed between them to prevent +murder. This I was happy enough to succeed in; but I +could not deter the rival tribe from binding the brute, hand +and foot, to a post in the centre of his town, while the majority +of our caravan cleared the settlement at once of its fifty or sixty +inhabitants.</p> + +<p>Of course, we appropriated the dwellings as we pleased, and +supplied ourselves with provisions. Moreover, it was thought +preferable to wait in this village for Ali-Ninpha, than to proceed +onwards towards the borders of the Sanghu. When he arrived, +on the second day after the sad occurrence, he did not hesitate +to exercise the prerogative of judgment and condemnation always +claimed by superior chiefs over inferiors, whenever they consider +themselves slighted or wronged. The process in this case was +calmly and humanely formed. A regular trial was allowed the +culprit. He was arraigned on three charges:—1. Want of hospitality; +2. Cursing and maltreating a Fullah chief and a white +Mongo; 3. Disrespect to the name and authority of his countryman +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +and superior, Ali-Ninpha. On all these articles the prisoner +was found guilty; but, as there were neither slaves nor personal +property by which the ruffian could be mulcted for his crimes, +the tribunal adjudged him to be scourged with fifty lashes, and +to have his “town-fence or stockade destroyed, never to be +rebuilt.” The blows were inflicted for the abuse, but the perpetual +demolition of his defensive barrier was in punishment for +refused hospitality. Such is the summary process by which +social virtues are inculcated and enforced among these interior +tribes of Africa!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>It required three days for our refreshed caravan to reach the +dry and precipitous bed of the Sanghu, which I found impossible +to pass with my horse, in consequence of jagged rocks and immense +boulders that covered its channel. But the men were +resolved that my convenient animal should not be left behind. +Accordingly, all hands went to work with alacrity on the trees, +and in a day, they bridged the ravine with logs bound together +by ropes made from twisted bark. Across this frail and swaying +fabric I urged the horse with difficulty; but hardly had he +reached the opposite bank, and recovered from his nervous +tremor, when I was surprised by an evident anxiety in the beast +to return to his swinging pathway. The guides declared it to be +an instinctive warning of danger from wild beasts with which the +region is filled; and, even while we spoke, two of the scouts who +were in advance selecting ground for our camp, returned with the +carcasses of a deer and leopard. Though meat had not passed +our lips for five days, we were in no danger of starvation; the +villages teemed with fruits and vegetables. Pine-apples, bananas, +and a pulpy globe resembling the peach in form and flavor, +quenched our thirst and satisfied our hunger.</p> + +<p>Besides these, our greedy natives foraged in the wilderness +for nourishment unknown, or at least unused, by civilized folks. +They found comfort in barks of various trees, as well as in buds, +berries, and roots, some of which they devoured raw, while +others were either boiled or made into palatable decoctions with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +water that gurgled from every hill. The broad valleys and open +country supplied animal and vegetable “delicacies” which a +white man would pass unnoticed. Many a time, when I was as +hungry as a wolf, I found my vagabonds in a nook of the woods, +luxuriating over a mess with the unctuous lips of aldermen; +but when I came to analyze the stew, I generally found it to +consist of a “witch’s cauldron,” copiously filled with snails, +lizards, iguanas, frogs and alligators!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + + +<p>A journey to the interior of Africa would be a rural jaunt, were +it not so often endangered by the perils of war. The African +may fairly be characterized as a shepherd, whose pastoral life is +varied by a little agriculture, and the conflicts into which he is +seduced, either by family quarrels, or the natural passions of his +blood. His country, though uncivilized, is not so absolutely +wild as is generally supposed. The gradual extension of Mahometanism +throughout the interior is slowly but evidently modifying +the Negro. An African Mussulman is <i>still</i> a warrior, +for the dissemination of faith as well as for the gratification of +avarice; yet the Prophet’s laws are so much more genial than +the precepts of paganism, that, within the last half century, the +humanizing influence of the Koran is acknowledged by all who +are acquainted with the interior tribes.</p> + +<p>But in all the changes that may come over the spirit of <i>man</i> +in Africa, her magnificent external <i>nature</i> will for ever remain +the game. A little labor teems with vast returns. The climate +exacts nothing but shade from the sun and shelter from the +storm. Its oppressive heat forbids a toilsome industry, and +almost enforces indolence as a law. With every want supplied, +without the allurements of social rivalry, without the temptations +of national ambition or personal pride, what has the African to +do in his forest of palm and cocoa,—his grove of orange, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +pomegranate and fig,—on his mat of comfortable repose, where the +fruit stoops to his lips without a struggle for the prize,—save to +brood over, or gratify, the electric passions with which his soul +seems charged to bursting!</p> + +<p>It is an interesting task to travel through a continent filled +with such people, whose minds are just beginning, here and there, +to emerge from the vilest heathenism, and to glimmer with a +faith that bears wrapped in its unfolded leaves, the seeds of a +modified civilization.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>As I travelled in the “dry season,” I did not encounter +many of the discomforts that beset the African wayfarer in +periods of rain and tempest. I was not obliged to flounder +through lagoons, or swim against the current of perilous rivers. +We met their traces almost every day; and, in many places, the +soil was worn into parched ravines or the tracks of dried-up +torrents. Whatever affliction I experienced arose from the +wasting depression of heat. We did not suffer from lack of water +or food, for the caravan of the <span class="smcap">Ali-Mami</span> commanded implicit +obedience throughout our journey.</p> + +<p>In the six hundred miles I traversed, whilst absent from the +coast, my memory, after twenty-six years, leads me, from beginning +to end, through an almost continuous forest-path. We +struck a trail when we started, and we left it when we came home. +It was rare, indeed, to encounter a cross road, except when it +led to neighboring villages, water, or cultivated fields. So dense +was the forest foliage, that we often walked for hours in shade +without a glimpse of the sun. The emerald light that penetrated +the wood, bathed every thing it touched with mellow refreshment. +But we were repaid for this partial bliss by intense suffering +when we came forth from the sanctuary into the bare +valleys, the arid <i>barrancas</i>, and marshy <i>savannas</i> of an open +region. There, the red eye of the African sun glared with +merciless fervor. Every thing reflected its rays. They struck +us like lances from above, from below, from the sides, from the +rocks, from the fields, from the stunted herbage, from the bushes. +All was glare! Our eyes seemed to simmer in their sockets. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> +Whenever the path followed the channel of a brook, whose dried +torrents left bare the scorched and broken rocks, our feet fled +from the ravine as from heated iron. Frequently we entered +extensive <i>prairies</i>, covered with blades of sword-grass, tall as +our heads, whose jagged edges tore us like saws, though we protected +our faces with masks of wattled willows. And yet, after +all these discomforts, how often are my dreams haunted by charming +pictures of natural scenery that have fastened themselves for +ever in my memory!</p> + +<p>As the traveller along the coast turns the prow of his canoe +through the surf, and crosses the angry bar that guards the +mouth of an African river, he suddenly finds himself moving +calmly onward between sedgy shores, buried in mangroves. Presently, +the scene expands in the unruffled mirror of a deep, majestic +stream. Its lofty banks are covered by innumerable varieties +of the tallest forest trees, from whoso summits a trailing network +of vines and flowers floats down and sweeps the passing +current. A stranger who beholds this scenery for the first time +is struck by the immense size, the prolific abundance, and gorgeous +verdure of every thing. Leaves, large enough for garments, +lie piled and motionless in the lazy air: The bamboo and +cane shake their slender spears and pennant leaves as the stream +ripples among their roots. Beneath the massive trunks of forest +trees, the country opens; and, in vistas through the wood, the +traveller sees innumerable fields lying fallow in grass, or waving +with harvests of rice and <i>cassava</i>, broken by golden clusters of +Indian corn. Anon, groups of oranges, lemons, coffee-trees, +plantains and bananas, are crossed by the tall stems of cocoas, +and arched by the broad and drooping coronals of royal palm. +Beyond this, capping the summit of a hill, may be seen the conical +huts of natives, bordered by fresh pastures dotted with +flocks of sheep and goats, or covered by numbers of the sleekest +cattle. As you leave the coast, and shoot round the river-curves +of this fragrant wilderness teeming with flowers, vocal +with birds, and gay with their radiant plumage, you plunge into +the interior, where the rising country slowly expands into hills +and mountains.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> +The forest is varied. Sometimes it is a matted pile of tree +vine, and bramble, obscuring every thing, and impervious save +with knife and hatchet. At others, it is a Gothic temple. The +sward spreads openly for miles on every side, while, from its even +surface, the trunks of straight and massive trees rise to a prodigious +height, clear from every obstruction, till their gigantic +limbs, like the capitals of columns, mingle their foliage in a roof +of perpetual verdure.</p> + +<p>At length the hills are reached, and the lowland heat is tempered +by mountain freshness. The scene that may be beheld +from almost any elevation, is always beautiful, and sometimes +grand. Forest, of course, prevails; yet, with a glass, and often +by the unaided eye, gentle hills, swelling from the wooded landscape, +may be seen covered with native huts, whose neighborhood +is checkered with patches of sward and cultivation, and +inclosed by massive belts of primeval wildness. Such is commonly +the westward view; but north and east, as far as vision +extends, noble outlines of hill and mountain may be traced against +the sky, lapping each other with their mighty folds, until they +fade away in the azure horizon.</p> + +<p>When a view like this is beheld at morning, in the neighborhood +of rivers, a dense mist will be observed lying beneath the +spectator in a solid stratum, refracting the light now breaking +from the east. Here and there, in this lake of vapor, the tops +of hills peer up like green islands in a golden sea. But, ere you +have time to let fancy run riot, the “cloud compelling” orb lifts +its disc over the mountains, and the fogs of the valley, like ghosts +at cock-crow, flit from the dells they have haunted since nightfall. +Presently, the sun is out in his terrible splendor. Africa +unveils to her master, and the blue sky and green forest blaze +and quiver with his beams.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + + +<p>I felt so much the lack of scenery in my narrative, that I +thought it well to group in a few pages the African pictures I +have given in the last chapter. My story had too much of the +bareness of the Greek stage, and I was conscious that landscape, +as well as action, was required to mellow the subject and relieve +it from tedium. After our dash through the wilderness, let us +return to the slow toil of the caravan.</p> + +<p>Four days brought us to Tamisso from our last halt. We +camped on the copious brook that ran near the town-walls, and +while Ali-Ninpha thought proper to compliment the chief, Mohamedoo, +by a formal announcement of our arrival, the caravan +made ready for reception by copious, but <i>needed</i>, ablutions of +flesh and raiment. The women, especially, were careful in adorning +and heightening their charms. Wool was combed to its +utmost rigidity; skins were greased till they shone like polished +ebony; ankles and arms were restrung with beads; and loins +were girded with snowy waist-cloths. Ali-Ninpha knew the pride +of his old Mandingo companions, and was satisfied that Mohamedoo +would have been mortified had we surprised him within +the precincts of his court, squatted, perhaps, on a dirty mat with +a female scratching his head! Ali-Ninpha was a prudent gentleman, +and knew the difference between the private and public +lives of his illustrious countrymen!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +In the afternoon our interpreters returned to camp with Mohamedoo’s +son, accompanied by a dozen women carrying platters +of boiled rice, calabashes filled with delicate sauce, and abundance +of <i>ture</i>, or vegetable butter. A beautiful horse was also despatched +for my triumphal entry into town.</p> + +<p>The food was swallowed with an appetite corresponding to +our recent penitential fare; the tents were struck; and the caravan +was forthwith advanced towards Tamisso. All the noise we +could conveniently make, by way of <i>music</i>, was, of course, duly +attempted. Interpreters and guides went ahead, discharging +guns. Half a dozen tom-toms were struck with uncommon +rapidity and vigor, while the unctuous women set up a chorus of +melody that would not have disgraced a band of “Ethiopian +Minstrels.”</p> + +<p>Half-way to the town our turbulent mob was met by a troop +of musicians sent out by the chief to greet us with song and harp. +I was quickly surrounded by the singers, who chanted the most +fulsome praise of the opulent Mongo, while a court-fool or buffoon +insisted on leading my horse, and occasionally wiping my +face with his filthy handkerchief!</p> + +<p>Presently we reached the gates, thronged by pressing crowds +of curious burghers. Men, women, and children, had all come +abroad to see the immense <i>Furtoo</i>, or white man, and appeared +as much charmed by the spectacle as if I had been a banished +patriot. I was forced to dismount at the low wicket, but here +the <i>empressement</i> of my inquisitive hosts became so great, that +the “nation’s guest” was forced to pause until some amiable +bailiffs modified the amazement of their fellow-citizens by staves +and whips.</p> + +<p>I lost no time in the lull, while relieved from the mob, to +pass onward to “the palace” of Mohamedoo, which, like all +royal residences in Africa, consisted of a mud-walled quadrangular +inclosure, with a small gate, a large court, and a quantity +of <i>adobe</i> huts, surrounded by shady verandahs. The furniture, +mats, and couches were of cane, while wooden platters, brass kettles, +and common wash-basins, were spread out in every direction +for show and service.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +On a coach, covered with several splendid leopard skins, reclined +Mohamedoo, awaiting my arrival with as much stateliness +as if he had been a scion of civilized royalty. The chief was a +man of sixty at least. His corpulent body was covered with +short Turkish trousers, and a large Mandingo shirt profusely +embroidered with red and yellow worsted. His bald or shaved +head was concealed by a light turban, while a long white beard +stood out in relief against his tawny skin, and hung down upon +his breast. Ali-Ninpha presented me formally to this personage, +who got up, shook hands, “snapped fingers,” and welcomed me +thrice. My Fullah chief and Mandingo companion then proceeded +to “<i>make their dantica</i>,” or declare the purpose of +their visit; but when they announced that I was the guest of +the Fullah Ali-Mami, and, accordingly, was <i>entitled</i> to free passage +every where without expense, I saw that the countenance +of the veteran instantly fell, and that his welcome was dashed by +the loss of a heavy duty which he designed exacting for my +transit.</p> + +<p>The sharp eye of Ali-Ninpha was not slow in detecting Mohamedoo’s +displeasure; and, as I had previously prepared him +in private, he took an early opportunity to whisper in the old +man’s ear, that Don Téodore knew he was compelled to journey +through Tamisso, and, of course, had not come empty-handed. +My object, he said, in visiting this region and the territory of +the Fullah king, was not idle curiosity alone; but that I was +prompted by a desire for liberal trade, and especially for the +purchase of slaves to load the numerous vessels I had lingering +on the coast, with immense cargoes of cloth, muskets, and powder.</p> + +<p>The clouds were dispersed as soon as a hint was thrown out +about traffic. The old sinner nodded like a mandarin who knew +what he was about, and, rising as soon as the adroit whisperer +had finished, took me by the hand, and in a loud voice, presented +me to the people as his “<i>beloved son</i>!” Besides this, the best +house within the royal inclosure was fitted with fresh comforts +for my lodging. When the Fullah chief withdrew from the +audience, Ali-Ninpha brought in the mistress of Mohamedoo’s +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +harem, who acted as his confidential clerk, and we speedily +handed over the six pieces of cotton and an abundant supply of +tobacco with which I designed to propitiate her lord and master.</p> + +<p>Tired of the dust, crowd, heat, confinement and curiosity of +an African town, I was glad to gulp down my supper of broiled +chickens and milk, preparatory to a sleepy attack on my couch +of rushes spread with mats and skins. Yet, before retiring for +the night, I thought it well to refresh my jaded frame by a bath, +which the prince had ordered to be prepared in a small court +behind my chamber. But I grieve to say, that my modesty was +put to a sore trial, when I began to unrobe. Locks and latches +are unknown in this free-and-easy region. It had been noised +abroad among the dames of the harem, that the <i>Furtoo</i> would +probably perform his ablutions before he slept; so that, when I +entered the yard, my tub was surrounded by as many inquisitive +eyes as the dinner table of Louis the Fourteenth, when sovereigns +dined in public. As I could not speak their language, I +made all the pantomimic signs of graceful supplication that commonly +soften the hearts of the sex on the stage, hoping, by dumb-show, +to secure my privacy. But gestures and grimace were +unavailing. I then made hold to take off my shirt, leaving my +nether garments untouched. Hitherto, the dames had seen only +my bronzed face and hands, but when the snowy pallor of my +breast and back was unveiled, many of them fled incontinently, +shouting to their friends to “come and see the <i>peeled Furtoo</i>!” +An ancient crone, the eldest of the crew, ran her hand roughly +across the fairest portion of my bosom, and looking at her fingers +with disgust, as if I reeked with leprosy, wiped them on +the wall. As displeasure seemed to predominate over admiration, +I hoped this experiment would have satisfied the inquest, +but, as black curiosity exceeds all others, the wenches continued +to linger, chatter, grin and feel, until I was forced to disappoint +their anxiety for further disclosures, by an abrupt “good night.”</p> + +<p>We tarried in Tamisso three days to recruit, during which I +was liberally entertained on the prince’s hospitable mat, where +African stews of relishing flavor, and tender fowls smothered in +snowy rice, regaled me at least twice in every twenty-four hours. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +Mohamedoo fed me with an European silver spoon, which, he +said, came from among the effects of a traveller who, many years +before, died far in the interior. In all his life, he had seen but +<i>four</i> of our race within the walls of Tamisso. Their names +escaped his memory; but the last, he declared, was a poor and +clever youth, probably from Senegal, who followed a powerful +caravan, and “read the Koran like a <i>mufti</i>.”</p> + +<p>Tamisso was entirely surrounded by a tall double fence +of pointed posts. The space betwixt the inclosures, which were +about seven feet apart, was thickly planted with smaller spear-headed +staves, hardened by fire. If the first fence was leaped by +assailants, they met a cruel reception from those impaling sentinels. +Three gates afforded admission to different sections of the +town, but the passage through them consisted of zig-zags, with +loopholes cut judiciously in the angles, so as to command every +point of access to the narrow streets of the suburbs.</p> + +<p>The parting between Mohamedoo and myself was friendly in +the extreme. Provisions for four days were distributed by the +prince to the caravan, and he promised that my return should be +welcomed by an abundant supply of slaves.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + + +<p>As our caravan approached the Fullah country, and got into the +higher lands, where the air was invigorating, I found its pace +improved so much that we often exceeded twenty miles in our +daily journey. The next important place we were to approach +was Jallica. For three days, our path coasted the southern +edge of a mountain range, whose declivities and valleys were +filled with rivers, brooks, and streamlets, affording abundant +irrigation to fields teeming with vegetable wealth. The population +was dense. Frequent caravans, with cattle and slaves, +passed us on their way to various marts. Our supplies of food +were plentiful. A leaf of tobacco purchased a fowl; a charge +of powder obtained a basin of milk, or a dozen of eggs; and a +large sheep cost only six cents, or a quart of salt.</p> + +<p>Five days after quitting Tamisso, our approach to Jallica +was announced; and here, as at our last resting-place, it was +deemed proper to halt half a day for notice and ablution before +entering a city, whose chief—<span class="smcap">Suphiana</span>—was a kinsman of Ali-Ninpha.</p> + +<p>The distance from our encampment to the town was about +three miles; but an hour had hardly elapsed after our arrival, +when the deep boom of the war-drum gave token that our message +had been received with welcome. I was prepared, in some +measure, for a display of no ordinary character at Jallica, because +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +my Mandingo friend, Ali-Ninpha, inhabited the town in his +youth, and had occupied a position which gave importance to his +name throughout Soolimana. The worthy fellow had been absent +many years from Jallica, and wept like a child when he +heard the sound of the war-drum. Its discordant beat had the +same effect on the savage that the sound of their village bells +has on the spirit of returning wanderers in civilized lands. +When the rattle of the drum was over, he told me that for five +years he controlled that very instrument in Jallica, during which +it had never sounded a retreat or betokened disaster. In peace +it was never touched, save for public rejoicing; and the authorities +allowed it to be beaten <i>now</i> only because an old commander +of the tribe was to be received with the honors due to his rank +and service. Whilst we were still conversing, Suphiana’s lance-bearer +made his appearance, and, with a profound <i>salaam</i>, announced +that the “gates of Jallica were open to the Mandingo +and his companions.”</p> + +<p>No <i>fanda</i> or refreshments were sent with the welcome; but +when the caravan got within fifty yards of the walls, a band of +shouting warriors marched forth, and lifting Ali-Ninpha on their +shoulders, bore him through the gates, singing war-songs, accompanied +by all sorts of music and hubbub.</p> + +<p>I had purposely lingered with my men in the rear of the +great body of Africans, so that nearly the whole caravan passed +the portal before my complexion—though deeply bronzed by exposure—made +me known to the crowd as a white man.</p> + +<p>Then, instantly, the air rang with the sound of—“Furtoo! +Furtoo! Furtoo!”—and the gate was slammed in our faces, +leaving us completely excluded from guide and companions. +But, in the midst of his exultant reception, Ali-Ninpha did not +forget the Mongo of Kambia. Hardly had he attained the end +of the street, when he heard the cry of exclusion, and observed +the closing portal. By this time, my Fullah friend had wrought +himself into an examplary fit of Oriental rage with the inhospitable +Mandingoes, so that I doubt very much whether he +would not have knocked the dust from his sandals on the gate of +Jallica, had not Ali-Ninpha rushed through the wicket, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +commanding the portal to be reopened, apologized contritely to +the Mahometan and myself.</p> + +<p>This unfortunate mistake, or accident, not only caused considerable +delay, but rather dampened the delight of our party +as it defiled in the spacious square of Jallica, and entered the +open shed which was called a “<i>palaver-house</i>.” Its vast area +was densely packed with a fragrant crowd of old and young, +armed with muskets or spears. All wore knives or cutlasses, +slung by a belt high up on their necks; while, in their midst surrounded +by a court of veterans, stood Suphiana, the prince, waiting +our arrival.</p> + +<p>In front marched Ali-Ninpha, preceded by a numerous band +of shrieking and twanging minstrels. As he entered the apartment, +Suphiana arose, drew his sword, and embracing the stranger +with his left arm, waved the shining blade over his head, +with the other. This peculiar <i>accolade</i> was imitated by each +member of the royal council; while, in the centre of the square, +the war-drum,—a hollowed tree, four feet in diameter, covered +with hides,—was beaten by two savages with slung-shot, until its +thundering reverberations completely deafened us.</p> + +<p>You may imagine my joy and comfort when I saw the Mandingo +take a seat near the prince, as a signal for the din’s cessation. +This, however, was only the commencement of another +prolonged ceremonial; for now began the royal review and salute +in honor of the returned commander. During two hours, an uninterrupted +procession of all the warriors, chiefs, and head-men +of Jallica, defiled in front of the ancient drum-major; and, as +each approached, he made his obeisance by pointing a spear or +weapon at my landlord’s feet. During this I remained on horseback +without notice or relief from the authorities. Ali-Ninpha, +however, saw my impatient discomfort, and once or twice despatched +a sly message to preserve my good humor. The ceremony +was one of absolute compulsion, and could not be avoided +without discourtesy to the prince and his countrymen. As soon +as he could escape, however, he hastened over the court-yard to +assist me in dismounting; and dashing the rude crowd right and +left, led me to his kinsman Suphiana. The prince extended his +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +royal hand in token of amity; Ali-Ninpha declared me to be +his “son;” while the long string of compliments and panegyrics +he pronounced upon my personal qualities, moral virtues, and +<i>wealth</i>, brought down a roar of grunts by way of applause from +the toad-eating courtiers.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>Jallica was a fairer town than any I had hitherto encountered +in my travels. Its streets were wider, its houses better, its +people more civil. No one intruded on the friend of Ali-Ninpha, +and guest of Suphiana. I bathed without visits from inquisitive +females. My house was my castle; and, when I stirred abroad, +two men preceded me with rattans to keep my path clear from +women and children.</p> + +<p>After lounging about quietly for a couple of days, wearing +away fatigue, and getting rid of the stains of travel, I thought +it advisable to drop in one morning, unannounced, after breakfast, +at Suphiana’s with the presents that are customary in the +east. As the guest,—during my whole journey,—of the Ali-Mami, +or King of Footha-Yallon, I was entirely exempt by customary +law from this species of tax, nor would my Fullah protector +have allowed me to offer a tribute had he known it;—yet, +I always took a secret opportunity to present a <i>voluntary gift</i>, +for I wished my memory to smell sweet along my track in Africa. +Suphiana fully appreciated my generosity under the circumstances, +and returned the civility by an invitation to dinner +at the house of his principal wife. When the savory feast +with which he regaled me was over, female singers were introduced +for a concert. Their harps were triangles of wood, corded +with fibres of cane; their banjoes consisted of gourds covered +with skin pierced by holes, and strung like the harps; but, I +confess, that I can neither rave nor go into ecstasies over the combined +effect which saluted me from such instruments or such +voices. I was particularly struck, however, by one of their inventions, +which slightly resembles the <i>harmonica</i> I have seen +played by children in this country. A board, about two feet +square, was bordered by a light frame at two ends, across which +a couple of cane strings were tightly stretched. On these, strips +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +of nicely trimmed bamboo, gradually diminishing in size from +left to right, were placed; whilst beneath them, seven gourds, +also gradually decreasing, were securely fastened to mellow the +sound. The instrument was carried by a strap round the player’s +neck, and was struck by two small wooden hammers softened by +some delicate substance.</p> + +<p>One of the prettiest girls in the bevy had charge of this +African piano, and was said to be renowned for uncommon skill. +Her feet, hands, wrists, elbows, ankles, and knees, were strung +with small silvery bells; and, as the gay damsel was dancer and +singer as well as musician, she seemed to reek with sound from +every pore. Many of her attitudes would probably have been, +at least, more picturesque and decent for drapery; but, in Jallica, +<span class="smcap">Madoo</span>, the <i>ayah</i>, was considered a Mozart in composition, +a Lind in melody, and a Taglioni on the “light fantastic +toe!”</p> + +<p>When the performance closed, Suphiana presented her a +slave; and, as she made an obeisance to me in passing, I handed +her my <i>bowie-knife</i>, promising to redeem it at my lodgings with +<i>ten pounds of tobacco</i>!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>Some superstitious notions about the state of the moon prevented +my Fullah guide from departing as soon as I desired; +but while we were dallying with the planet, Ali-Ninpha became +so ill that he was compelled to halt and end the journey in his +favorite Jallica. I rather suspected the Mandingo to feign +more suffering than he really experienced, and I soon discovered +that his malady was nothing but a sham. In truth, Ali-Ninpha +had duped so many Fullah traders on the beach, and +owed them the value of so many slaves, that he found it extremely +inconvenient; if not perilous, to enter the domain of the <span class="smcap">Ali-Mami +of Footha-Yallon</span>!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + + +<p>A messenger was despatched from Jallica, in advance of our +departure, to announce our approach to Timbo. For six days +more, our path led over hill and dale, and through charming +valleys, fed by gentle streamlets that nourished the vigorous +vegetation of a mountain land.</p> + +<p>As we crossed the last summits that overlooked the territory +of Footha-Yallon, a broad <i>plateau</i>, whence a wide range of country +might be beheld, was filled with bands of armed men, afoot +and on horseback, while a dozen animals were held in tether by +their gayly dressed attendants. I dashed to the head of the +caravan on my jaded beast, and reached it just in time to +find the sable arms of Ahmah-de-Bellah opening to greet me! +The generous youth, surrounded by his friends and escorted by +a select corps of soldiers and slaves, had come thus far on the +path to offer the prince’s welcome!</p> + +<p>I greeted the Mahometan with the fervor of ancient love; +and, in a moment, we were all dismounted and on our knees; +while, at a signal from the chief, profound silence reigned +throughout the troop and caravan. Every eye was turned across +the distant plain to the east. An air of profoundest devotion +subdued the multitude, and, in a loud chant, Ahmah-de-Bellah, +with outstretched arms and upraised face, sang forth a +psalm of gratitude to Allah for the safety of his “brother.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +The surprise of this complimentary reception was not only +delightful as an evidence of African character among these more +civilized tribes of the Mahometan interior, but it gave me an +assurance of security and trade, which was very acceptable to one +so far within the bowels of the land. We were still a day’s +journey from the capital. Ahmah-de-Bellah declared it impossible, +with all the diligence we could muster, to reach Timbo +without another halt. Nevertheless, as he was extremely solicitous +to bring us to our travel’s end, he not only supplied my personal +attendants with fresh horses, but ordered carriers from +his own guard to charge themselves with the entire luggage of +our caravan.</p> + +<p>Thus relieved of burden, our party set forth on the path in +a brisk trot, and resting after dark for several hours in a village, +we entered Timbo unceremoniously before daybreak while its +inhabitants were still asleep.</p> + +<p>I was immediately conducted to a house specially built for +me, surrounded by a high wall to protect my privacy from intrusion. +Within, I found a careful duplicate of all the humble +comforts in my domicil on the Rio Pongo. Tables, sofas, plates, +knives, forks, tumblers, pitchers, basins,—had all been purchased +by my friend, and forwarded for this establishment, from other +factories without my knowledge; while the centre of the main +apartment was decorated with an “American rocking-chair,” +which the natives had ingeniously contrived of rattans and bamboo! +Such pleasant evidences of refined attention were more +remarkable and delicate, because most of the articles are not +used by Mahometans. “These, I hope,” said Ahmah-de-Bellah, +as he led me to a seat, “will make you comparatively comfortable +while you please to dwell with your brother in Timbo. +You have no thanks to return, because I have not treated you +like a <i>native</i> Mussulman; for you were kind enough to remember +all my own little nationalities when I was your guest on the +beach. <span class="smcap">Allah</span> be praised for your redemption and arrival;—and +so, brother, take your rest in peace within the realm of the Ali-Mami, +your father!”</p> + +<p>I embraced the generous fellow with as much cordiality as if +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +he had been a kinsman from the sweet valley of Arno. During his +visit to my factory he was particularly charmed with an old +dressing-gown I used for my siestas, and when I resolved on this +journey, I caused an improved copy of it to be made by one of +the most skilful artists on the river. A flashy pattern of calico +was duly cut into rather ampler form than is usual among our +dandies. This was charmingly lined with sky-blue, and set off +at the edges with broad bands of glaring yellow. The effect of +the whole, indeed, was calculated to strike an African fancy; so +that, when I drew the garment from my luggage, and threw it, +together with a fine white ruffled shirt, over the shoulders of +“my brother,” I thought the pious Mussulman would have gone +wild with delight. He hugged me a dozen times with the +gripe of a tiger, and probably would have kissed quite as +lustily, had I not deprecated any further ebullitions of bodily +gratitude.</p> + +<p>A bath erased not only the dust of travel from my limbs, but +seemed to extract even the memory of its toils from my bones +and muscles. Ahmah-de-Bellah intimated that the Ali-Mami +would soon be prepared to receive me without ceremony. The +old gentleman was confined by dropsy in his lower extremities, +and probably found it uncomfortable to sustain the annoyance of +public life except when absolutely necessary. The burden of +my entertainment and glorification, therefore, was cast on the +shoulders of his younger kinsfolk, for which, I confess, I was +proportionally grateful. Accordingly, when I felt perfectly refreshed, +I arose from my matted sofa, and dressing for the first time +in more than a month in a perfectly clean suit, I donned a snowy +shirt, a pair of dashing drills, Parisian pumps, and a Turkish +<i>fez</i>, tipped with a copious tassel. Our interpreters were clad in +fresh Mandingo dresses adorned with extra embroidery. My +body-servant was ordered to appear in a cast-off suit of my own; +so that, when I gave one my double-barrelled gun to carry, and +armed the others with my pistols, and a glittering regulation-sword,—designed +as a gift for the Ali-Mami,—I presented a +very respectable and picturesque appearance for a gentleman +abroad on his travels in the East. The moment I issued with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +my train from the house, a crowd of Fullahs was ready to receive +me with exclamations of chattering surprise; still I was +not annoyed, as elsewhere, by the unfailing concourse that followed +my footsteps or clogged my pathway.</p> + +<p>The “palace” of the Ali-Mami of Footha-Yallon, like all +African palaces in this region, was an <i>adobe</i> hovel, surrounded +by its portico shed, and protected by a wall from the intrusion +of the common herd. In front of the dwelling, beneath the +shelter of the verandah, on a fleecy pile of sheepskin mats, reclined +the veteran, whose swollen and naked feet were undergoing +a cooling process from the palm-leaf fans of female slaves. +I marched up boldly in front of him with my military <i>suite</i>, and, +making a profound <i>salaam</i>, was presented by Ahmah-de-Bellah +as his “white brother.” The Ali at once extended both hands, +and, grasping mine, drew me beside him on the sheepskin. +Then, looking intently over my face and into the very depth +of my eyes, he asked gently with a smile—“what was my +name?”</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Ahmah-de-Bellah</span>!” replied I, after the fashion of the +country. As I uttered the Mahometan appellation, for which I +had exchanged my own with his son at Kambia, the old man, +who still held my hands, put one of his arms round my waist, +and pressed me still closer to his side;—then, lifting both arms +extended to heaven, he repeated several times,—“God is great! +God is great! God is great!—and Mahomet is his Prophet!”</p> + +<p>This was followed by a grand inquest in regard to myself +and history. Who was my father? Who was my mother? +How many brothers had I? Were they warriors? Were they +“book-men?” Why did I travel so far? What delay would +I make in Footha-Yallon? Was my dwelling comfortable? +Had I been treated with honor, respect and attention on my +journey? And, last of all, the prince sincerely hoped that I +would find it convenient to dwell with him during the whole of +the “rainy season.”</p> + +<p>Several times, in the midst of these interrogations, the patriarch +groaned, and I could perceive, from the pain that flitted +like a shadow over the nerves and muscles of his face, that he +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +was suffering severely, and, of course, I cut the interview as short +as oriental etiquette would allow. He pressed me once more to +his bosom, and speaking to the interpreter, bade him tell his +master, the Furtoo, that any thing I fancied in the realm was +mine. Slaves, horses, cattle, stuffs,—all were at my disposal. +Then, pointing to his son, he said: “Ahmah-de-Bellah, the white +man is our guest; his brother will take heed for his wants, and +redress every complaint.”</p> + +<p>The prince was a man of sixty at least. His stature was +noble and commanding, if not absolutely gigantic,—<i>being several +inches over six feet</i>,—while his limbs and bulk were in perfect +proportion. His oval head, of a rich mahogany color, was +quite bald to the temples, and covered by a turban, whose +ends depended in twin folds along his cheeks. The contour of +his features was remarkably regular, though his lips were rather +full, and his nose somewhat flat, yet free from the disgusting +depression and cavities of the negro race. His forehead was +high and perpendicular, while his mouth glistened with ivory +when he spoke or smiled. I had frequent opportunities to talk +with the king afterwards, and was always delighted by the affectionate +simplicity of his demeanor. As it was the country’s custom +to educate the first-born of royalty for the throne, the Ali-Mami +of Footha-Yallon had been brought up almost within the +precincts of the mosque. I found the prince, therefore, more of +a meditative “book-man” than warrior; while the rest of his +family, and especially his younger brothers, had never been +exempt from military duties, at home or abroad. Like a good +Mussulman, the sovereign was a quiet, temperate gentleman, +never indulging in “bitters” or any thing stronger than a drink +fermented from certain roots, and sweetened to resemble <i>mead</i>. +His intercourse with me was always affable and solicitous for my +comfort; nor did he utter half a dozen sentences without interlarding +them with fluent quotations from the Koran. Sometimes, +in the midst of a pleasant chat in which he was wondering +at my curiosity and taste for information about new lands, he +would suddenly break off because it was his hour for prayer; at +others, he would end the interview quite as unceremoniously, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> +because it was time for ablution. Thus, between praying, washing, +eating, sleeping, slave-dealing, and fanning his dropsical +feet, the life of the Ali-Mami passed monotonously enough even +for an oriental prince; but I doubt not, the same childish routine +is still religiously pursued, unless it has pleased Allah to summon +the faithful prince to the paradise of “true believers.” I +could never make him understand how a ship might be built +large enough to hold provisions for a six months’ voyage; and, +as to the <i>sea</i>, “it was a mystery that none but God and a white +man could solve!”</p> + +<p>As I was to breakfast on the day of my arrival at the dwelling +of Ahmah-de-Bellah’s mother, after my presentation to the +prince her husband, I urged the footsteps of my companion with +no little impatience as soon as I got out of the royal hearing. +My fast had been rather longer than comfortable, even in obedience +to royal etiquette. However, we were soon within the +court-yard of her sable ladyship, who, though a dame of fifty at +least, persisted in hiding her charms of face and bosom beneath +a capacious cloth. Nevertheless, she welcomed me quite tenderly. +She called me “Ahmah-de-Bellah-Theodoree,”—and, +with her own hands, mixed the dainties on which we were to +breakfast while cosily squatted on the mats of her verandah. +Our food was simple enough for the most dyspeptic homœopathist. +Milk and rice were alternated with bonney-clabber and +honey, seasoned by frequent words of hospitable encouragement. +The frugal repast was washed down by calabashes of cool water, +which were handed round by naked damsels, whose beautiful +limbs might have served as models for an artist.</p> + +<p>When the meal was finished, I hoped that the day’s ceremonial +was over, but, to my dismay, I discovered that the most +formal portion of my reception was yet to come.</p> + +<p>“We will now hasten,” said Ahmah-de-Bellah, as I <i>salaamed</i> +his mamma, “to the palaver-ground, where I am sure our chiefs +are, by this time, impatient to see you.” Had I been a feeble +instead of a robust campaigner, I would not have resisted the +intimation, or desired a postponement of the “palaver;” so I +“took my brother’s” arm, and, followed by my <i>cortège</i>, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +proceeded to the interview that was to take place beyond the walls, +in an exquisite grove of cotton-wood and tamarind-trees, appropriated +to this sort of town-meeting. Here I found a vast assemblage +of burghers; and in their midst, squatted on sheepskins, +was a select ring of <i>patres conscripti</i>, presided by Sulimani-Ali, +son of the king, and brother of my companion.</p> + +<p>As the Fullah presented me to his warrior-kinsman, he rose +with a profound salutation, and taking my hand, led me to a +rock, covered with a white napkin,—the seat of honor for an +eminent stranger. The moment I was placed, the chiefs sprang +up and each one grasped my hand, bidding me welcome <i>thrice</i>. +Ahmah-de-Bellah stood patiently beside me until this ceremony +was over, and each noble resumed his sheepskin. Then, taking +a long cane from the eldest of the group, he stepped forward, +saluted the assembly three times, thrice invoked Allah, and introduced +me to the chiefs and multitude as his “brother.” I +came, he said, to Footha-Yallon on his invitation, and by the express +consent of his beloved king and father, and of his beloved +elder brother, Sulimani. He hoped, therefore, that every +“head-man” present would see the rites of hospitality faithfully +exercised to his white brother while he dwelt in Footha. There +were many reasons that he could give why this should be done; +but he would rest content with stating only three. First of all: +I was nearly as good a Mussulman as many Mandingoes, and he +knew the fact, because <i>he had converted me himself</i>! Secondly: +I was entitled to every sort of courtesy from Fullahs, because I +was a <i>rich</i> trader from the Rio Pongo. And, thirdly: I had +penetrated even to this very heart of Africa to purchase slaves +for most liberal prices.</p> + +<p>It is the custom in African “palavers,” as well as among +African religionists, to give token of assent by a sigh, a groan, +a slight exclamation, or a shout, when any thing affecting, agreeable, +or touching is uttered by a speaker. Now, when my Fullah +brother informed his friends of my arrival, my name, my +demand for hospitality, and my wealth, the grunts and groans of +the assembly augmented in number and volume as he went on; +but when they heard of my design “to purchase <i>slaves</i>” a climax +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +was reached at once, and, as with one voice, they shouted, +“May the Lord of heaven be praised!”</p> + +<p>I smothered a laugh and strangled a smile as well as I could, +when my interpreters expounded the “stump speech” of Ahmah-de-Bellah; +and I lost no time in directing them to display the +presents which some of my retainers, in the meanwhile, had +brought to the grove. They consisted of several packages of +blue and white calicoes, ten yards of brilliant scarlet cloth, six +kegs of powder, three hundred pounds of tobacco, two strings +of amber beads, and six muskets. On a beautiful rug, I set aside +the gilded sword and <i>a package of cantharides</i>, designed for the +king.</p> + +<p>When my arrangement was over, Sulimani took the cane from +his brother, and stepping forward, said that the gifts to which he +pointed proved the truth of Ahmah-de-Bellah’s words, and that +a rich man, indeed, had come to Footha-Yallon. Nay, more;—the +rich man wanted slaves! Was I not generous? I was their +guest, and owed them no tribute or duties; and yet, had I not +<i>voluntarily</i> lavished my presents upon the chiefs? Next day, +his father would personally distribute my offering; but, whilst I +dwelt in Footha, a bullock and ten baskets of rice should daily be +furnished for my caravan’s support; and, as every chief would +partake my bounty, each one should contribute to my comfort.</p> + +<p>This speech, like the former, was hailed with grunts; but I +could not help noticing that the vote of supplies was not cheered +half as lustily as the announcement of my <i>largesse</i>.</p> + +<p>The formalities being over, the inquisitive head-men crowded +round the presents with as much eagerness as aspirants for office +at a presidential inauguration. The merchandise was inspected, +felt, smelled, counted, measured, and set aside. The rug and +the sword, being royal gifts, were delicately handled. But when +the vials of cantharides were unpacked, and their contents announced, +each of the chieftains insisted that his majesty should +not monopolize the coveted stimulant. A sharp dispute on the +subject arose between the princes and the councillors, so that I +was forced to interfere through the interpreters, who could only +quiet the rebels by the promise of a dozen additional flasks for +their private account.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +In the midst of the wrangling, Sulimani and Ahmah ordered +their father’s slaves to carry the gifts to the Ali-Mami’s palace; +and, taking me between them, we marched, arm in arm, to my +domicil. Here I found Abdulmomen-Ali, another son of the +king, waiting for his brothers to present him to the Mongo of +Kambia. Abdulmomen was introduced as “a learned divine,” +and began at once to talk Koran in the most <i>mufti</i>-like manner. +I had made such sorry improvement in Mahometanism since +Ahmah-de-Bellah’s departure from the Rio Pongo, that I thought +it safest to sit silent, as if under the deepest fervor of Mussulman +conviction. I soon found that Abdulmomen, like many +more clergymen, was willing enough to do all the preaching, +whenever he found an unresisting listener. I put on a look of +very intelligent assent and thankfulness to all the arguments +and commentaries of my black brother, and in this way I avoided +the detection of my ignorance, as many a better man has probably +done before me!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + + +<p>Timbo lies on a rolling plain. North of it, a lofty mountain +range rises at the distance of ten or fifteen miles, and sweeps +eastwardly to the horizon. The landscape, which declines from +these slopes to the south, is in many places bare; yet fields of +plentiful cultivation, groves of cotton-wood, tamarind and oak, +thickets of shrubbery and frequent villages, stud its surface, and +impart an air of rural comfort to the picturesque scene.</p> + +<p>I soon proposed a gallop with my African kindred over the +neighborhood; and, one fine morning, after a plentiful breakfast +of stewed fowls, boiled to rags with rice, and seasoned with +delicious “palavra sauce,” we cantered off to the distant villages. +As we approached the first brook, but before the fringe of screening +bushes was passed, our cavalcade drew rein abruptly, while +Ahmah-de-Bellah cried out: “Strangers are coming!” A few +moments after, as we slowly crossed the stream, I noticed several +women crouched in the underwood, having fled from the bath. +This warning is universally given, and enforced by law, to guard +the modesty of the gentler sex.</p> + +<p>In half an hour we reached the first suburban village; but +fame had preceded us with my character, and as the settlement +was cultivated either by serfs or negroes liable to be made so, +we found the houses bare. The poor wretches had learned, on +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +the day of my reception, that the principal object of my journey +was to obtain slaves, and, of course, they imagined that the only +object of my foray in their neighborhood, was to seize the gang +and bear it abroad in bondage. Accordingly, we tarried only a +few minutes in Findo, and dashed off to Furo; but here, too, +the blacks had been panic struck, and escaped so hurriedly that +they left their pots of rice, vegetables, and meat boiling in their +sheds. Furo was absolutely stripped of inhabitants; the veteran +chief of the village did not even remain to do the honors +for his affrighted brethren. Ahmah-de-Bellah laughed heartily +at the terror I inspired; but I confess I could not help feeling +sadly mortified when I found my presence shunned as a pestilence.</p> + +<p>The native villages through which I passed on this excursion +manifested the great comfort in which these Africans live throughout +their prolific land, when unassailed by the desolating wars +that are kept up for slave-trade. It was the height of the dry +season, when every thing was parched by the sun, yet I could +trace the outlines of fine plantations, gardens, and rice-fields. +Every where I found abundance of peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, +sweet potatoes, and cassava; while tasteful fences were +garlanded with immense vines and flowers. Fowls, goats, sheep, +and oxen, stalked about in innumerable flocks, and from every +domicil depended a paper, inscribed with a charm from the Koran +to keep off thieves and witches.</p> + +<p>My walks through Timbo were promoted by the constant +efforts of my entertainers to shield me from intrusive curiosity. +Whenever I sallied forth, two townsfolk in authority were sent +forward to warn the public that the Furtoo desired to promenade +without a mob at his heels. These lusty criers stationed themselves +at the corners with an iron triangle, which they rattled to +call attention to the king’s command; and, in a short time, the +highways were so clear of people, who feared a <i>bastinado</i>, that I +found my loneliness rather disagreeable than otherwise. <i>Every +person I saw, shunned me.</i> When I called the children or +little girls,—they fled from me. My reputation as a slaver in +the villages, and the fear of a lash in the town, furnished me +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +much more solitude than is generally agreeable to a sensitive +traveller.</p> + +<p>Towards nightfall I left my companions, and wrapping myself +closely in a Mandingo dress, stole away through bye-ways +to a brook which runs by the town-walls. Thither the females +resort at sunset to draw water; and, choosing a screened situation, +where I would not be easily observed, I watched, for +more than an hour, the graceful children, girls, and women of +Timbo, as they performed this domestic task of eastern lands.</p> + +<p>I was particularly impressed by the general beauty of the +sex, who, in many respects, resembled the Moor rather than the +negro. Unaware of a stranger’s presence, they came forth as +usual in a simple dress which covers their body from waist to +knee, and leaves the rest of the figure entirely naked. Group +after group gathered together on the brink of the brook in the +slanting sunlight and lengthening shadows of the plain. Some +rested on their pitchers and water vessels; some chatted, or +leaned on each other gracefully, listening to the chat of friends; +some stooped to fill their jars; others lifted the brimming +vessels to their sisters’ shoulders—while others strode homeward +singing, with their charged utensils poised on head or +hand. Their slow, stately, swinging movement under the burden, +was grace that might be envied on a Spanish <i>paseo</i>. I do not +think the forms of these Fullah girls,—with their complexions of +freshest bronze,—are exceeded in symmetry by the women of any +other country. There was a slender delicacy of limb, waist, neck, +hand, foot, and bosom, which seemed to be the type that moulded +every one of them. I saw none of the hanging breast; the +flat, expanded nostrils; the swollen lips, and fillet-like foreheads, +that characterize the Soosoos and their sisters of the coast. None +were deformed, nor were any marked by traces of disease. +I may observe, moreover, that the male Fullahs of Timbo are +impressed on my memory by a beauty of form, which almost +equals that of the women; and, in fact, the only fault I found +with them was their minute resemblance to the feminine delicacy +of the other sex. They made up, however, in courage +what they lacked in form, for their manly spirit has made them +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +renowned among all the tribes they have so long controlled by +distinguished bravery and perseverance.</p> + +<p>The patriarchal landscape by the brook, with the Oriental +girls over their water-jars, and the lowing cattle in the pastures, +brought freshly to my mind many a Bible scene I heard my +mother read when I was a boy at home; and I do not know +what revolution might have been wrought on my spirit had I not +suddenly become critical! A stately dame passed within twenty +feet of my thicket, whose <i>coiffure</i> excited my mirth so powerfully +that I might have been detected as a spy, had not a bitten +lip controlled my laughter. Her ladyship belonged, perhaps, to +the “upper-ten” of Timbo, whose heads had hitherto been hidden +from my eyes by the jealous <i>yashmacks</i> they constantly +wear in a stranger’s presence. In this instance, however, the +woman’s head, like that of the younger girls, was uncovered, so +that I had a full view of the stately preparation. Her lower +limbs were clad in ample folds of blue and white cotton, knotted +in an immense mass at the waist, while her long crisp hair had +been combed out to its fullest dimensions and spliced with additional +wool. The ebony fleece was then separated in strands +half an inch in diameter, and plaited all over her skull in a +countless number of distinct braids. This quill-like structure +was then adorned with amber beads, and copiously anointed +with vegetable butter, so that the points gleamed with fire in the +setting sunlight, and made her look as if she had donned for +a bewitching headdress a porcupine instead of a “bird of paradise.”</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>My trip to Timbo, I confess, was one of business rather than +pleasure or scientific exploration. I did not make a record, at +the moment, of my “impressions de voyage,” and never thought +that, a quarter of a century afterwards, I would feel disposed to +chronicle the journey in a book, as an interesting <i>souvenir</i> of +my early life. Had I supposed that the day would come when +I was to turn author, it is likely I might have been more inquisitive; +but, being only “a slaver,” I found Ahmah, Sulimani, +Abdulmomen, the Ali-Mami, and all the quality and amusements +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +of Timbo, dull enough, <i>when my object was achieved</i>. Still, +while I was there, I thought I might as well see all that was +visible. I strolled repeatedly through the town. I became excessively +familiar with its narrow streets, low houses, mud walls, +cul-de-sacs, and mosques. I saw no fine bazaars, market-places, +or shops. The chief wants of life were supplied by peddlers. +Platters, jars, and baskets of fruit, vegetables, and meat, were +borne around twice or thrice daily. Horsemen dashed about on +beautiful steeds towards the fields in the morning, or came home +at nightfall at a slower pace. <i>I never saw man or woman bask +lazily in the sun.</i> Females were constantly busy over their +cotton and spinning wheels when not engaged in household occupations; +and often have I seen an elderly dame quietly crouched +in her hovel at sunset reading the Koran. Nor are the men of +Timbo less thrifty. Their city wall is said to hem in about ten +thousand individuals, representing all the social industries. +They weave cotton, work in leather, fabricate iron from the bar, +engage diligently in agriculture, and, whenever not laboriously +employed, devote themselves to reading and writing, of which +they are excessively fond.</p> + +<p>These are the faint sketches, which, on ransacking my brain, +I find resting on its tablets. But I was tired of Timbo; I was +perfectly refreshed from my journey; and I was anxious to return +to my factory on the beach. Two “moons” only had been +originally set apart for the enterprise, and the third was already +waxing towards its full. I feared the Ali-Mami was not yet +prepared with <i>slaves</i> for my departure, and I dreaded lest objections +might be made if I approached his royal highness with the +flat announcement. Accordingly, I schooled my interpreters, +and visited that important personage. I made a long speech, as +full of compliments and blarney as a Christmas pudding is +of plums, and concluded by touching the soft part in African +royalty’s heart—<i>slaves!</i> I told the king that a vessel or two, +with abundant freights, would be waiting me on the river, and +that I must hasten thither with his choicest gangs if he hoped to +reap a profit.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +The king and the royal family were no doubt excessively +grieved to part with the Furtoo Mongo, but they were discreet +persons and “listened to reason.” War parties and scouts were +forthwith despatched to blockade the paths, while press-gangs +made recruits among the villages, and even in Timbo. Sulimani-Ali, +himself, sallied forth, before daybreak, with a troop of horse, +and at sundown, came back with forty-five splendid fellows, captured +in Findo and Furo!</p> + +<p>The personal dread of me in the town itself, was augmented. +If I had been a Pestilence before, I was Death now! When I +took my usual morning walk the children ran from me screaming. +Since the arrival of Sulimani with his victims, all who +were under the yoke thought their hour of exile had come. The +poor regarded me as the devil incarnate. Once or twice, I +caught women throwing a handful of dust or ashes towards +me, and uttering an invocation from the Koran to avert the +demon or save them from his clutches. Their curiosity was +merged in terror. <i>My popularity was over!</i></p> + +<p>It was not a little amusing that in the midst of the general +dismay, caused by the court of Timbo and myself, my colored +brother Ahmah-de-Bellah, and his kinsman Abdulmomen, lost +no chance of lecturing me about my soul! We kidnapped the +Africans all day and spouted Islamism all night! Our religion, +however, was more speculative than practical. It was much more +important, they thought, that we should embrace the faith of +their peculiar theology, than that we should trouble ourselves +about human rights that interfered with profits and pockets. +We spared Mahometans and enslaved <i>only</i> “<i>the heathen</i>;” +so that, in fact, we were merely obedient to the behests of Mahomet +when we subdued “the infidel!”</p> + +<p>This process of proselytism, however, was not altogether successful. +As I was already a rather poor Christian, I fear that +the Fullah did not succeed in making me a very good Mussulman. +Still, I managed to amuse him with the hope of my <i>future</i> +improvement in his creed, so that we were very good friends +when the Ali-Mami summoned us for a final interview.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +The parting of men is seldom a maudlin affair. The king’s +relations presented me bullocks, cows, goats, and sheep. His +majesty sent me five slaves. Sulimani-Ali offered a splendid +white charger. The king’s wife supplied me with an African +quilt ingeniously woven of red and yellow threads unravelled +from Manchester cottons; while Ahmah-de-Bellah, like a gentleman +of taste, despatched for my consolation, the two prettiest +handmaidens he could buy or steal in Timbo!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + + +<p>I shall not weary the reader with a narrative of my journey +homeward over the track I had followed on my way to Timbo. +A grand Mahometan service was performed at my departure, and +Ahmah-de-Bellah accompanied me as far as Jallica, whence he +was recalled by his father in consequence of a serious family dispute +that required his presence. Ali-Ninpha was prepared, in +this place, to greet me with a welcome, and a copious supply of +gold, wax, ivory, and slaves. At Tamisso, the worthy Mohamedoo +had complied with his promise to furnish a similar addition +to the caravan; so that when we set out for Kya, our troop was +swelled to near a thousand strong, counting men, women, children +and ragamuffins.</p> + +<p>At Kya I could not help tarrying four days with my jolly +friend Ibrahim, who received the tobacco, charged with “bitters,” +during my absence, and was delighted to furnish a nourishing +drop after my long abstinence. As we approached the coast, +another halt was called at a favorable encampment, where Ali-Ninpha +divided the caravan in four parts, reserving the best +portion of slaves and merchandise for me. The division, before +arrival, was absolutely necessary, in order to prevent disputes or +disastrous quarrels in regard to the merchantable quality of +negroes on the beach.</p> + +<p>I hoped to take my people by surprise at Kambia; but when +the factory came in sight from the hill-tops back of the settlement, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +I saw the Spanish flag floating from its summit, and heard +the cannon booming forth a welcome to the wanderer. Every +thing had been admirably conducted in my absence. The Fullah +and my clerk preserved their social relations and the public tranquillity +unimpaired. My factory and warehouse were as neat and +orderly as when I left them, so that I had nothing to do but go +to sleep as if I had made a day’s excursion to a neighboring village.</p> + +<p>Within a week I paid for the caravan’s produce, despatched +Mami-de-Yong, and made arrangements with the captain of a +slaver in the river for the remainder of his merchandise. But +the Fullah chief had not left me more than a day or two, when I +was surprised by a traveller who dashed into my factory, with a +message from Ahmah-de-Bellah at Timbo, whence he had posted +in twenty-one days.</p> + +<p>Ahmah was in trouble. He had been recalled, as I said, +from Jallica by family quarrels. When he reached the paternal +mat, he found his sister Beeljie bound hand and foot in prison, +with orders for her prompt transportation to my factory as a +slave. These were the irrevocable commands of his royal father, +and of her half-brother, Sulimani. All his appeals, seconded +by those of his mother, were unheeded. She must be <i>shipped</i> +from the Rio Pongo; and no one could be trusted with the task +but the Ali-Mami’s son and friend, the Mongo Téodor!</p> + +<p>To resist this dire command, Ahmah charged the messenger +to appeal to my heart by our brotherly love <i>not</i> to allow the +maiden to be sent over sea; but, by force or stratagem, to retain +her until he arrived on the beach.</p> + +<p>The news amazed me. I knew that African Mahometans +never sold their caste or kindred into foreign slavery, unless +their crime deserved a penalty severer than death. I reflected +a while on the message, because I did not wish to complicate +my relations with the leading chiefs of the interior; but, in a +few moments, natural sensibility mastered every selfish impulse, +and I told the envoy to hasten back on the path of the suffering +brother, and assure him I would shield his sister, even at +the risk of his kindred’s wrath.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> +About a week afterwards I was aroused one morning by a +runner from a neighboring village over the hill, who stated that +a courier reached his town the night before from Sulimani-Ali,—a +prince of Timbo,—conducting a Fullah girl, who was to be +sold by me <i>immediately</i> to a Spanish slaver. The girl, he said, +resisted with all her energy. She refused to walk. For the last +four days she had been borne along in a litter. She swore never +to “see the ocean;” and threatened to dash her skull against +the first rock in her path, if they attempted to carry her further. +The stanch refusal embarrassed her Mahometan conductor, inasmuch +as his country’s law forbade him to use extraordinary compulsion, +or degrade the maiden with a whip.</p> + +<p>I saw at once that this delay and hesitation afforded an opportunity +to interfere judiciously in behalf of the spirited girl, +whose sins or faults were still unknown to me. Accordingly, I +imparted the tale to Ali-Ninpha; and, with his consent, despatched +a shrewd dame from the Mandingo’s <i>harem</i>, with directions +for her conduct to the village. Woman’s tact and woman’s +sympathy are the same throughout the world, and the proud ambassadress +undertook her task with pleased alacrity. I warned +her to be extremely cautious before the myrmidons of Sulimani, +but to seize a secret moment when she might win the maiden’s +confidence, to inform her that I was the sworn friend of Ahmah-de-Bellah, +and would save her <i>if she followed my commands +implicitly</i>. She must cease resistance at once. She must come +to the river, which was fresh water, and not salt; and she must +allow her jailers to fulfil all the orders they received from her +tyrannical kinsmen. Muffled in the messenger’s garments, I sent +the manuscript Koran of Ahmah-de-Bellah as a token of my +truth, and bade the dame assure Beeljie that her brother was +already far on his journey to redeem her in Kambia.</p> + +<p>The mission was successful, and, early next day, the girl was +brought to my factory, <i>with a rope round her neck</i>.</p> + +<p>The preliminaries for her purchase were tedious and formal. +As her sale was compulsory, there was not much question as to +quality or price. Still, I was obliged to promise a multitude of +things I did not intend to perform. In order to disgrace the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +poor creature as much as possible, her sentence declared she +should be “sold for salt,”—the most contemptuous of all African +exchanges, and used in the interior for the purchase of <i>cattle</i> +alone.</p> + +<p>Poor Beeljie stood naked and trembling before us while these +ceremonies were performing. A scowl of indignation flitted like +a shadow over her face, as she heard the disgusting commands. +Tenderly brought up among the princely brood of Timbo, she was +a bright and delicate type of the classes I described at the brook-side. +Her limbs and features were stained by the dust of travel, +and her expression was clouded with the grief of sensible degradation: +still I would have risked more than I did, when I beheld +the mute appeal of her face and form, to save her from the doom +of Cuban exile.</p> + +<p>When the last tub of salt was measured, I cut the rope from +Beeljie’s neck, and, throwing over her shoulders a shawl,—in +which she instantly shrank with a look of gratitude,—called the +female who had borne my cheering message, to take the girl to +her house and treat her as the sister of my Fullah brother.</p> + +<p>As I expected, this humane command brought the emissary +of Sulimani to his feet with a bound. He insisted on the restitution +of the woman! He swore I had deceived him; and, in +fact, went through a variety of African antics which are not unusual, +even among the most civilized of the tribes, when excited +to extraordinary passion.</p> + +<p>It was my habit, during these outbursts of native ire, to +remain perfectly quiet, not only until the explosion was over, +but while the smoke was disappearing from the scene. I fastened +my eye, therefore, silently, but intensely, on the tiger, following +him in all his movements about the apartment, till he +sank subdued and panting, on the mat. I then softly told him +that this excitement was not only unbecoming a Mahometan gentleman, +and fit for a savage alone, but that it was altogether +wasted on the present occasion, <i>inasmuch as the girl should be +put on board a slaver in his presence</i>. Nevertheless, I continued +while the sister of Ahmah was under my roof, her blood +must be respected, and she should be treated in every respect +as a royal person.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +I was quite as curious as the reader may be to know the +crime of Beeljie, for, up to that moment, I had not been informed +of it. Dismissing the Fullah as speedily as possible, I +hastened to Ali-Ninpha’s dwelling and heard the sufferer’s story.</p> + +<p>The Mahometan princess, whose age surely did not exceed +eighteen, had been promised by the king and her half-brother, +Sulimani, to an old relative, who was not only accused of cruelty +to his harem’s inmates, but was charged by Mussulmen with the +heinous crime of eating “unclean flesh.” The girl, who seemed +to be a person of masculine courage and determination, resisted +this disposal of her person; but, while her brother Ahmah was +away, she was forced from her mother’s arms and given to the +filthy dotard.</p> + +<p>It is commonly supposed that women are doomed to the +basest obedience in oriental lands; yet, it seems there is a Mahometan +law,—or, at least, a Fullah custom,—which saves the +purity of an unwilling bride. The delivery of Beeljie to her +brutal lord kindled the fire of an ardent temper. She furnished +the old gentleman with specimens of violence to which his harem +had been a stranger, save when the master himself chose to indulge +in wrath. In fact, the Fullah damsel—half acting, half +in reality—played the virago so finely, that her husband, after +exhausting arguments, promises and supplications, sent her back +to her kindred <i>with an insulting message</i>.</p> + +<p>It was a sad day when she returned to the paternal roof in +Timbo. Her resistance was regarded by the dropsical despot as +rebellious disobedience to father and brother; and, as neither +authority nor love would induce the outlaw to repent, her barbarous +parent condemned her to be “<i>a slave to Christians</i>.”</p> + +<p>Her story ended, I consoled the poor maiden with every +assurance of protection and comfort; for, now that the excitement +of sale and journey was over, her nerves gave way, and she +sank on her mat, completely exhausted. I commended her to +the safeguard of my landlord and the especial kindness of his +women. Esther, too, stole up at night to comfort the sufferer +with her fondling tenderness, for she could not speak the Fullah +language;—and in a week, I had the damsel in capital condition +ready for a daring enterprise that was to seal her fate.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +When the Spanish slaver, whose cargo I had just completed, +was ready for sea, I begged her captain to aid me in the shipment +of “<i>a princess</i>” who had been consigned to my wardship +by her royal relations in the interior, but whom I dared not put +on board his vessel <i>until she was beyond the Rio Pongo’s bar</i>. +The officer assented; and when the last boat-load of slaves was +despatched from my <i>barracoon</i>, he lifted his anchor and floated +down the stream till he got beyond the furthest breakers. Here, +with sails loosely furled, and every thing ready for instant departure, +he again laid to, awaiting the royal <i>bonne-bouche</i>.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, I hurried Beeljie with her friends and +Fullah jailer to the beach, so that when the slaver threw his sails +aback and brought his vessel to the wind, I lost not a moment in +putting the girl in a canoe, with five Kroomen to carry her +through the boiling surf.</p> + +<p>“Allah be praised!” sighed the Fullah, as the boat shot +ahead into the sea; while the girls of the harem fell on the sand +with wails of sorrow. The Kroomen, with their usual skill, +drove the buoyant skiff swiftly towards the slaver; but, as they +approached the breakers south of the bar, a heavy roller struck +it on the side, and instantly, its freight was struggling in the +surge.</p> + +<p>In a twinkling, the Fullah was on the earth, his face buried +in the sand; the girls screamed and tore their garments; Ali-Ninpha’s +wife clung to me with the grasp of despair; while I, +stamping with rage, cursed the barbarity of the maiden’s parent, +whose sentence had brought her to this wretched fate.</p> + +<p>I kicked the howling hypocrite beneath me, and bade him +hasten with the news to Timbo, and tell the wicked patriarch +that the Prophet himself had destroyed the life of his wretched +child, sooner than suffer her to become a Christian’s slave.</p> + +<p>The Spanish vessel was under full sail, sweeping rapidly out +to sea, and the Kroomen swam ashore without their boat, as the +grieving group slowly and sadly retraced their way along the +river’s bank to Kambia.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/canot04.png" width="700" height="521" alt="" /> +<span class="caption">THE SHIPPING OF BEELJIE.</span> +</div> + +<p>There was wailing that night in the village, and there was +wailing in Timbo when the Fullah returned with the tragic story. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +In fact, such was the distracted excitement both on the sea-shore +and in the settlement, that none of my companions had eyes to +observe an episode of the drama which had been played that +evening without rehearsal.</p> + +<p>Every body who has been on the coast of Africa, or read of +its people, knows that Kroomen are altogether unaware of any +difference between a smooth river and the angriest wave. +They would as willingly be upset in the surf as stumble against +a rock. I took advantage of this amphibious nature, to station +a light canoe immediately on the edge of the breakers, and to +order the daring swimmers it contained to grasp the girl the +moment her canoe was <i>purposely upset</i>! I promised the divers +a liberal reward if they lodged her in their boat, or swam with +her to the nearest point of the opposite beach; and so well did +they perform their secret task, that when they drew ashore her +fainting body, it was promptly received by a trusty Bager, who +was in waiting on the beach. Before the girl recovered her +senses she was safely afloat in the fisherman’s canoe. His home +was in a village on the coast below; and, perhaps, it still remains +a secret to this day, how it was that, <i>for years after, a girl, the +image of the lost Beeljie, followed the footsteps of Ahmah, the +Fullah of Timbo</i>!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + + +<p>After my toilsome journey to the interior, my despatch of a +slaver, and my adventurous enterprise in behalf of a Fullah princess, +I thought myself entitled to a long <i>siesta</i>; but my comfortable +desires and anticipations were doomed to disappointment. +I was suddenly stirred from this willing lethargy by a salute of +twenty-one guns in the offing. Our wonder was almost insupportable +as to the character of the ceremonious stranger who +wasted powder so profusely, while a boy was despatched to the +top of the look-out tree to ascertain his character. He reported +a schooner anchored opposite Bangalang, sporting a long pendant +at the main, and a white ensign at her peak. I took it for granted +that no man-of-war would <i>salute</i> a native chief, and so concluded +that it was some pretentious Frenchman, unacquainted with the +prudent customs of our demure coast.</p> + +<p>The conjecture was right. At nightfall Mr. Ormond—whose +humor had somewhat improved since my return—apprised me +that a Gallic slaver had arrived to his consignment with a rich +cargo, and hoped I would join him at breakfast on board, by invitation +of the commander.</p> + +<p>Next morning, at sunrise, the Mongo and myself met for the +first time after our rupture with apparent cordiality on the deck +of “La Perouse,” where we were welcomed with all that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +cordiality of grimace for which a half-bred Frenchman is so justly +celebrated. Captain Brulôt could not speak English, nor could +Mr. Ormond express himself in French; so we wasted the time +till breakfast was served in discussing his cargo and prospects, +through my interpretation. Fine samples of gaudy calicoes, +French guns, and superior brandy, were exhibited and dwelt on +with characteristic eloquence; but the Gaul closed his bewitching +catalogue with a shout of joy that made the cabin ring, as +he announced the complement of his cargo to be <i>five hundred +doubloons</i>. The scent of gold has a peculiar charm to African +slavers, and it will readily be supposed that our appetite for the +promised <i>déjeuner</i> was not a little stimulated by the Spanish +coin. As rapidly as we could, we summed up the doubloons +and his merchandise; and, estimating the entire cargo at about +$17,000, offered him three hundred and fifty negroes for the lot. +The bid was no sooner made than accepted. Our private boats +were sent ashore in search of canoes to discharge the goods, and, +with a relish and spirit I never saw surpassed, we sat down to a +piquant breakfast, spread on deck beneath the awning.</p> + +<p>I will not attempt to remember the dishes which provoked +our appetites and teased our thirst. We were happy already on +the delightful claret that washed down the viands; but, after +the substantials were gone, coffee was served, and succeeded by +half a dozen various cordials, the whole being appropriately +capped by the foam of champagne.</p> + +<p>When the last bumper was quaffed in honor of “La Perouse” +and “belle France,” Captain Brulôt called for his writing-desk; +when, at the instant, four men sprung up as if by enchantment +behind the Mongo and myself, and grasping our arms with the +gripe of a vice, held us in their clutches till the carpenter riveted +a shackle on our feet.</p> + +<p>The scene passed so rapidly,—the transition from gayety to +outrage was so sharp and violent, that my bewildered mind cannot +now declare with certainty, whether mirth or anger prevailed +at the clap-trap trick of this dramatic <i>denouement</i>. I am quite +sure, however, that if I laughed at first, I very soon swore; for +I have a distinct recollection of dashing my fist in the poltroon’s +face before he could extemporize an explanation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +When our limbs were perfectly secure, the French scoundrel +recommenced his shrugs, bows, grins and congées; and approaching +Mr. Ormond with a sarcastic simper, apprised him that the +<i>petite comedie</i> in which he took part, had been enacted for the +collection of a trifling debt which his excellency the Mongo +owed a beloved brother, who, alas! was no longer on earth to +collect it for himself!</p> + +<p><i>Monsieur le Mongo</i>, he said, would have the kindness to +remember that, several years ago, his brother had left some +<i>two hundred slaves</i> in his hands until called for; and he would +also please to take the trouble to recollect, that the said slaves +had been twice sent for, and twice refused. <i>Monsieur le Mongo</i> +must know, he continued, that there was not much law on the +coast of Africa; and that, as he had Monsieur le Mongo’s promissory +note, or due-bill, for the negroes, he thought this charming +little <i>ruse</i> would be the most amiable and practical mode of +enforcing it! Did his friend, <i>le Mongo</i>, intend to honor this +draft? It was properly endorsed, he would see, in favor of the +bearer; and if the <i>esclaves</i> were quickly forthcoming, the whole +affair would pass off as agreeably and quickly as the bubbles from +a champagne glass.</p> + +<p>By this time Ormond was so perfectly stupefied by drink, as +well as the atrocity, that he simply burst into a maudlin laugh, +when I looked at him for an explanation of the charge. <i>I</i>, +surely, was not implicated in it; yet, when I demanded the +cause of the assault upon <i>my</i> person, in connection with the +affair, Brulôt replied, with a shrug, that as I was Ormond’s clerk +when the note was signed, I <i>must</i> have had a finger in the pie; +and, inasmuch as I now possessed a factory of my own, it would +doubtless be delightful to aid my ancient patron in the liquidation +of a debt that I knew to be lawful.</p> + +<p>It was altogether useless to deny my presence in the factory, +or knowledge of the transaction, which, in truth, had occurred +long before my arrival on the Rio Pongo, during the clerkship +of my predecessor. Still, I insisted on immediate release. An +hour flew by in useless parley. But the Frenchman was firm, +and swore that nothing would induce him to liberate either of us +without payment of the bill. While we were talking, a crowd +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +of canoes was seen shoving off from Bangalang, filled with armed +men; whereupon the excited Gaul ordered his men to quarters, +and double-shotted his guns.</p> + +<p>As the first boat came within striking distance, a ball was +fired across her bows, which not only sent back the advance, but +made the entire fleet tack ship and steer homeward in dismay. +Soon after, however, I heard the war-drum beating in Bangalang, +and could see the natives mustering in great numbers along the +river banks; yet, what could undisciplined savages effect against +the skinned teeth of our six-pounders? At sunset, however, my +clerk came off, with a white flag, and the captain allowed him to +row alongside to receive our orders in his presence. Ormond +was not yet in a state to consult as to our appropriate means of +rescue from the trickster’s clutches; so I directed the young +man to return in the morning with changes of raiment; but, in +the mean while, to desire the villagers of both settlements to +refrain from interference in our behalf. An excellent meal, with +abundance of claret, was served for our entertainment, and, on a +capital mattress, we passed a night of patient endurance in our +iron stockings.</p> + +<p>At daylight, water and towels were served for our refreshment. +After coffee and cigars were placed on the board, Brulôt +put by his sarcasm, and, in an off-hand fashion, demanded whether +we had come to our senses and intended to pay the debt? +My Italian blood was in a fever, and I said nothing. Ormond, +however,—now entirely sober, and who was enjoying a cigar +with the habitual <i>insouciance</i> of a mulatto,—replied quietly that +he could make no promises or arrangements whilst confined on +board, but if allowed to go ashore, he would fulfil his obligation +in two or three days. An hour was spent by the Frenchman in +pondering on the proposal; when it was finally agreed that the +Mongo should be set at liberty, provided he left, as hostages, +four of his children and two of the black chiefs who visited him +in my boat. The compact was sealed by the hoisting of a flag +under the discharge of a blank cartridge; and, in an hour, the +pledges were in the cabin, under the eye of a sentry, while the +Mongo was once more in Bangalang.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +These negotiations, it will be perceived, did not touch <i>my</i> +case, though I was in no manner guilty; yet I assented to the +proposal because I thought that Ormond would be better able +than myself to find the requisite number of slaves at that moment. +I ordered my clerk, however, to press all the indifferent +and useless servants in my factory, and to aid the Mongo with +every slave at present in my <i>barracoon</i>.</p> + +<p>Before sunset of that day, this young man came aboard with +fifty negroes from my establishment, and demanded my release. +It was refused. Next day forty more were despatched by the +Mongo; but still my liberty was denied. I upbraided the +scoundrel with his meanness, and bade him look out for the day +of retribution. But he snapped his fingers at my threat as he +exclaimed: “<i>Cher ami, ce n’est que la fortune de guerre!</i>”</p> + +<p>It was a task of difficulty to collect the remaining one hundred +and ten slaves among factories which had been recently +drained by Cuban vessels. Many domestic menials escaped to +the forest when the story became known, as they did not wish to +take the place of their betters in the “French service.”</p> + +<p>Thrice had the sun risen and set since I was a prisoner. +During all the time, my blood tingled for revenge. I was +tricked, humbled and disgraced. Never did I cease to pray for +the arrival of some well-armed <i>Spanish slaver</i>; and, towards +evening of the fourth day, lo! the boon was granted! That +afternoon, a boat manned by negroes, passed with the Spanish +flag; but, as there was no white man aboard, Brulôt took it +for a <i>ruse</i> of the Mongo, designed to alarm him into an unconditional +release of his captives.</p> + +<p>I must do the Gaul the justice to declare, that during my +confinement, he behaved like a gentleman, in supplies from the +pantry and spirit-room. Neither was he uncivil or unkind in his +general demeanor. Indeed, he several times regretted that this +was the only means in his power “to collect a promissory note +on the coast of Africa;” yet, I was not Christian enough to +sympathize with the sheriff, or to return his compliments with +any thing but a curse. But, now that a Spaniard was within +hail, I felt a sudden lifting of the weight that was on my heart. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +I shouted for champagne! The steward brought it with alacrity, +and poured with trembling hand the bumpers I drained to +Saint Jago and old Spain. The infection soon spread. They +began to believe that a rescue was at hand. The news was +heard with dismay in the forecastle. Brulôt alone stood obstinate, +but indecisive.</p> + +<p>Presently, I called him to join me in a glass, and, as we +drank the foaming liquid, I pledged him to another “within +twenty-four hours beneath the Spanish flag.” The Gaul feigned +a sort of hectic hilarity as he swallowed the wine and the toast, +but he could not stand the flash of revenge in my eye and burning +cheek, and retired to consult with his officers.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + + +<p>I slept soundly that night; but the sun was not clear of the +forest when I hobbled on deck in my shackles, and was searching +the seaward horizon for my beloved Castilian. Presently the +breeze began to freshen, and the tall, raking masts of a schooner +were seen gliding above the tops of the mangroves that masked +the Rio Pongo’s mouth. Very soon the light wind and tide +drifted her clear of the bends, and an anchor was let go within +musket shot of my prison, while springs were run out to the +bushes to give range to her broadside. I saw at once, from her +manœuvres, that Ormond had communicated with the craft during +the night.</p> + +<p>Brulôt felt that his day was over. The Spaniard’s decks +were crowded with an alert, armed crew; four charming little +bull-dogs showed their muzzles from port holes; while a large +brass swivel, amidships, gave token of its readiness to fight or +salute. For a minute or two the foiled Frenchman surveyed the +scene through his glass; then, throwing it over his shoulder, +ordered the mate to strike off my “darbies.” As the officer +obeyed, a voice was heard from the Spaniard, commanding a +boat to be sent aboard, under penalty of a shot if not instantly +obeyed. The boat was lowered; but who would man her? The +chief officer refused; the second declined; the French sailors +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> +objected; the Creoles and mulattoes from St. Thomas went +below; so that no one was left to fulfil the slaver’s order but +Brulôt or myself.</p> + +<p>“<i>Bien!</i>” said my crest-fallen cock, “it’s your turn to crow, +Don Téodore. Fortune seems on your side, and you are again +free. Go to the devil, if you please, <i>mon camarade</i>, and send +your imps for the slaves as soon as you want them!”</p> + +<p>By this time the Spaniard had lighted his matches, levelled +his guns, and, under the aim of his musketry, repeated the order +for a boat. Seeing the danger of our party, I leaped to the bulwarks, +and hailing my deliverer in Spanish, bade him desist. +The request was obeyed as I threw myself into the yawl, cut the +rope, and, alone, sculled the skiff to the slaver.</p> + +<p>A shout went up from the deck of my deliverer as I jumped +aboard and received the cordial grasp of her commander. Ali-Ninpha, +too, was there to greet and defend me with a chosen +band of his people. While I was absorbed in the joy of welcome +and liberation, the African stole with his band to the +Frenchman’s boat, and was rapidly filling it to board the foe, +when my clerk apprised me of the impending danger. I was +fortunate enough to control the enraged savage, else I know not +what might have been the fate of Brulôt and the officers during +the desertion of his mongrel and cowardly crew.</p> + +<p>The captain desired his mates to keep an eye on the Gaul +while we retired to the cabin for consultation; and here I +learned that I was on board the “Esperanza,” consigned to me +from Matanzas. In turn, I confirmed the account they had +already heard of my mishap from the Mongo’s messengers; but +hoped the Cuban captain would permit me to take pacific revenge +after my own fashion, inasmuch as my captor—barring the irons—had +behaved with uncommon civility. I had no trouble, of +course, in obtaining the commander’s assent to this request, +though he yielded it under the evident displeasure of his crew, +whose Spanish blood was up against the Frenchman, and would +willingly have inflicted a signal punishment on this neutral +ground.</p> + +<p>After these preliminaries, Captain Escudero and myself +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +returned to the “La Perouse” with two boat-loads of armed followers, +while our approach was covered by the cannons and small +arms of the “Esperanza.” Brulôt received us in moody silence +on the quarter-deck. His officers sat sulkily on a gun to leeward, +while two or three French seamen walked to and fro on +the forecastle.</p> + +<p>My first command was to spike the vessel’s guns. Next, I +decreed and superintended the disembarkation of the stolen +slaves; and, lastly, I concluded the morning call with a request +that Brulôt would <i>produce the five hundred doubloons and his +“promissory note” for two hundred slaves</i>!</p> + +<p>The fatal document, duly indorsed, was quickly delivered, +but no persuasion or threat induced the angry Gaul to show +his gold, or a manifest of the cargo.</p> + +<p>After ample indulgence, I despatched a man to seek his +writing-desk, and discovered that six hundred doubloons had +in reality been shipped in St. Thomas. Of course, their production +was imperiously demanded; but Brulôt swore they had +been landed, with his supercargo, in the neighboring Rio Nunez. +I was near crediting the story, when a slight sneer I perceived +flickering over the steward’s face, put me on the <i>qui vive</i> to request +an inspection of the log-book, which, unfortunately for my captor, +did not record the disembarkation of the cash. This demonstrated +Brulôt’s falsehood, and authorized a demand for his trunk. +The knave winced as the steward descended to bring it; and he +leaped with rage as I split it with a hatchet, and counted two +hundred and fifty Mexican doubloons on the deck. <i>His cargo, +however, proved to be a sham of samples.</i></p> + +<p>Turning innocently to Escudero, I remarked that he must +have been put to considerable trouble in rescuing me from this +outlaw, and hoped he would suffer his men to be recompensed +for their extra toil under the rays of an African sun. I would +not venture to judge the value of such devoted services; but +requested him to fix his own price and receive payment on the +spot.</p> + +<p>Escudero very naturally supposed that <i>about</i> two hundred +and fifty Mexican ounces would compensate him to a fraction, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +and, accordingly, the two hundred and fifty shiners, glistening on +the deck, forthwith returned to their bag and went overboard into +his boat.</p> + +<p>“<i>Adieu! mon cher</i>,” said I, as I followed the gold; “<i>la +fortune de guerre</i> has many phases, you see; how do you like +this one? The next game you play on the coast of Africa, my +chicken, recollect that though a <i>knave</i> can take a trick, yet the +<i>knave may be trumped before the hand is played out</i>!”</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + + +<p>La Esperanza discharged her cargo rapidly, but, before I was +ready to send back a living freight, poor Escudero fell a victim +to African fever.</p> + +<p>I had seen much of the country; I had made some money; +my clerk was a reliable fellow; I was growing somewhat anxious +for a change of scene; and, in fact, I only wanted a decent excuse +to find myself once more aboard a “skimmer of the seas,” +for a little relaxation after the oppressive monotony of a slaver’s +life. Escudero’s death seemed to offer the desired opportunity. +His mate was an inexperienced seaman; his officers were unacquainted +with the management of a slave cargo; and, upon a +view of the whole field of interests, I thought it best to take +charge of the schooner and pay a visit to my friends in Cuba. +In the mean time, however, a Danish brig arrived for negroes, +so that it became necessary for me, with my multiplied duties, +to bestir myself in the collection of slaves.</p> + +<p>Whilst I was dining one afternoon at Ormond’s factory with +the Danish captain of the trader, the boom of a gun, followed +rapidly by two or three more, announced the arrival of another +craft. We drank a toast to his advent, and were beginning to +condole a little over our difficulty in procuring blacks, when the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +look-out ran into our room with the report that my Spaniard +was firing into the Dane. We rushed to the piazza whence the +scene of action might be beheld, and another shot from my vessel +seemed to indicate that she was the aggressor. The Dane +and myself hurried aboard our respective schooners, but when I +reached the Esperanza, my crew were weighing anchor, while the +quarter-deck was strewn with fire-arms. The mate stood on the +heel of the bowsprit, urging his men to alacrity; the sailors hove +at the windlass with mingled shouts of passion and oaths of +revenge; on a mattress lay the bleeding form of my second officer, +while a seaman groaned beside him with a musket ball in +his shoulder.</p> + +<p>My arrival was the signal for a pause. As quickly as possible, +I inquired into the affray, which had originated like many a +sailor’s dispute, on a question of precedence at the watering +place in a neighboring brook. The Danes were seven, and we +but three. Our Spaniards had been driven off, and my second +mate, in charge of the yawl, received a <i>trenchant</i> blow from an +oar-blade, which cut his skull and felled him senseless on the +sand.</p> + +<p>Of course, “the watering” was over for the day, and both +boats returned to their vessels to tell their stories. The moment +the Danes got on board, they imprudently ran up their +ensign; and, as this act of apparent defiance occurred just as the +Esperanza was receiving the lifeless form of her officer, my excited +crew discharged a broadside in reply to the warlike token. +Gun followed gun, and musketry rattled against musketry. The +Dane miscalculated the range of the guns, and his grape fell +short of my schooner, while our snarling sixes made sad havoc +with his bulwarks and rigging.</p> + +<p>I had hardly learned the facts of the case and thought of a +truce, when the passionate Northman sent a round-shot whistling +over my head. Another and another followed in its wake, but +they aimed too high for damage. At twenty-four our blood is +not so diplomatically pacific as in later years, and this second +aggression rekindled the lava in my Italian veins. There was +no longer question of a white flag or a parley. In a twinkling, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +I slipped my cable and ran up the jib and mainsail, so as to +swing the schooner into a raking position at short quarters; and +before the Dane could counteract my manœuvre, I gave him a +dose of grape and cannister which tore his ensign to ribbons and +spoiled the looks of his hull materially. My second shot splintered +the edge of his mast; but while I was making ready for a +third, to tickle him betwixt wind and water, down tumbled his +impertinent pendant and the day was won.</p> + +<p>For a while there was a dead silence between the warriors. +Neither hailed nor sent a boat on board of the other. Ormond +perceived this cessation of hostilities from his piazza at Bangalang, +and coming out in a canoe, rowed to the Dane after hearing +my version of the battle.</p> + +<p>I waited anxiously either for his return or a message, but as +I was unadvised of the Mongo’s views and temper in regard to +the affray, I thought it well, before dark, to avoid treachery by +quitting the river and placing my schooner in a creek with her +broadside to the shore. Special charge was then given to the +mate and men to be alert all night long; after which, I went +on shore to protect the rear by placing my factory in a state +of defence.</p> + +<p>But my precautions were needless. At daylight the guard +brought us news of the Dane’s departure, and when I descended +the river to Bangalang, Ormond alleged that the slaver had +sailed for Sierra Leone to seek succor either from a man-of-war +or the British government.</p> + +<p>It may be supposed that I was not so “green” in Africa as +to believe this story. No vessel, equipped for a slave cargo, +would dare to enter the imperial colony. Yet the Northman +had bitter cause for grief and anger. His vessel was seriously +harmed by my grape-shot; his carpenter was slain during the +action; and three of his seaman were lingering with desperate +wounds. In a few days, however, he returned to the Rio Pongo +from his airing on the Atlantic, where his wrath had probably +been somewhat cooled by the sea-breeze. His craft was anchored +higher up the river than my Spaniard, and thus our crews avoided +intercourse for the future.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +But this was not the case with the captains. The Mongo’s +table was a sort of neutral ground, at which we met with cold +salutations but without conversation. Ormond and the Dane, +however, became exceedingly intimate. Indeed, the mulatto +appeared to exhibit a degree of friendship for the Margaritan +I had never seen him bestow on any one else. This singularity, +together with his well-known insincerity, put me on my guard to +watch his proceedings with increased caution.</p> + +<p>Personal observation is always a safe means of self-assurance; +yet I have sometimes found it to be “a way of the world,”—not +to be altogether scorned or disregarded,—to <i>purchase</i> the +good will of “confidential” persons. Accordingly, I made it +“worth the while” of Ormond’s body-servant to sift the secret +of this sudden devotion; and in a few days the faithless slave, +who spoke English remarkably well, told me that the Dane, by +dint of extra pay and the secret delivery of all his spare provisions +and the balance of his cargo, had induced the Mongo +to promise the delivery of his slaves before mine.</p> + +<p>Now, Ormond, by a specific contract,—made and paid for +before the Dane’s arrival,—owed me two hundred negroes on +account of the Esperanza’s cargo. The Dane knew this perfectly, +but my severe chastisement rankled in his heart, and made +him seek revenge in the most effectual way on the coast of Africa. +He was bent upon depriving me of one hundred negroes, in the +hands of Mr. Ormond.</p> + +<p>I said nothing of my discovery, nor did I make any remarks +on the astonishing love that existed between these Siamese twins; +still, I kept my eye on Ormond’s <i>barracoon</i> until I found his +stock had gradually augmented to three hundred. Thereupon, +I dropped in one morning unceremoniously, and, in a gentle +voice, told him of his treacherous design. My ancient patron +was so degraded by debauchery, that he not only avoided a passionate +outburst when I made the charge, but actually seemed +to regard it as a sort of capital joke, or recompense for the damage +I had inflicted on the Dane! We did not dream of arguing +the propriety or impropriety of his conduct; nor did I think of +upbraiding him with baseness, as I would have done any one +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +who had dipped only his finger-tips in fraud. Still, ever and +anon, I saw a glimmer of former spirit in the wretch, and thought +I would attempt a counter-mine of interest, which Ormond might +probably understand and grasp. I resolved, in fact, to <i>outbid</i> +the Dane, for I thought I possessed a card that could take him. +Accordingly, I offered to surrender a bond for one hundred slaves +he owed me on account of the Esperanza; I promised, moreover, +one hundred and fifty negroes, to be delivered that evening,—and +I tendered <i>Brulôt’s promissory note for the missing two hundred +darkies</i>,—if he would pledge himself <i>to load the Dane +during the succeeding night</i>!</p> + +<p>Ormond took the hint like tinder, and grasped my hand on the +bargain. The Dane was ordered to prepare his vessel to receive +cargo without delay, and was specially desired <i>to drop down +about fifteen miles towards the bar, so as to be off the moment his +slaves were under hatches</i>!</p> + +<p>For the next six hours there was not a busier bee on the Rio +Pongo than Don Téodore. My schooner was put in ship-shape +for cargo. The mate was ordered to have his small arms and +cutlasses in perfect condition. Our pivot gun was double-loaded +with chain-shot. My factory was set in order, and written directions +given the clerk in anticipation of a four months’ absence. +Ali-Ninpha was put in charge of the territorial domain, while +my Spaniard was intrusted with the merchandise.</p> + +<p>It was encouraging to see, in the course of the afternoon, that +my northern rival had swallowed the bait, for he borrowed a +kedge to aid him, as he said, in descending the river against the +tide, in order to “<i>get a better berth</i>.” He found the trees and +air uncomfortable sixteen miles from the bar, and wanted to +approach it to be “nearer the sea-breeze!” The adroitness of +his excuse made me laugh in my sleeve, as the clumsy trickster +shot past me with his sails unbent.</p> + +<p>Well,—night came on, with as much darkness as ever robes +the star-lit skies of Africa when the moon is obscured. My long +boat was quickly filled with ten men, armed with pistol and cutlass; +and in a short time, the canoes from Bangalang hove in sight +with their sable burden. I boarded the first one myself, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +commanding the rowers to pull for my Spaniard. The second was +seized by the mate, who followed in my wake. The third, fourth, +fifth and sixth, shared the same fate in rapid succession; so +that, in an hour, three hundred and seventy-five negroes were, +safe beneath the Esperanza’s deck. Thereupon, I presented the +head-man of each canoe a document acknowledging the receipt of +his slaves, <i>and wrote an order on the Mongo in favor of the +Dane, for the full amount of the darkies I had borrowed</i>!</p> + +<p>The land wind sprang up and the tide turned when daylight +warned me it was time to be off; and, as I passed the Dane +snugly at anchor just inside the bar, I called all hands to give +three cheers, and to wish him happiness in the “enjoyment of +his sea-breeze.”</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + + +<p>When the land-breeze died away, it fell entirely calm, and the +sea continued an unruffled mirror for three days, during which +the highlands remained in sight, like a faint cloud in the east. +The glaring sky and the reflecting ocean acted and reacted on +each other until the air glowed like a furnace. During night a +dense fog enveloped the vessel with its clammy folds. When +the vapor lifted on the fourth morning, our look-out announced +a sail from the mast-head, and every eye was quickly sweeping +the landward horizon in search of the stranger. Our spies along +the beach had reported the coast clear of cruisers when I sailed, +so that I hardly anticipated danger from men-of-war; nevertheless, +we held it discreet to avoid intercourse, and accordingly, +our double-manned sweeps were rigged out to impel us slowly +towards the open ocean. Presently, the mate went aloft with +his glass, and, after a deliberate gaze, exclaimed: “It is only +the Dane,—I see his flag.” At this my crew swore they would +sooner fight than sweep in such a latitude; and, with three +cheers, came aft to request that I would remain quietly where I +was until the Northman overhauled us.</p> + +<p>We made so little headway with oars that I thought the difference +trifling, whether we pulled or were becalmed. Perhaps, +it might be better to keep the hands fresh, if a conflict proved +inevitable. I passed quickly among the men, with separate +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +inquiries as to their readiness for battle, and found all—from the +boy to the mate—anxious, at every hazard, to do their duty. +Our breakfast was as cold as could be served in such a climate, +but I made it palatable with a case of claret.</p> + +<p>When a sail on the coast of Africa heaves in sight of <i>a slaver</i>, +it is always best for the imperilled craft, especially if gifted with +swift hull and spreading wings, to take flight without the courtesies +that are usual in mercantile sea-life. At the present day, +fighting is, of course, out of the question, and the valuable prize +is abandoned by its valueless owners. At all times, however,—and +as a guard against every risk, whether the cue be to fight or +fly,—the prudent slaver, as soon as he finds himself in the neighborhood +of unwholesome canvas, puts out his fire, nails his forecastle, +sends his negroes below, and secures the gratings over his +hatches.</p> + +<p>All these preparations were quietly made on board the Esperanza; +and, in addition, I ordered a supply of small arms and +ammunition on deck, where they were instantly covered with +blankets. Every man was next stationed at his post, or where +he might be most serviceable. The cannons were sponged and +loaded with care; and, as I desired to deceive our new acquaintance, +I ran up the Portuguese flag. The calm still continued as +the day advanced;—indeed, I could not perceive a breath of air +by our dog-vane, which veered from side to side as the schooner +rolled slowly on the lazy swell. The stranger did not approach, +nor did we advance. There we hung—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“A painted ship upon a painted ocean!”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>I cannot describe the fretful anxiety which vexes a mind under +such circumstances. Slaves below; a blazing sun above; the +boiling sea beneath; a withering air around; decks piled with +materials of death; escape unlikely; a phantom in chase behind; +the ocean like an unreachable eternity before; uncertainty every +where; and, within your skull, a feverish mind, harassed by +doubt and responsibility, yet almost craving for any act of desperation +that will remove the spell. It is a living nightmare, +from which the soul pants to be free.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +With torments like these, I paced the deck for half an hour +beneath the awning, when, seizing a telescope and mounting the +rigging, I took deliberate aim at the annoyer. He was full +seven or eight miles away from us, but very soon I saw, or fancied +I saw, a row of ports, which the Dane had not: then sweeping +the horizon a little astern of the craft, I distinctly made out +three boats, fully manned, making for us with ensigns flying.</p> + +<p>Anxious to avoid a panic, I descended leisurely, and ordered +the sweeps to be spread once more in aid of the breeze, which, +within the last ten minutes, had freshened enough to fan us along +about a knot an hour. Next, I imparted my discovery to the +officers; and, passing once more among the men to test their +nerves, I said it was likely they would have to encounter an +angrier customer than the Dane. In fact, I frankly told them +our antagonist was unquestionably a British cruiser of ten or +twelve guns, from whose clutches there was no escape, unless we +repulsed the boats.</p> + +<p>I found my crew as confident in the face of augmented risk +as they had been when we expected the less perilous Dane. +Collecting their votes for fight or surrender, I learned that all +<i>but two</i> were in favor of resistance. I had no doubt in regard +<i>to the mates</i>, in our approaching trials.</p> + +<p>By this time the breeze had again died away to utter calmness, +while the air was so still and fervent that our sweltering +men almost sank at the sweeps. I ordered them in, threw overboard +several water-casks that encumbered the deck, and hoisted +our boat to the stern-davits to prevent boarding in that quarter. +Things were perfectly ship-shape all over the schooner, and I +congratulated myself that her power had been increased by two +twelve pound carronades, the ammunition, and part of the crew +of a Spanish slaver, abandoned on the bar of Rio Pongo a week +before my departure. We had in all seven guns, and abundance +of musketry, pistols and cutlasses, to be wielded and managed +by thirty-seven hands.</p> + +<p>By this time the British boats, impelled by oars alone, +approached within half a mile, while the breeze sprang up in +cat’s-paws all round the eastern horizon, but without fanning us +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +with a single breath. Taking advantage of one of these slants, +the cruiser had followed her boats, but now, about five miles off, +was again as perfectly becalmed as <i>we</i> had been all day. Presently, +I observed the boats converge within the range of my +swivel, and lay on their oars as if for consultation. I seized this +opportunity, while the enemy was huddled together, to give him +the first welcome; and, slewing the schooner round with my +sweeps, I sent him a shot from my swivel. But the ball passed +over their heads, while, with three cheers, they separated,—the +largest boat making directly for our waist, while the others steered +to cross our bow and attack our stern.</p> + +<p>During the chase my weapons, with the exception of the pivot +gun, were altogether useless, but I kept a couple of sweeps +ahead and a couple astern to play the schooner, and employed +that loud-tongued instrument as the foe approached. The larger +boat, bearing a small carronade, was my best target, yet we contrived +to miss each other completely until my sixth discharge, +when a double-headed shot raked the whole bank of starboard +oar-blades, and disabled the rowers by the severe concussion. +This paralyzed the launch’s advance, and allowed me to devote +my exclusive attention to the other boats; yet, before I could +bring the schooner in a suitable position, a signal summoned the +assailants aboard the cruiser to repair damages. I did not +reflect until this moment of reprieve, that, early in the day, I +had hoisted the Portuguese ensign <i>to deceive the Dane</i>, and +imprudently left it aloft in the presence of <i>John Bull</i>! I struck +the false flag at once, unfurled the Spanish, and refreshing the +men with a double allowance of grog and grub, put them +again to the sweeps. When the cruisers reached their vessels, +the men instantly re-embarked, while the boats were allowed to +swing alongside, which convinced me that the assault would be +renewed as soon as the rum and roast-beef of Old England had +strengthened the heart of the adversary. Accordingly, noon had +not long passed when our pursuers again embarked. Once more +they approached, divided as before, and again we exchanged +ineffectual shots. I kept them at bay with grape and musketry +until I hear three o’clock, when a second signal of retreat was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +hoisted on the cruiser, and answered by exultant <i>vivas</i> from my +crew. It grieved me, I confess, not to mingle my voice with +these shouts, for I was sure that the lion retreated to make a +better spring, nor was I less disheartened when the mate reported +that nearly all the ammunition for our cannons was exhausted. +Seven kegs of powder were still in the magazine, though not +more than a dozen rounds of grape, cannister, or balls, remained +in the locker. There was still an abundance of cartridges for +pistols and musketry, but these were poor defences against resolute +Englishmen whose blood was up and who would unquestionably +renew the charge with reinforcements of vigorous men. +Fore and aft, high and low, we searched for missiles. Musket +balls were crammed in bags; bolts and nails were packed in +cartridge paper; slave shackles were formed with rope-yarns +into chain-shot; and, in an hour, we were once more tolerably +prepared to pepper the foe.</p> + +<p>When these labors terminated, I turned my attention to the +relaxed crew, portions of whom refused wine, and began to sulk +about the decks. As yet only two had been slightly scratched +by spent musket balls; but so much discontent began to appear +among the passenger-sailors of the wrecked slaver, that my own +hands could with difficulty restrain them from revolt. I felt +much difficulty in determining how to act, but I had no time for +deliberation. Violence was clearly not my <i>rôle</i>, but persuasion +was a delicate game in such straits among men whom I did not +command with the absolute authority of a master. I cast my +eye over the taffrail, and seeing that the British boats were still +afar, I followed my first impulse, and calling the whole gang to +the quarter-deck, tried the effect of African palaver and Spanish +gold. I spoke of the perils of capture and of the folly of surrendering +<i>a slaver</i> while there was the slightest <i>hope</i> of escape. +I painted the unquestionable result of being taken after such resistance +as had already been made. I drew an accurate picture +of a tall and dangerous instrument on which piratical gentlemen +have sometimes been known to terminate their lives; and finally, +I attempted to improve the rhythm of my oratory by a couple of +golden ounces to each combatant, and the promise of a slave +apiece at the end of our <i>successful</i> voyage.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +My suspense was terrible, as there,—on the deck of a slaver, +amid calm, heat, battle, and mutiny, with a volcano of three hundred +and seventy-five imprisoned devils below me,—I awaited a +reply, which, favorable or unfavorable, I must hear without emotion. +Presently, three or four came forward and accepted my +offer. I shrugged my shoulders, and took half a dozen turns up +and down the deck. Then, turning to the crowd, I <i>doubled my +bounty</i>, and offering a boat to take the recusants on board the +enemy, swore that I would stand by the Esperanza with my unaided +crew in spite of the <i>dastards</i>!</p> + +<p>The offensive word with which I closed the harangue seemed +to touch the right string of the Spanish guitar, and in an instant +I saw the dogged heads spring up with a jerk of mortified pride, +while the steward and cabin-boy poured in a fresh supply of +wine, and a shout of union went up from both divisions. I lost +no time in confirming my converts; and, ramming down my eloquence +with a wad of doubloons, ordered every man to his post, +for the enemy was again in motion.</p> + +<p>But he did not come alone. New actors had appeared on the +scene during my engagement with the crew. The sound of the +cannonade had been heard, it seems, by a consort of his Britannic +Majesty’s brig * * * *;<a name="FNanchor_E_8" id="FNanchor_E_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_8" class="fnanchor">[E]</a> and, although the battle was not +within her field of vision, she despatched another squadron of +boats under the guidance of the reports that boomed through the +silent air.</p> + +<p>The first division of my old assailants was considerably in advance +of the reinforcement; and, in perfect order, approached us +in a solid body, with the apparent determination of boarding on +the same side. Accordingly, I brought all my weapons and +hands to that quarter, and told both gunners and musketeers not +to fire without orders. Waiting their discharge I allowed them +to get close; but the commander of the launch seemed to anticipate +my plan by the reservation of his fire till he could draw +mine, in order to throw his other boat-loads on board under the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +smoke of his swivel and small arms. It was odd to witness our +mutual forbearance, nor could I help laughing, even in the midst +of danger, at the mutual checkmate we were trying to prepare. +However, my Britons did not avoid pulling, though they omitted +firing, so that they were already rather perilously close when +I thought it best to give them the contents of my pivot, which I +had crammed almost to the muzzle with bolts and bullets. The +discharge paralyzed the advance, while my carronades flung a +quantity of grape into the companion boats. In turn, however, +they plied us so deftly with balls from swivels and musketry, +that five of our most valuable defenders writhed in death on the +deck.</p> + +<p>The rage of battle at closer quarters than heretofore, and the +screams of bleeding comrades beneath their feet, roused to its +fullest extent the ardent nature of my Spanish crew. They tore +their garments; stripped to their waists; called for rum; and +swore they would die rather than yield!</p> + +<p>By this time the consort’s reinforcement was rapidly approaching; +and, with hurrah after hurrah, the five fresh boats +came on in double column. As they drew within shot, each +cheer was followed with a fatal volley, under which several more +of our combatants were prostrated, while a glancing musket ball +lacerated my knee with a painful wound. For five minutes we +met this onset with cannon, muskets, pistols, and enthusiastic +shouts; but in the despairing confusion of the hour, the captain +of our long gun rammed home his ball before the powder, so that +when the priming burnt, the most reliable of our weapons was +silent forever! At this moment a round shot from the launch +dismounted a carronade;—our ammunition was wasted;—and in +this disabled state, the Britons prepared to board our crippled +craft. Muskets, bayonets, pistols, swords, and knives, for a +space kept them at bay, even at short quarters; but the crowded +boats tumbled their enraged fighters over our forecastle like +surges from the sea, and, cutlass in hand, the victorious furies +swept every thing before them. The cry was to “spare no one!” +Down went sailor after sailor, struggling with the frenzied passion +of despair. Presently an order went forth to split the gratings +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +and release the slaves. I clung to my post and cheered the +battle to the last; but when I heard this fatal command, which, +if obeyed, might bury assailant and defender in common ruin, I +ordered the remnant to throw down their arms, while I struck +the flag and warned the rash and testy Englishman to beware.</p> + +<p>The senior officer of the boarding party belonged to the division +from the cruiser’s consort. As he reached the deck, his element +eye fell sadly on the scene of blood, and he commanded +“quarter” immediately. It was time. The excited boarders from +the repulsed boats had mounted our deck brimming with revenge. +Every one that opposed was cut down without mercy; and in another +moment, it is likely I would have joined the throng of the +departed.</p> + +<p>All was over! There was a hushed and panting crowd of +victors and vanquished on the bloody deck, when the red ball of +the setting sun glared through a crimson haze and filled the motionless +sea with liquid fire. For the first time that day I became +sensible of personal sufferings. A stifling sensation made +me gasp for air as I sat down on the taffrail of my captured +schooner, and felt that I was—a prisoner!</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_8" id="Footnote_E_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_8"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> It will be understood by the reader, hereafter, why I omit the +cruiser’s name.</p></div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + + +<p>After a brief pause, the commanding officers of both divisions +demanded my papers, which, while I acknowledged myself <i>his</i> +prisoner, I yielded to the <i>senior</i> personage who had humanely +stopped the massacre. I saw that this annoyed the other, whom +I had so frequently repulsed; yet I thought the act fair as well as +agreeable to my feelings, for I considered my crew competent to +resist the <i>first division successfully</i>, had it not been succored by +the consort’s boats.</p> + +<p>But my decision was not submitted to by the defeated leader +without a dispute, which was conducted with infinite harshness, +until the senior ended the quarrel by ordering his junior to tow +the prize within reach of the corvette * * * *. My boat, +though somewhat riddled with balls, was lowered, and I was +commanded to go on board the captor, with my papers and servant +under the escort of a midshipman. The captain stood at +the gangway as I approached, and, seeing my bloody knee, +ordered me not to climb the ladder, but to be hoisted on deck +and sent below for the immediate care of my wound. It was +hardly more than a severe laceration of flesh, yet was quite +enough to prevent me from bending my knee, though it did not +deny locomotion with a stiff leg.</p> + +<p>The dressing over,—during which I had quite a pleasant chat +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +with the amiable surgeon,—I was summoned to the cabin, where +numerous questions were put, all of which I answered frankly +and <i>truly</i>. Thirteen of my crew were slain, and nearly all the +rest wounded. My papers were next inspected, and found to be +Spanish. “How was it, then,” exclaimed the commander, “that +you fought under the Portuguese flag?”</p> + +<p>Here was the question I always expected, and for which I +had in vain taxed my wit and ingenuity to supply a reasonable +excuse! I had nothing to say for the daring violation of +nationality; so I resolved to tell the truth boldly about my dispute +with the Dane, and my desire to deceive him early in the +day, but I cautiously omitted the adroitness with which I had +deprived him of his darkies. I confessed that I forgot the flag +when I found I had a different foe from the Dane to contend +with, and I flattered myself with the hope that, had I repulsed +the first unaided onset, I would have been able to escape with +the usual sea-breeze.</p> + +<p>The captain looked at me in silence a while, and, in a sorrowful +voice, asked if I was aware that my defence under the Portuguese +ensign, no matter what tempted its use, could only be +construed as an act of <i>piracy</i>!</p> + +<p>A change of color, an earnest gaze at the floor, compressed +lips and clenched teeth, were my only replies.</p> + +<p>This painful scrutiny took place before the surgeon, whose +looks and expressions strongly denoted his cordial sympathy +with my situation. “Yes,” said Captain * * * *, “it is a pity +for a sailor who fights as bravely as you have done, in defence +of what he considers his property, to be condemned for a combination +of mistakes and forgetfulness. However, let us not hasten +matters; you are hungry and want rest, and, though we are +navy-men, and on the coast of Africa, we are not savages.” I +was then directed to remain where I was till further orders, +while my servant came below with an abundant supply of provisions. +The captain went on deck, but the doctor remained. +Presently, I saw the surgeon and the commander’s steward busy +over a basket of biscuits, meat and bottles, to the handle of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +which a cord, several yards in length, was carefully knotted. +After this was arranged, the doctor called for a lamp, and unrolling +a chart, asked whether I knew the position of the vessel. +I replied affirmatively, and, at his request, measured the distance, +and noted the course to the nearest land, which was Cape Verga, +about thirty-seven miles off.</p> + +<p>“Now, Don Téodore, if I were in your place, with the prospect +of a noose and tight-rope dancing before me, I have not the +slightest hesitation in saying that I would make an attempt to +know what Cape Verga is made of before twenty-four hours +were over my head! And see, my good fellow, how Providence, +accident, or fortune favors you! First of all, your own boat +<i>happens</i> to be towing astern beneath these very cabin windows; +secondly, a basket of provisions, water and brandy, stands packed +on the transom, almost ready to slip into the boat by itself; +next, your boy is in the neighborhood to help you with the skiff; +and, finally, it is pitch dark, perfectly calm, and there isn’t a +sentry to be seen aft the cabin door. Now, good night, my +clever fighter, and let me never have the happiness of seeing your +face again!”</p> + +<p>As he said this, he rose, shaking my hand with the hearty +grasp of a sailor, and, as he passed my servant, slipped something +into his pocket, which proved to be a couple of sovereigns. +Meanwhile, the steward appeared with blankets, which he spread +on the locker; and, blowing out the lamp, went on deck with a +“good night.”</p> + +<p>It was very still, and unusually dark. There was dead +silence in the corvette. Presently, I crawled softly to the stern +window, and lying flat on my stomach over the transom, peered +out into night. There, in reality, was my boat towing astern by +a slack line! As I gazed, some one on deck above me drew in +the rope with softest motion, until the skiff lay close under the +windows. Patiently, slowly, cautiously,—fearing the sound of +his fall, and dreading almost the rush of my breath in the profound +silence,—I lowered my boy into the boat. The basket +followed. The negro fastened the boat-hook to the cabin +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +window, and on this, lame as I was, I followed the basket. Fortunately, +not a plash, a crack, or a footfall disturbed the silence. +I looked aloft, and no one was visible on the quarter-deck. A +slight jerk brought the boat-rope softly into the water, and I +drifted away into the darkness.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + + +<p>I drifted without a word or motion, and almost without breathing, +until the corvette was perfectly obliterated against the hazy +horizon. When every thing was dark around me, save the guiding +stars, I put out the oars and pulled quietly towards the east. +At day-dawn I was apparently alone on the ocean.</p> + +<p>My appetite had improved so hugely by the night’s exercise, +that my first devotion was to the basket, which I found crammed +with bologña sausages, a piece of salt junk, part of a ham, abundance +of biscuit, four bottles of water, two of brandy, a pocket +compass, a jack-knife, and a large table-cloth or sheet, which the +generous doctor had no doubt inserted to serve as a sail.</p> + +<p>The humbled <i>slaver</i> and the <i>slave</i>, for the first time in their +lives, broke bread from the same basket, and drank from the +same bottle! Misfortune had strangely and suddenly levelled us +on the basis of common humanity. The day before, he was the +most servile of menials; to-day he was my equal, and, probably, +my superior in certain physical powers, without which I would +have perished!</p> + +<p>As the sun ascended in the sky, my wound became irritated +by exercise, and the inflammation produced a feverish torment +in which I groaned as I lay extended in the stern-sheets. By +noon a breeze sprang up from the south-west, so that the oars +and table-cloth supplied a square sail which wafted us about +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> +three miles an hour, while my boy rigged an awning with the +blankets and boat-hooks. Thus, half reclining, I steered landward +till midnight, when I took in the sail and lay-to on the +calm ocean till morning. Next day the breeze again favored us; +and, by sundown, I came up with the coasting canoe of a friendly +Mandingo, into which I at once exchanged my quarters, and falling +asleep, never stirred till he landed me on the Islands de +Loss.</p> + +<p>My wound kept me a close and suffering prisoner in a hut on +the isles for ten days during which I despatched a native canoe +some thirty five or forty miles to the Rio Pongo with news of my +disaster, and orders for a boat with an equipment of comforts. +As my clerk neglected to send a suit of clothes, I was obliged to +wear the Mandingo habiliments till I reached my factory, so +that during my transit, this dress became the means of an odd +encounter. As I entered the Rio Pongo, a French brigantine +near the bar was the first welcome of civilization that cheered +my heart for near a fortnight. Passing her closely, I drifted +alongside, and begged the commander for a bottle of claret. My +brown skin, African raiment, and savage companions satisfied the +skipper that I was a native, so that, with a sneer, he, of course, +became very solicitous to know “where I drank claret <i>last</i>?” +and pointing to the sea, desired me to quench my thirst with +brine!</p> + +<p>It was rather hard for a suffering Italian to be treated so +cavalierly by a Gaul; but I thanked the fellow for his civility in +such excellent French, that his tone instantly changed, and he +asked—“<i>au nom de Dieu</i>, where I had learned the language!” +It is likely I would have rowed off without detection, had I not +just then been recognized by one of his officers who visited my +factory the year before.</p> + +<p>In a moment the captain was in my boat with a bound, and +grasping my hands with a thousand pardons, insisted I should not +ascend the river till I had dined with him. He promised a plate +of capital soup;—and where, I should like to know, is the son of +France or Italy who is ready to withstand the seduction of such +a provocative? Besides this, he insisted on dressing me from +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +his scanty wardrobe; but as he declined all subsequent remuneration, +I confined my bodily improvement to a clean shirt and his +wiry razors.</p> + +<p>While the <i>bouillon</i> was bubbling in the coppers, I got an insight +into the condition of Rio Pongo concerns since my departure. +The Dane was off after a quarrel with Ormond, who gave him but a +hundred negroes for his cargo; and a Spanish brig was waiting +my arrival,—for the boy I sent home from the Isles de Loss had +reported my engagement, capture, and escape.</p> + +<p><i>La soupe sur la table</i>, we attacked a smoking tureen of <i>bouillon +gras</i>, while a heaping dish of toasted bread stood in the middle. +The captain loaded my plate with two slices of this sunburnt material, +which he deluged with a couple of ladles of savory broth. +A long fast is a good sauce, and I need not assert that I began +<i>sans façon</i>. My appetite was sharp, and the vapor of the liquid +inviting. For a while there was a dead silence, save when +broken by smacking and relishing lips. Spoonful after spoonful +was sucked in as rapidly as the heat allowed; and, indeed, I +hardly took time to bestow a blessing on the cook. Being the +guest of the day, my plate had been the first one served, and +of course, was the first one finished. Perhaps I rather hurried +myself, for lenten diet made me greedy and I was somewhat anxious +to anticipate the calls of my companions on the tureen. Accordingly, +I once more ballasted my plate with toast, and, with +a charming bow and a civil “<i>s’il vous plait</i>,” applied, like Oliver +Twist, “for more.”</p> + +<p>As the captain was helping me to the second ladle, he politely +demanded whether I was “fond of the thick;” and as I +replied in the affirmative, he made another dive to the bottom +and brought up the instrument with a heaping mass in whose centre +was a diminutive African skull, face upwards, gaping at the +guests with an infernal grin!</p> + +<p>My plate fell from my hand at the tureen’s edge. The boiling +liquid splashed over the table. I stood fascinated by the horrible +apparition as the captain continued to hold its dreadful +bones in view. Presently my head swam; a painful oppression +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +weighed at my heart; I was ill; and, in a jiffy, the appalling +spectre was laid beneath the calm waters of the Rio Pongo.</p> + +<p>Before sundown I made a speedy retreat from among the +<i>anthropophagi</i>; but all their assurances, oaths, and protestations, +could not satisfy me that the broth did not owe its substance +to something more human than an African <i>baboon</i>.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> + + +<p>There was rejoicing that night in Kambia among my people, +for it is not necessary that a despised slaver should always be +a cruel master. I had many a friend among the villagers, both +there and at Bangalang, and when the “barker” came from the +Isles <i>de Loss</i> with the news of my capture and misery, the settlement +had been keenly astir until it was known that Mongo Téodore +was safe and sound among his protectors.</p> + +<p>I had a deep, refreshing sleep after a glorious bath. Poor +Esther stole over the palisades of Bangalang to hear the story +from my own lips; and, in recompense for the narrative, gave +me an account of the river gossip during my adventure. Next +morning, bright and early, I was again in my boat, sweeping +along towards the “<span class="smcap">Feliz</span>” from Matanzas, which was anchored +within a bowshot of Bangalang. As I rounded a point in sight +of her, the Spanish flag was run up, and as I touched the deck, +a dozen cheers and a gun gave token of a gallant reception in +consequence of my battle with the British, which had been magnified +into a perfect Trafalgar.</p> + +<p>The Feliz was originally consigned to me from Cuba, but in +my absence from the river her commander thought it best not to +intrust so important a charge to my clerk, and addressed her to +Ormond. When my arrival at the Isles <i>de Loss</i> was announced +on the river, his engagement with the Mongo had neither been +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +entirely completed, nor had any cargo been delivered. Accordingly, +the skipper at once taxed his wit for a contrivance by which +he could escape the bargain. In Africa such things are sometimes +done with ease on small pretexts, so that when I reached +Kambia my one-hundred-and-forty-ton brig was ready for her original +consignee.</p> + +<p>I found that remittances in money and merchandise covered +the value of three hundred and fifty slaves, whom I quickly ordered +from different traders;—but when I applied to the Mongo +to furnish his share, the gentleman indignantly refused under the +affront of his recalled assignment. I tried to pacify and persuade +him; yet all my efforts were unavailing. Still, the results of this +denial did not affect the Mongo personally and alone. When a +factor either declines or is unable to procure trade at an African +station, the multitude of hangers-on, ragamuffins, servants and +villagers around him suffer, at least, for a time. They cannot understand +and are always disgusted when “trade is refused.” In +this case the people of Bangalang seemed peculiarly dissatisfied +with their Mongo’s obstinacy. They accused him of indolent disregard +of their interests. They charged him with culpable neglect. +Several free families departed forthwith to Kambia. His +brothers, who were always material sufferers in such cases, upbraided +him with arrogant conceit. His women, headed by Fatimah,—who +supplied herself and her companions with abundant +presents out of every fresh cargo,—rose in open mutiny, and declared +they would run off unless he accepted a share of the contract. +Fatimah was the orator of the harem on this as well as +on all other occasions of display or grievance, and of course she +did not spare poor Ormond. Age and drunkenness had made sad +inroads on his constitution and looks during the last half year. +His fretful irritability sometimes amounted almost to madness, +when thirty female tongues joined in the chorus of their leader’s +assault. They boldly charged him, singly and in pairs, with every +vice and fault that injured matrimony habitually denounces; and as +each item of this abusive litany was screamed in his ears, the chorus +responded with a deep “amen!” They boasted of their infidelities, +lauded their lovers, and producing their children, with +laughs of derision, bade him note the astounding resemblance!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +The poor Mongo was sorely beset by these African witches, +and summoned his villagers to subdue the revolt; but many of +the town-folks were pets of the girls, so that no one came forth to +obey his bidding.</p> + +<p>I visited Ormond at his request on the evening of this rebellion, +and found him not only smarting with the morning’s insult, +but so drunk as to be incapable of business. His revengeful eye +and nervous movements denoted a troubled mind. When our +hands met, I found the Mongo’s cold and clammy. I refused +wine under a plea of illness; and when, with incoherent phrases +and distracted gestures, he declared his willingness to retract +his refusal and accept a share of the Felix’s cargo, I thought it +best to adjourn the discussion until the following day. Whilst +on the point of embarking, I was joined by the faithless servant, +whom I bribed to aid me in my affair with the Dane, and was +told that Ormond <i>had drugged the wine in anticipation of my +arrival</i>! He bade me be wary of the Mongo, who in his presence +had threatened my life. That morning, he said, while the +women were upbraiding him, my name had been mentioned by +one with peculiar favor,—when Ormond burst forth with a torrent +of passion, and accusing me as the cause of all his troubles, +felled the girl to the earth with his fist.</p> + +<p>That night I was roused by my watchman to see a stranger, +and found Esther at my gate with three of her companions. +Their tale was brief. Soon after dark, Ormond entered the +harem with loaded pistol, in search of Fatimah and Esther; +but the wretch was so stupefied by liquor and rage, that the +women had little trouble to elude his grasp and escape from +Bangalang. Hardly had I bestowed them for the night, when +another alarm brought the watchman once more to my chamber, +with the news of Ormond’s death. He had shot himself through +the heart!</p> + +<p>I was in no mood for sleep after this, and the first streak of +dawn found me at Bangalang. There lay the Mongo as he fell. +No one disturbed his limbs or approached him till I arrived. +He never stirred after the death-wound.</p> + +<p>It seems he must have forgotten that the bottle had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> +been specially medicated for me, as it was found nearly drained; +but the last thing distinctly known of him by the people, was his +murderous entrance into the harem to despatch Esther and Fatimah. +Soon after this the crack of a pistol was heard in the garden; +and there, stretched among the cassava plants, with a loaded +pistol grasped in his left, and a discharged one at a short distance +from his right hand, laid Jack Ormond, the mulatto! His +left breast was pierced by a ball, the wad of which still clung to +the bloody orifice.</p> + +<p>Bad as this man was, I could not avoid a sigh for his death. +He had been my first friend in Africa, and I had forfeited his +regard through no fault of mine. Besides this, there are so few +on the coast of Africa in these lonely settlements among the +mangrove swamps, who have tasted European civilization, and +can converse like human beings, that the loss even of the worst +is a dire calamity. Ormond and myself had held each other for +a long time at a wary distance; yet business forced us together +now and then, and during the truce, we had many a pleasant chat +and joyous hour that would henceforth be lost for ever.</p> + +<p>It is customary in this part of Africa to make the burial of a +<i>Mongo</i> the occasion of a <i>colungee</i>, or festival, when all the neighboring +chiefs and relations send gifts of food and beverage for +the orgies of death. Messengers had been despatched for Ormond’s +brothers and kinsfolk, so that the native ceremony of interment +was postponed till the third day; and, in the interval, I +was desired to make all the preparations in a style befitting the +suicide’s station. Accordingly, I issued the needful orders; +directed a deep grave to be dug under a noble cotton-wood tree, +aloof from the village; gave the body in charge to women, who +were to watch it until burial, with cries of sorrow,—and then +retired to Kambia.</p> + +<p>On the day of obsequies I came back. At noon a salute was +fired by the guns of the village, which was answered by minute +guns from the Feliz and my factory. Seldom have I heard a +sadder sound than the boom of those cannons through the silent +forest and over the waveless water.</p> + +<p>Presently, all the neighboring chiefs, princes and kings came +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> +in with their retainers, when the body was brought out into the +shade of a grove, so that all might behold it. Then the procession +took up its line of march, while the thirty wives of the +Mongo followed the coffin, clad in rags, their heads shaven, their +bodies lacerated with burning iron, and filling the air with yells +and shrieks until the senseless clay was laid in the grave.</p> + +<p>I could find no English prayer-book or Bible in the village, +from which I might read the service of his church over Ormond’s +remains, but I had never forgotten the <i>Ave Maria</i> and <i>Pater +Noster</i> I learned when an infant, and, while I recited them +devoutly over the self murderer, I could not help thinking they +were even more than sufficient for the savage surroundings.</p> + +<p>The brief prayer was uttered; but it could not be too brief +for the impatient crowd. Its <i>amen</i> was a signal for <i>pandemonium</i>. +In a twinkling, every foot rushed back to the dwelling +in Bangalang. The grove was alive with revelry. Stakes +and rocks reeked with roasting bullocks. Here and there, kettles +steamed with boiling rice. Demijohn after demijohn of +<i>rum</i>, was served out. Very soon a sham battle was proposed, +and parties were formed. The divisions took their grounds; +and, presently, the scouts appeared, crawling like reptiles on the +earth till they ascertained each other’s position, when the armies +rallied forth with guns, bows, arrows, or lances, and, after firing, +shrieking and shouting till they were deaf, retired with captives, +and the war was done. Then came a reinforcement of rum, and +then a dance, so that the bewildering revel continued in all its +delirium till rum and humanity gave out together, and reeled to +the earth in drunken sleep! Such was the requiem of</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Mongo of Bangalang!</span></p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> + + +<p>Slaves dropped in slowly at Kambia and Bangalang, though I +still had half the cargo of the Feliz to make up. Time was +precious, and there was no foreigner on the river to aid me. In +this strait, I suddenly resolved on a foray among the natives on +my own account; and equipping a couple of my largest canoes +with an ample armament, as well as a substantial store of provisions +and merchandise, I departed for the Matacan river, a +short stream, unsuitable for vessels of considerable draft. I was +prepared for the purchase of fifty slaves.</p> + +<p>I reached my destination without risk or adventure, but had +the opportunity of seeing some new phases of Africanism on my +arrival. Most of the coast negroes are wretchedly degraded by +their superstitions and <i>sauvagerie</i>, and it is best to go among +them with power to resist as well as presents to purchase. Their +towns did not vary from the river and bush settlements generally. +A house was given me for my companions and merchandise; +yet such was the curiosity to see the “white man,” that +the luckless mansion swarmed with sable bees both inside and +out, till I was obliged to send for his majesty to relieve my sufferings.</p> + +<p>After a proper delay, the king made his appearance in all the +paraphernalia of African court-dress. A few fathoms of check +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +girded his loins, while a blue shirt and red waistcoat were surmounted +by a dragoon’s cap with brass ornaments. His countenance +was characteristic of Ethiopia and royalty. A narrow +forehead retreated rapidly till it was lost in the crisp wool, while +his eyes were wide apart, and his prominent cheek-bones formed +the base of an inverted cone, the apex of which was his braided +beard, coiled up under his chin. When earnest in talk, his gestures +were mostly made with his head, by straining his eyes to +the rim of their sockets, stretching his mouth from ear to ear, +grinning like a baboon, and throwing out his chin horizontally +with a sudden jerk. Notwithstanding these personal oddities, +the sovereign was kind, courteous, hospitable, and disposed for +trade. Accordingly, I “dashed,” or presented him and his +head-men a few pieces of cottons, with some pipes, beads, and +looking-glasses, by way of whet for the appetite of to-morrow.</p> + +<p>But the division of this gift was no sportive matter. “The +spoils” were not regulated upon principles of superiority, or even +of equality; but fell to the lot of the stoutest scramblers. As +soon as the goods were deposited, the various gangs seized my +snowy cottons, dragging them right and left to their several huts, +while they shrieked, yelled, disputed, and fought in true African +fashion. Some lucky dog would now and then leap between two +combatants who had possession of the ends of a piece, and whirling +himself rapidly around the middle, slashed the sides with +his jack-knife and was off to the bush. The pipes, beads, and +looking-glasses, were not bestowed more tenderly, while the tobacco +was grabbed and appropriated by leaves or handfuls.</p> + +<p>Next day we proceeded to formal business. His majesty +called a regular “palaver” of his chiefs and head-men, before +whom I stated my <i>dantica</i> and announced the terms. Very +soon several young folks were brought for sale, who, I am sure, +never dreamed at rising from last night’s sleep, that they were +destined for Cuban slavery! My merchandise revived the memory +of peccadilloes that had been long forgotten, and sentences +that were forgiven. Jealous husbands, when they tasted my rum, +suddenly remembered their wives’ infidelities, and sold their better +halves for more of the oblivious fluid. In truth I was exalted +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +into a magician, unroofing the village, and baring its crime +and wickedness to the eye of <i>justice</i>. Law became profitable, +and virtue had never reached so high a price! Before night the +town was in a turmoil, for every man cudgelled his brain for an +excuse to kidnap his neighbor, so as to share my commerce. As +the village was too small to supply the entire gang of fifty, I had +recourse to the neighboring settlements, where my “barkers,” or +agents, did their work in a masterly manner. Traps were +adroitly baited with goods to lead the unwary into temptation, +when the unconscious pilferer was caught by his ambushed foe, +and an hour served to hurry him to the beach as a slave for ever. +In fact, five days were sufficient to stamp my image permanently +on the Matacan settlements, and to associate my memory with +any thing but blessings in at least fifty of their families!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>I had heard, on the Rio Pongo, of a wonderful wizard who +dwelt in this region, and took advantage of the last day of my detention +to inquire his whereabouts. The impostor was renowned +for his wonderful tricks of legerdemain, as well as for cures, necromancy, +and fortune-telling. The ill came to him by scores; +credulous warriors approached him with valuable gifts for <i>fetiches</i> +against musket balls and arrows; while the humbler classes +bought his charms against snakes, alligators, sharks, evil spirits, +or sought his protection for their unborn children.</p> + +<p>My interpreter had already visited this fellow, and gave such +charming accounts of his skill, that all my people wanted their +fates divined, for which I was, of course, obliged to advance merchandise +to purchase at least a gratified curiosity. When they +came back I found every one satisfied with his future lot, and +so happy was the chief of my Kroomen that he danced around +his new <i>fetiche</i> of cock’s feathers and sticks, and snapped his +fingers at all the sharks, alligators, and swordfish that swam in +the sea.</p> + +<p>By degrees these reports tickled my own curiosity to such a +degree, that, incontinently, I armed myself with a quantity of +cotton cloth, a brilliant bandanna, and a lot of tobacco, wherewith +I resolved to attack the soothsayer’s den. My credulity +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +was not involved to the expedition, but I was sincerely anxious +to comprehend the ingenuity or intelligence by which a negro +could control the imagination of African multitudes.</p> + +<p>The wizard chose his abode with skilful and romantic taste. +Quitting the town by a path which ascended abruptly from the +river, the traveller was forced to climb the steep by a series of +dangerous zig-zags among rocks and bushes, until he reached a +deep cave in an elevated cliff that bent over the stream. As we +approached, my conductor warned the inmate of our coming by +several whoops. When we reached the entrance I was directed +to halt until the demon announced his willingness to receive us. +At length, after as much delay as is required in the antechamber +of a secretary of state, a growl, like the cry of a hungry crocodile, +gave token of the wizard’s coming.</p> + +<p>As he emerged from the deep interior, I descried an uncommonly +tall figure, bearing in his arms a young and living leopard. +I could not detect a single lineament of his face or figure, for he +was covered from head to foot in a complete dress of monkey +skins, while his face was hidden by a grotesque white mask. +Behind him groped a delicate blind boy.</p> + +<p>We seated ourselves on hides along the floor, when, at my bidding, +the interpreter, unrolling my gifts, announced that I came +with full hands to his wizardship, for the purpose of learning my +fortune.</p> + +<p>The impostor had trained his tame leopard to fetch and carry +like a dog, so that, without a word, the docile beast bore the various +presents to his master. Every thing was duly measured, +examined, or balanced in his hands to ascertain its quality and +weight. Then, placing a bamboo between his lips and the blind +boy’s ear, he whispered the words which the child repeated +aloud. First of all, he inquired what I wished to know? As +one of his follower’s boasts was the extraordinary power he possessed +of speaking various languages, I addressed him in Spanish, +but as his reply displayed an evident ignorance of what I +said, I took the liberty to reprimand him sharply in his native +tongue. He waved me off with an imperious flourish of his +hand, and ordered me to wait, as he perfectly comprehended my +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> +Spanish, but the magic power would not suffer him to answer +save in regular rotation, word by word.</p> + +<p>I saw his trick at once, which was only one of prompt and +adroit <i>repetition</i>. Accordingly, I addressed him in his native +dialect, and requested a translation of my sentence into Spanish. +But this was a puzzler; though it required but a moment for +him to assure me that a foreign language could only be spoken +by wizards of his degree <i>at the full of the moon</i>!</p> + +<p>I thought it time to shift the scene to fortune-telling, and +begged my demon to begin the task by relating the past, in order +to confirm my belief in his mastery over the future. But the +nonsense he uttered was so insufferable, that I dropped the curtain +with a run, and commanded “the hereafter” to appear. +This, at least, was more romantic. As usual, I was to be immensely +rich. I was to become a great prince. I was to have a +hundred wives; but alas! before six months elapsed, my factory +would be burnt and I should lose a vessel!</p> + +<p>Presently, the interpreter proposed an exhibition of legerdemain, +and in this I found considerable amusement to make up +for the preceding buffoonery. He knotted a rope, and untied it +with a jerk. He sank a knife deep in his throat, and poured in +a vessel of water. Other deceptions followed this skilful trick, +but the cleverest of all was the handling of red hot iron, which, +after covering his hands with a glutinous paste, was touched in +the most fearless manner. I have seen this trick performed by +other natives, and whenever ignited coals or ardent metal was +used, the hands of the operator were copiously anointed with the +pasty unguent.</p> + +<p>A valedictory growl, and a resumption of the leopard, gave +token of the wizard’s departure, and closed the evening’s entertainments.</p> + +<p>If the ease with which a man is amused, surprised, or deluded, +is a fair measure of intellectual grade, I fear that African +minds will take a very moderate rank in the scale of humanity. +The task of self-civilization, which resembles the self-filtering of +water, has done but little for Ethiopia in the ages that have +passed simultaneously over her people and the progressive races +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> +of other lands. It remains to be seen what the <i>infused</i> civilization +of Christianity and Islamism will effect among these benighted +nations. <span class="smcap">Jesus</span>, <span class="smcap">Mahomet</span>, and the <span class="smcap">Fetiche</span>, will, perhaps, +long continue to be their types of distinctive separation.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> + + +<p>The Esperanza’s capture made it absolutely necessary that I +should visit Cuba, so that, when the Feliz was preparing to depart, +I began to put my factory and affairs in such order as would +enable me to embark in her and leave me master of myself for a +considerable time. I may as well record the fact here that the +unlucky Esperanza was sent to Sierra Leone, where she was, of +course, condemned as a slaver, while the officers and crew were +despatched by order of the Admiralty, in irons, to <i>Lisbon</i>, where +a tribunal condemned them to the galleys for five years. I understand +they were subsequently released by the clemency of +Don Pedro de Braganza when he arrived from Brazil.</p> + +<p>Every thing was ready for our departure. My rice was stored +and about to be sent on board; when, about three o’clock in the +morning of the 25th of May, 1828, the voice of my servant +roused me from pleasant dreams, to fly for life! I sprang from +the cot with a bound to the door, where the flickering of a bright +flame, reflected through the thick, misty air, gave token of fire. +The roof of my house was in a blaze, and one hundred and fifty +kegs of powder were close at hand beneath a thatch! They +could not be removed, and a single spark from the frail and +tinder-like materials might send the whole in an instant to +the skies.</p> + +<p>A rapid discharge from a double-barrelled gun brought my +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +people to the spot with alacrity, and enabled me to rescue the +two hundred and twenty slaves stowed in the <i>barracoon</i>, and +march them to a neighboring wood, where they would be secure under +a guard. In my haste to rescue the slaves I forgot to warn +my body-servant of his peril from the powder. The faithful boy +made several trips to the dwelling to save my personal effects, +and after removing every thing he had strength to carry, returned +to unchain the bloodhound that always slept beside my couch +in Africa. But the dog was as ignorant of his danger as the +youth. <i>He knew no friend but myself</i>, and tearing the hand +that was exposed to save him, he forced his rescuer to fly. And +well was it he did so. Within a minute, a tremendous blast +shook the earth, <i>and the prediction of the Matacan wizard was +accomplished</i>! Not even the red coals of my dwelling smouldered +on the earth. Every thing was swept as by the breath +of a whirlwind. My terrified boy, bleeding at nose and ears, was +rescued from the ruins of a shallow well in which he fortunately +fell. The bamboo sheds, barracoons, and hovels,—the <i>adobe</i> +dwelling and the comfortable garden—could all spring up again +in a short time, as if by enchantment,—but my rich stuffs, my +cottons, my provisions, my arms, my ammunition, my capital, +were dust.</p> + +<p>In a few hours, friends crowded round me, according to African +custom, with proffered services to rebuild my establishment; +but the heaviest loss I experienced was that of the rice designed +for the voyage, which I could not replace in consequence of the +destruction of my merchandise. In my difficulty, I was finally +obliged to swap some of my two hundred and twenty negroes for +the desired commodity, which enabled me to despatch the Feliz, +though I was, of course, obliged to abandon the voyage in her.</p> + +<p>My mind was greatly exercised for some time in endeavors +to discover the origin of this conflagration. The blaze was first +observed at the top of one of the gable ends, which satisfied Ali-Ninpha +as well as myself that it was the work of a malicious +incendiary. We adopted a variety of methods to trace or trap +the scoundrel, but our efforts were fruitless, until a strange negro +exhibited one of my double-barrelled guns for sale at a neighboring +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +village, whose chief happened to recognize it. When the +seller was questioned about his possession of the weapon, he +alleged that it was purchased from inland negroes in a distant +town. His replies were so unsatisfactory to the inquisitive +chief, that he arrested the suspected felon and sent him to +Kambia.</p> + +<p>I had but little remorse in adopting any means in my power +to extort a confession from the negro, who very soon admitted +that my gun was stolen by a runner from the wizard of Matacan, +who was still hanging about the outskirts of our settlement. I +offered a liberal reward and handsome bribes to get possession +of the necromancer himself, but such was the superstitious awe +surrounding his haunt, that no one dared venture to seize him in +his sanctuary, or seduce him within reach of my revenge. This, +however, was not the case in regard to his emissary. I was soon +in possession of the actual thief, and had little difficulty in +securing his execution on the ruins he had made. Before we +launched him into eternity, I obtained his confession after an +obstinate resistance, and found with considerable pain that a +brother of Ormond, the suicide, was a principal mover in the +affair. The last words of the Mongo had been reported to this +fellow as an injunction of revenge against me, and he very soon +learned from personal experience that Kambia was a serious +rival, if not antagonist, to Bangalang. His African simplicity +made him believe that the “red cock” on my roof-tree would +expel me from the river. I was not in a position to pay him +back at the moment, yet I made a vow to give the new Mongo a +free passage in irons to Cuba before many moons. But this, +like other rash promises, I never kept.</p> + +<p>Sad as was the wreck of my property, the conflagration was +fraught with a misfortune that affected my heart far more deeply +than the loss of merchandise. Ever since the day of my landing +at Ormond’s factory, a gentle form had flitted like a fairy among +my fortunes, and always as the minister of kindness and hope. +Skilled in the ways of her double blood, she was my discreet +counsellor in many a peril; and, tender as a well-bred dame of +civilized lands, she was ever disposed to promote my happiness by +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +disinterested offices. But, when we came to number the survivors +of the ruin, <span class="smcap">Esther</span> was nowhere to be found, nor could I +ever trace, among the scattered fragments, the slightest relic of +the Pariah’s form!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>Of course, I had very little beside my domestics to leave in +charge of any one at Kambia, and intrusting them to the care +of Ali-Ninpha, I went in my launch to Sierra Leone, where I +purchased a schooner that had been condemned by the Mixed +Commission.</p> + +<p>In 1829, vessels were publicly sold, and, with very little +trouble, equipped for the coast of Africa. The captures in that +region were somewhat like playing a hand,—taking the tricks, +reshuffling the same cards, and dealing again to take more tricks! +Accordingly, I fitted the schooner to receive a cargo of negroes +immediately on quitting port. My crew was made up of men +from all nations, captured in prizes; but I guardedly selected +my officers from Spaniards exclusively.</p> + +<p>We were slowly wafting along the sea, a day or two out of +the British colony, when the mate fell into chat with a clever +lad, who was hanging lazily over the helm. They spoke of voyages +and mishaps, and this led the sailor to declare his recent +escape from a vessel, then in the Rio Nunez, whose mate had +poisoned the commander to get possession of the craft. She +had been fitted, he said, at St. Thomas with the feigned design +of coasting; but, when she sailed for Africa, her register was +sent back to the island in a boat to serve some other vessel, while +she ventured to the continent <i>without</i> papers.</p> + +<p>I have cause to believe that the slave-trade was rarely conducted +upon the honorable principles between man and man, +which, of course, are the only security betwixt owners, commanders +and consignees whose commerce is exclusively contraband. +There were men, it is true, engaged in it, with whom the “point +of honor” was more omnipotent than the dread of law in regular +trade. But innumerable cases have occurred in which the spendthrifts +who appropriated their owners’ property on the coast of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +Africa, availed themselves of such superior force as they happened +to control, in order to escape detection, or assure a favorable +reception in the West Indies. In fact, the slaver sometimes +ripened into something very like a pirate!</p> + +<p>In 1828 and 1829, severe engagements took place between +Spanish slavers and this class of contrabandists. Spaniards +would assail Portuguese when the occasion was tempting and +propitious. Many a vessel has been fitted in Cuba for these +adventures, and returned to port with a living cargo, purchased +by cannon-balls and boarding-pikes exclusively.</p> + +<p>Now, I confess that my notions had become at this epoch +somewhat relaxed by my traffic on the coast, so that I grew to be +no better than folks of my cloth. I was fond of excitement; +my craft was sadly in want of a cargo; and, as the mate narrated +the helmsman’s story, the Quixotic idea naturally got control of +my brain that I was destined to become the <i>avenger</i> of the +poisoned captain. I will not say that I was altogether stimulated +by the noble spirit of justice; for it is quite possible I +would never have thought of the dead man had not the sailor +apprised us that his vessel was half full of negroes!</p> + +<p>As we drifted slowly by the mouth of my old river, I slipped +over the bar, and, while I fitted the schooner with a splendid +nine-pounder amidships, I despatched a spy to the Rio Nunez to +report the facts about the poisoning, as well as the armament of +the unregistered slaver. In ten days the runner verified the +tale. She was still in the stream, with one hundred and eighty-five +human beings in her hold, but would soon be off with an +entire cargo of two hundred and twenty-five.</p> + +<p>The time was extraordinarily propitious. Every thing favored +my enterprise. The number of slaves would exactly fit my +schooner. Such a windfall could not be neglected; and, on the +fourth day, I was entering the Rio Nunez under the Portuguese +flag, which I unfurled by virtue of a pass from Sierra Leone to +the Cape de Verd Islands.</p> + +<p>I cannot tell whether my spy had been faithless, but when I +reached Furcaria, I perceived that my game had taken wing +from her anchorage. Here was a sad disappointment. The +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +schooner drew too much water to allow a further ascent, and, +moreover, I was unacquainted with the river.</p> + +<p>As it was important that I should keep aloof from strangers, +I anchored in a quiet spot, and seizing the first canoe that passed, +learned, for a small reward, that the object of my search was +hidden in a bend of the river at the king’s town of Kakundy, +which I could not reach without the pilotage of a certain mulatto, +who was alone fit for the enterprise.</p> + +<p>I knew this half-breed as soon as his person was described, +but I had little hope of securing his services, either by fair means +or promised recompense. He owed me five slaves for dealings +that took place between us at Kambia, and had always refused +so strenuously to pay, that I felt sure he would be off to the +woods as soon as he knew my presence on the river. Accordingly, +I kept my canoemen on the schooner by an abundant supply +of “bitters,” and at midnight landed half a dozen, who proceeded +to the mulatto’s cabin, where he was seized <i>sans ceremonie</i>. +The terror of this ruffian was indescribable when he found +himself in my presence,—a captive, as he supposed, for the debt +of flesh. But I soon relieved him, and offered a liberal reward +for his prompt, secret and safe pilotage, to Kakundy. The mulatto +was willing, but the stream was too shallow for my keel. +He argued the point so convincingly, that in half an hour, I +relinquished the attempt, and resolved to make “Mahomet come +to the mountain.”</p> + +<p>The two boats were quickly manned, armed, and supplied +with lanterns; and, with muffled oars, guided by our pilot,—whose +skull was kept constantly under the lee of my pistols—we +fell like vampyres on our prey in the darkness.</p> + +<p>With a wild hurrah and a blaze of our pistols in the air, we +leaped on board, driving every soul under hatches without striking +a blow! Sentries were placed at the cabin door, forecastle +and hatchway. The cable was slipped, my launch took her in +tow, the pilot and myself took charge of the helm, and, before +daylight, the prize was alongside my schooner, transhipping one +hundred and ninety-seven of her slaves, with their necessary +supplies.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> +Great was the surprise of the captured crew when they saw +their fate; and great was the agony of the poisoner, when he +returned next morning to the vacant anchorage, after a night of +debauch with the king of Kakundy. First of all, he imagined +we were regular cruisers, and that the captain’s death was about +to be avenged. But when it was discovered that they had fallen +into the grasp of <i>friendly slavers</i>, five of his seamen abandoned +their craft and shipped with me.</p> + +<p>We had capital stomachs for breakfast after the night’s +romance. Hardly was it swallowed, however, when three canoes +came blustering down the stream, filled with negroes and headed +by his majesty. I did not wait for a salutation, but, giving the +warriors a dose of bellicose grape, tripped my anchor, sheeted +home my sails, and was off like an albatross!</p> + +<p>The feat was cleverly achieved; but, since then, I have very +often been taxed by my conscience with doubts as to its strict +morality! The African slave-trade produces singular notions of +<i>meum and tuum</i> in the minds and hearts of those who dwell +for any length of time on that blighting coast; and it is not +unlikely that I was quite as prone to the infection as better men, +who perished under the malady, while I escaped!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> + + +<p>It was a sweltering July, and the “rainy season” proved its +tremendous power by almost incessant deluges. In the breathless +calms that held me spell-bound on the coast, the rain came +down in such torrents that I often thought the solid water would +bury and submerge our schooner. Now and then, a south-wester +and the current would fan and drift us along; yet the tenth day +found us rolling from side to side in the longitude of the Cape +de Verds.</p> + +<p>Day broke with one of its customary squalls and showers. +As the cloud lifted, my look-out from the cross-trees announced +a sail under our lee. It was invisible from deck, in the folds of +the retreatingmain, but, in the dead calm that followed, the distant +whistle of a boatswain was distinctly audible. Before I +could deliberate all my doubts were solved by a shot in our mainsail, +and the crack of a cannon. There could be no question that +the unwelcome visitor was a man-of-war.</p> + +<p>It was fortunate that the breeze sprang up after the lull, and +enabled us to carry every thing that could be crowded on our +spars. We dashed away before the freshening wind, like a deer +with the unleashed hounds pursuing. The slaves were shifted +from side to side—forward or aft—to aid our sailing. Head-stays +were slackened, wedges knocked off the masts, and every +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +incumbrance cast from the decks into the sea. Now and then, a +fruitless shot from his bow-chasers, reminded the fugitive that +the foe was still on his scent. At last, the cruiser got the +range of his guns so perfectly, that a well-aimed ball ripped +away our rail and tore a dangerous splinter from the foremast, +three feet from deck. It was now perilous to carry a press of +sail on the same tack with the weakened spar, whereupon I put +the schooner about, and, to my delight, found we ranged ahead +a knot faster on this course than the former. The enemy “went +about” as quickly as we did, but her balls soon fell short of us, +and, before noon, we had crawled so nimbly to windward, that +her top-gallants alone were visible above the horizon.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>Our voyage was uncheckered by any occurrence worthy of +recollection, save the accidental loss of the mate in a dark and +stormy night, until we approached the Antilles. Here, where +every thing on a slaver assumes the guise of pleasure and relief, +I remarked not only the sullenness of my crew, but a disposition +to disobey or neglect. The second mate,—shipped in the Rio +Nunez, and who replaced my lost officer,—was noticed occasionally +in close intercourse with the watch, while his deportment +indicated dissatisfaction, if not mutiny.</p> + +<p>A slaver’s life on shore, as well as at sea, makes him wary +when another would not be circumspect, or even apprehensive. +The sight of land is commonly the signal for merriment, for a +well-behaved cargo is invariably released from shackles, and +allowed free intercourse between the sexes during daytime on +deck. Water tanks are thrown open for unrestricted use. +“The cat” is cast into the sea. Strict discipline is relaxed. +The day of danger or revolt is considered over, and the captain +enjoys a new and refreshing life till the hour of landing. Sailors, +with proverbial generosity, share their biscuits and clothing +with the blacks. The women, who are generally without garments, +appear in costume from the wardrobes of tars, petty officers, +mates, and even captains. Sheets, table-cloths, and spare +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> +sails, are torn to pieces for raiment, while shoes, boots, caps, oilcloths, +and monkey-jackets, contribute to the gay masquerade of +the “emigrants.”</p> + +<p>It was my sincere hope that the first glimpse of the Antilles +would have converted my schooner into a theatre for such a display; +but the moodiness of my companions was so manifest, that +I thought it best to meet rebellion half way, by breaking the suspected +officer, and sending him forward, at the same time that I +threw his “dog-house” overboard.<a name="FNanchor_4_9" id="FNanchor_4_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_9" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>I was now without a reliable officer, and was obliged to call +two of the youngest sailors to my assistance in navigating the +schooner. I knew the cook and steward—both of whom messed +aft—to be trustworthy; so that, with four men at my back, and +the blacks below, I felt competent to control my vessel. From +that moment, I suffered no one to approach the quarter-deck +nearer than the mainmast.</p> + +<p>It was a sweet afternoon when we were floating along the +shores of Porto Rico, tracking our course upon the chart. +Suddenly, one of my new assistants approached, with the sociability +common among Spaniards, and, in a quiet tone, asked +whether I would take a <i>cigarillo</i>. As I never smoked, I rejected +the offer with thanks, when the youth immediately dropped the +twisted paper on my map. In an instant, I perceived the <i>ruse</i>, +and discovered that the <i>cigarillo</i> was, in fact, a <i>billet</i> rolled to +resemble one. I put it in my mouth, and walked aft until I +could throw myself on the deck, with my head over the stern, so +as to open the paper unseen. It disclosed the organization of a +mutiny, under the lead of the broken mate. Our arrival in sight +of St. Domingo was to be the signal of its rupture, and for my +immediate landing on the island. Six of the crew were implicated +with the villain, and the boatswain, who was ill in the slave-hospital, +was to share my fate.</p> + +<p>My resolution was promptly made. In a few minutes, I had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> +cast a hasty glance into the arm-chest, and seen that our weapons +were in order. Then, mustering ten of the stoutest and cleverest +of my negroes on the quarter-deck, I took the liberty to +invent a little strategic fib, and told them, in the Soosoo dialect, +that there were bad men on board, who wanted to run the +schooner ashore among rocks and drown the slaves while below. +At the same time, I gave each a cutlass from the arm-chest, and +supplying my trusty whites with a couple of pistols and a knife +apiece, without saying a word, I seized the ringleader and his +colleagues! Irons and double-irons secured the party to the +mainmast or deck, while a drum-head court-martial, composed of +the officers, and presided over by myself, arraigned and tried the +scoundrels in much less time than regular boards ordinarily +spend in such investigations. During the inquiry, we ascertained +beyond doubt that the death of the mate was due to false play. +He had been wilfully murdered, as a preliminary to the assault +on me, for his colossal stature and powerful muscles would have +made him a dangerous adversary in the seizure of the craft.</p> + +<p>There was, perhaps, a touch of the old-fashioned Inquisition +in the mode of our judicial researches concerning this projected +mutiny. We proceeded very much by way of “confession,” +and, whenever the culprit manifested reluctance or hesitation, his +memory was stimulated by a “cat.” Accordingly, at the end +of the trial, the mutineers were already pretty well punished; so +that we sentenced the six accomplices to receive an additional +flagellation, and continue ironed till we reached Cuba. But the +fate of the ringleader was not decided so easily. Some were in +favor of dropping him overboard, as he had done with the mate; +others proposed to set him adrift on a raft, ballasted with chains; +but I considered both these punishments too cruel, notwithstanding +his treachery, and kept his head beneath the pistol of a sentry +till I landed him in shackles on Turtle Island, with three +days food and abundance of water.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_9" id="Footnote_4_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_9"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The forecastle and cabin of a slaver are given up to the living +freight, while officers sleep on deck in kennels, technically known as “dog-houses.”</p></div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2> + + +<p>After all these adventures, I was very near losing the schooner +before I got to land, by one of the perils of the sea, for which I +blame myself that I was not better prepared.</p> + +<p>It was the afternoon of a fine day. For some time, I had +noticed on the horizon a low bank of white cloud, which rapidly +spread itself over the sky and water, surrounding us with an impenetrable +fog. I apprehended danger; yet, before I could +make the schooner snug to meet the squall, a blast—as sudden +and loud as a thunderbolt—prostrated her nearly on her beam. +The shock was so violent and unforeseen, that the unrestrained +slaves, who were enjoying the fine weather on deck, rolled to leeward +till they floundered in the sea that inundated the scuppers. +There was no power in the tiller to “keep her away” before +the blast, for the rudder was almost out of water; but, fortunately, +our mainsail burst in shreds from the bolt-ropes, and, +relieving us from its pressure, allowed the schooner to right +under control of the helm. The West Indian squall abandoned +us as rapidly as it assailed, and I was happy to find that our +entire loss did not exceed two slave-children, who had been carelessly +suffered to sit on the rail.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>The reader knows that my voyage was an <i>impromptu</i> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +speculation, without papers, manifest, register, consignees, or destination. +It became necessary, therefore, that I should exercise a +very unusual degree of circumspection, not only in landing my +human cargo, but in selecting a spot from which I might communicate +with proper persons. I had never been in Cuba, save +on the occasion already described, nor were my business transactions +extended beyond the Regla association, by which I was +originally sent to Africa.</p> + +<p>The day after the “white squall” I found our schooner drifting +with a leading breeze along the southern coast of Cuba, and +as the time seemed favorable, I thought I might as well cut the +Gordian knot of dilemma by landing my cargo in a secluded cove +that indented the beach about nine miles east of Sant’ Iago. If +I had been consigned to the spot, I could not have been more +fortunate in my reception. Some sixty yards from the landing +I found the comfortable home of a <i>ranchero</i> who proffered the +hospitality usual in such cases, and devoted a spacious barn to +the reception of my slaves while his family prepared an abundant +meal.</p> + +<p>As soon as the cargo was safe from the grasp of cruisers, I +resolved to disregard the flagless and paperless craft that bore it +safely from Africa, and being unacquainted in Sant’ Iago, to +cross the island towards the capital, in search of a consignee. +Accordingly I mounted a spirited little horse, and with a <i>montero</i> +guide, turned my face once more towards the “ever faithful +city of Havana.”</p> + +<p>My companion had a thousand questions for “the captain,” +all of which I answered with so much <i>bonhommie</i>, that we soon +became the best friends imaginable, and chatted over all the +scandal of Cuba. I learned from this man that a cargo had recently +been “run” in the neighborhood of Matanzas, and that its +disposal was most successfully managed by a Señor * * *, from +Catalonia.</p> + +<p>I slapped my thigh and shouted <i>eureka</i>! It flashed through +my mind to trust this man without further inquiry, and I confess +that my decision was based exclusively upon his <i>sectional</i> nationality. +I am partial to the Catalans.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +Accordingly, I presented myself at the counting-room of my +future consignee in due time, and “made a clean breast” of the +whole transaction, disclosing the destitute state of my vessel. In +a very short period, his Excellency the Captain-General was made +aware of my arrival and furnished a list of “the Africans,”—by +which name the Bosal slaves are commonly known in Cuba. +Nor was the captain of the port neglected. A convenient blank +page of his register was inscribed with the name of my vessel as +having sailed from the port six months before, and this was backed +by a register and muster-roll, in order to secure my unquestionable +entry into a harbor.</p> + +<p>Before nightfall every thing was in order with Spanish despatch +when stimulated either by doubloons or the smell of African +blood;—and twenty-four hours afterwards, I was again at +the landing with a suit of clothes and blanket for each of my +“domestics.” The schooner was immediately put in charge of a +clever pilot, who undertook the formal duty and <i>name</i> of her +commander, in order to elude the vigilance of all the minor officials +whose conscience had not been lulled by the golden +anodyne.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile every attention had been given to the slaves +by my hospitable <i>ranchero</i>. The “head-money” once paid, no +body,—civil, military, foreign, or Spanish—dared interfere with +them. Forty-eight hours of rest, ablution, exercise and feeding, +served to recruit the gang and steady their gait. Nor had the +sailors in charge of the party omitted the performance of their +duty as “<i>valets</i>” to the gentlemen and “<i>ladies’ maids</i>” to the +females; so that when the march towards Sant’ Iago began, the +procession might have been considered as “respectable as it was +numerous.”</p> + +<p>The brokers of the southern emporium made very little delay +in finding purchasers at retail for the entire venture. The returns +were, of course, in cash; and so well did the enterprise +turn out, that I forgot the rebellion of our mutineers, and allowed +them to share my bounty with the rest of the crew. In fact, +so pleased was I with the result on inspecting the balance-sheet, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> +that I resolved to divert myself with the <i>dolce far niente</i> of Cuban +country life for a month at least.</p> + +<p>But while I was making ready for this delightful repose, a +slight breeze passed over the calmness of my mirror. I had +given, perhaps imprudently, but certainly with generous motives, +a double pay to my men in recompense of their perilous service +on the Rio Nunez. With the usual recklessness of their craft, +they lounged about Havana, boasting of their success, while a +Frenchman of the party,—who had been swindled of his wages +at cards,—appealed to his Consul for relief. By dint of cross +questions the Gallic official extracted the tale of our voyage from +his countryman, and took advantage of the fellow’s destitution to +make him a witness against a certain Don Téodore Canot, who +<i>was alleged to be a native of France</i>! Besides this, the punishment +of my mate was exaggerated by the recreant Frenchman +into a most unjustifiable as well as cruel act.</p> + +<p>Of course the story was promptly detailed to the Captain-General, +who issued an order for my arrest. But I was too wary +and flush to be caught so easily by the guardian of France’s lilies. +No person bearing my name could be found in the island; +and as the schooner had entered port with Spanish papers, Spanish +crew, and was regularly sold, it became manifest to the stupefied +Consul that the sailor’s “yarn” was an entire fabrication. +That night a convenient press-gang, in want of recruits for the +royal marine, seized the braggadocio crew, and as there were no +witnesses to corroborate the Consul’s complaint, it was forthwith +dismissed.</p> + +<p>Things are managed very cleverly in Havana—<i>when you +know how</i>!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2> + + +<p>Before I went to sea again, I took a long holiday with full +pockets, among my old friends at Regla and Havana. I thought +it possible that a residence in Cuba for a season, aloof from +traders and their transactions, might wean me from Africa; but +three months had hardly elapsed, before I found myself sailing +out of the harbor of St. Jago de Cuba to take, in Jamaica, a cargo +of merchandise for the coast, and then to return and refit for +slaves in Cuba.</p> + +<p>My voyage began with a gale, which for three days swept us +along on a tolerably good course, but on the night of the third, +after snapping my mainmast on a lee shore, I was forced to +beach the schooner in order to save our lives and cargo from destruction. +Fortunately, we effected our landing with complete +success, and at dawn I found my gallant little craft a total wreck +on an uninhabited key. A large tent or pavilion was quickly +built from our sails, sweeps, and remaining spars, beneath which +every thing valuable and undamaged was stored before nightfall. +Parties were sent forth to reconnoitre, while our remaining +foremast was unshipped, and planted on the highest part of the +sandbank with a signal of distress. The scouts returned without +consolation. Nothing had been seen except a large dog, whose +neck was encircled with a collar; but as he could not be made to +approach by kindness, I forbade his execution. Neither smoke +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +nor tobacco freed us of the cloudy swarms of mosquitoes that filled +the air after sunset, and so violent was the irritation of their +innumerable stings, that a delicate boy among the crew became +utterly insane, and was not restored till long after his return to +Cuba.</p> + +<p>Several sad and weary days passed over us on this desolate +key, where our mode of life brought to my recollection many a +similar hour spent by me in company with Don Rafael and his +companions. Vessel after vessel passed the reef, but none took +notice of our signal. At last, on the tenth day of our imprisonment, +a couple of small schooners fanned their way in a nonchalant +manner towards our island, and knowing that we were quite +at their mercy, refused our rescue unless we assented to the +most extravagant terms of compensation. After a good deal of +chaffering, it was agreed that the salvors should land us and our +effects at Nassau, New Providence, where the average should be +determined by the lawful tribunal. The voyage was soon accomplished, +and our amiable liberators from the mosquitoes of our +island prison obtained a judicial award of seventy per cent. for +their extraordinary trouble!</p> + +<p>The wreck and the wreckers made so formidable an inroad +upon my finances, that I was very happy when I reached Cuba +once more, to accept the berth of sailing-master in a slave brig +which was fitting out at St. Thomas’s, under an experienced +Frenchman.</p> + +<p>My new craft, the <span class="smcap">San Pablo</span>, was a trim Brazil-built brig, +of rather more than 300 tons. Her hold contained sixteen +twenty-four carronades, while her magazine was stocked with +abundance of ammunition, and her kelson lined, fore and aft, +with round shot and grape. Captain * * *, who had been described +as a Tartar and martinet, received me with much affability, +and seemed charmed when I told him that I conversed fluently +not only in French but in English.</p> + +<p>I had hardly arrived and begun to take the dimensions of my +new equipage, when a report ran through the harbor that a Danish +cruiser was about to touch at the island. Of course, every +thing was instantly afloat, and in a bustle to be off. Stores and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +provisions were tumbled in pell-mell, tanks were filled with water +during the night; and, before dawn, fifty-five ragamuffins of +all castes, colors, and countries, were shipped as crew. By “six +bells,” with a coasting flag at our peak, we were two miles at sea +with our main-topsail aback, receiving six kegs of specie and several +chests of clothing from a lugger.</p> + +<p>When we were fairly on “blue water” I discovered that our +voyage, though a slaver’s, was not of an ordinary character. On +the second day, the mariners were provided with two setts of +uniform, to be worn on Sundays or when called to quarters. +Gold-laced caps, blue coats with anchor buttons, single epaulettes, +and side arms were distributed to the officers, while a brief +address from the captain on the quarter-deck, apprised all hands +that if the enterprise resulted well, <i>a bounty</i> of one hundred dollars +would be paid to each adventurer.</p> + +<p>That night our skipper took me into council and developed +his plan, which was to load in a port in the Mozambique channel. +To effect his purpose with more security, he had provided +the brig with an armament sufficient to repel a man-of-war of +equal size—(a fancy I never gave way to)—and on all occasions, +except in presence of a French cruiser, he intended to hoist the +Bourbon lilies, wear the Bourbon uniform, and conduct the vessel +in every way as if she belonged to the royal navy. Nor +were the officers to be less favored than the sailors in regard to +double salary, certificates of which were handed to me for myself +and my two subordinates. A memorandum book was then +supplied, containing minute instructions for each day of the ensuing +week, and I was specially charged, as second in command, +to be cautiously punctual in all my duties, and severely just towards +my inferiors.</p> + +<p>I took some pride in acquitting myself creditably in this new +military phase of a slaver’s life. Very few days sufficed to put +the rigging and sails in perfect condition; to mount my sixteen +guns; to drill the men with small arms as well as artillery; and +by paint and sea-craft, to disguise the Saint Paul as a very respectable +cruiser.</p> + +<p>In twenty-seven days we touched at the Cape de Verds for +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> +provisions, and shaped our way southward without speaking a +single vessel of the multitude we met, until off the Cape of Good +Hope we encountered a stranger who was evidently bent upon +being sociable. Nevertheless, our inhospitable spirit forced us to +hold our course unswervingly, till from peak and main we saw +the white flag and pennant of France unfurled to the wind.</p> + +<p>Our drum immediately beat to quarters, while the flag chest +was brought on deck. Presently, the French <i>transport</i> demanded +our private signal; which out of our ample supply, was +promptly answered, and the royal ensign of Portugal set at our +peak.</p> + +<p>As we approached the Frenchman every thing was made ready +for all hazards;—our guns were double-shotted, our matches +lighted, our small arms distributed. The moment we came within +hail, our captain,—who claimed precedence of the lieutenant of +a transport,—spoke the Frenchman; and, for a while, carried on +quite an amiable chat in Portuguese. At last the stranger requested +leave to send his boat aboard with letters for the Isle +of France; to which we consented with the greatest pleasure, +though our captain thought it fair to inform him that we dared +not prudently invite his officers on deck, inasmuch as there were +“several cases of small-pox among our crew, contracted, in all +likelihood, at Angola!”</p> + +<p>The discharge of an unexpected broadside could not have +struck our visitor with more dismay or horror. The words were +hardly spoken when her decks were in a bustle,—her yards braced +sharply to the wind,—and her prow boiling through the sea, +without so much as the compliment of a “<i>bon voyage</i>!”</p> + +<p>Ten days after this <i>ruse d’esclave</i> we anchored at Quillimane, +among a lot of Portuguese and Brazilian slavers, whose sails were +either clewed up or unbent as if for a long delay. We fired a +salute of twenty guns and ran up the French flag. The salvo was +quickly answered, while our captain, in the full uniform of a +naval commander, paid his respects to the Governor. Meantime +orders were given me to remain carefully in charge of the ship; +to avoid all intercourse with others; to go through the complete +routine and show of a man-of-war; to strike the yards, haul down +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +signal, and fire a gun at sunset; but especially to get underway +and meet the captain at a small beach off the port, the instant I +saw a certain flag flying from the fort.</p> + +<p>I have rarely seen matters conducted more skilfully than they +were by this daring Gaul. Next morning early the Governor’s +boat was sent for the specie; the fourth day disclosed the signal +that called us to the beach; the fifth, sixth, and seventh, supplied +us with <i>eight hundred negroes</i>; and, on the ninth, we were +underway for our destination.</p> + +<p>The success of this enterprise was more remarkable because +fourteen vessels, waiting cargoes, were at anchor when we arrived, +some of which had been detained in port over fifteen months. To +such a pitch had their impatience risen, that the masters made +common cause against all new-comers, and agreed that each vessel +should take its turn for supply according to date of arrival. +But the astuteness of my veteran circumvented all these plans. +His anchorage and non-intercourse as <i>a French man-of-war</i> lulled +every suspicion or intrigue against him, and he adroitly took +advantage of his kegs of specie to win the heart of the authorities +and factors who supplied the slaves.</p> + +<p>But wit and cleverness are not all in this world. Our +captain returned in high spirits to his vessel; but we hardly +reached the open sea before he was prostrated with an ague which +refused to yield to ordinary remedies, and finally ripened into +fever, that deprived him of reason. Other dangers thickened +around us. We had been several days off the Cape of Good +Hope, buffeting a series of adverse gales, when word was brought +me after a night of weary watching, that several slaves were ill +of small-pox. Of all calamities that occur in the voyage of a +slaver, this is the most dreaded and unmanageable. The news appalled +me. Impetuous with anxiety I rushed to the captain, and +regardless of fever or insanity, disclosed the dreadful fact. He +stared at me for a minute as if in doubt; then opening his bureau +and pointing to a long coil of combustible material, said that it +communicated through the decks with the powder magazine, and +ordered me to—“<i>blow up the brig!</i>”</p> + +<p>The master’s madness sobered his mate. I lost no time in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> +securing both the dangerous implement and its perilous owner, +while I called the officers into the cabin for inquiry and consultation +as to our desperate state.</p> + +<p>The gale had lasted nine days without intermission, and during +all this time with so much violence that it was impossible to +take off the gratings, release the slaves, purify the decks, or rig +the wind-sails. When the first lull occurred, a thorough inspection +of the eight hundred was made, and <i>a death announced</i>. As +life had departed during the tempest, a careful inspection of the +body was made, and it was this that first disclosed the pestilence +in our midst. The corpse was silently thrown into the sea, and +the malady kept secret from crew and negroes.</p> + +<p>When breakfast was over on that fatal morning, I determined +to visit the slave deck myself, and ordering an abundant supply +of lanterns, descended to the cavern, which still reeked horribly +with human vapor, even after ventilation. But here, alas! +I found nine of the negroes infected by the disease. We took +counsel as to the use of laudanum in ridding ourselves speedily +of the sufferers,—a remedy that is seldom and secretly used in +<i>desperate</i> cases to preserve the living from contagion. But it was +quickly resolved that it had already gone too far, when nine were +prostrated, to save the rest by depriving them of life. Accordingly, +these wretched beings were at once sent to the forecastle +as a hospital, and given in charge to the vaccinated or innoculated +as nurses. The hold was then ventilated and limed; yet +before the gale abated, our sick list was increased to thirty. +The hospital could hold no more. Twelve of the sailors took the +infection, and fifteen corpses had been cast in the sea!</p> + +<p>All reserve was now at an end. Body after body fed the +deep, and still the gale held on. At last, when the wind and +waves had lulled so much as to allow the gratings to be removed +from our hatches, our consternation knew no bounds when we +found that nearly all the slaves were dead or dying with the distemper. +I will not dwell on the scene or our sensations. It is +a picture that must gape with all its horrors before the least +vivid imagination. Yet there was no time for languor or sentimental +sorrow. Twelve of the stoutest survivors were ordered +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> +to drag out the dead from among the ill, and though they were +constantly drenched with rum to brutalize them, still we were +forced to aid the gang by reckless volunteers from our crew, +who, arming their hands with tarred mittens, flung the fœtid +masses of putrefaction into the sea!</p> + +<p>One day was a counterpart of another; and yet the love of +life, or, perhaps, the love of gold, made us fight the monster with +a courage that became a better cause. At length death was +satisfied, but not until the eight hundred beings we had shipped +in high health had dwindled to four hundred and ninety-seven +skeletons!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2> + + +<p>The San Pablo might have been considered entitled to a “clean +bill of health” by the time she reached the equator. The dead +left space, food, and water for the living, and very little restraint +was imposed on the squalid remnant. None were shackled +after the outbreak of the fatal plague, so that in a short +time the survivors began to fatten for the market to which they +were hastening. But such was not the fate of our captain. The +fever and delirium had long left him, yet a dysenteric tendency,—the +result of a former malady,—suddenly supervened, and the +worthy gentleman rapidly declined. His nerves gave way so thoroughly, +that from fanciful weakness he lapsed into helpless hypochondria. +One of his pet ideas was that a copious dose of calomel +would ensure his restoration to perfect health. Unfortunately, +however, during the prevalence of the plague, our medicine +chest had one day been accidentally left exposed, and our mercury +was abstracted. Still there was no use to attempt calming +him with the assurance that his <i>nostrum</i> could not be had. The +more we argued the impossibility of supplying him, the more was +he urgent and imperative for the sanative mineral.</p> + +<p>In this dilemma I ordered a bright look-out to be kept for +merchantmen from whom I hoped to obtain the desirable drug. +At last a sail was reported two points under our lee, and as her +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> +canvas was both patched and dark, I considered her a harmless +Briton who might be approached with impunity.</p> + +<p>It proved to be a brig from Belfast, in Ireland; but when I +overhauled the skipper and desired him to send a boat on board, +he declined the invitation and kept his course. A second and +third command shared the same fate. I was somewhat nettled +by this disregard of my flag, pennant, and starboard epaulette, +and ordering the brig to be run alongside, I made her fast to the +recusant, and boarded with ten men.</p> + +<p>Our reception was, of course, not very amicable, though no +show of resistance was made by officers or crew. I informed +the captain that my object in stopping him was entirely one of +mercy, and repeated the request I had previously made through +the speaking trumpet. Still, the stubborn Scotchman persisted +in denying the medicine, though I offered him payment in silver +or gold. Thereupon, I commanded the mate to produce his log-book, +and, under my dictation, to note the visit of the San Pablo, +my request, and its churlish denial. This being done to my satisfaction, +I ordered two of my hands to search for the medicine +chest, which turned out to be a sorry receptacle of stale drugs, +though fortunately containing an abundance of calomel. I did +not parley about appropriating a third of the mineral, for which +I counted five silver dollars on the cabin table. But the metal +was no sooner exhibited than my Scotchman refused it with disdain. +I handed it, however, to the mate, and exacted a receipt, +which was noted in the log-book.</p> + +<p>As I put my leg over the taffrail, I tried once more to smooth +the bristles of the terrier, but a snarl and a snap repaid me for +my good humor. Nevertheless, I resolved “to heap coals of +fire on the head” of the ingrate; and, before I cast off our lashings, +threw on his deck a dozen yams, a bag of frijoles, a barrel +of pork, a couple of sacks of white Spanish biscuits,—and, with +a cheer, bade him adieu.</p> + +<p>But there was no balm in calomel for the captain. Scotch +physic could not save him. He declined day by day; yet the +energy of his hard nature kept him alive when other men would +have sunk, and enabled him to command even from his sick bed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> +It was always our Sabbath service to drum the men to quarters +and exercise them with cannons and small arms. One Sunday, +after the routine was over, the dying man desired to inspect +his crew, and was carried to the quarter-deck on a mattress. +Each sailor marched in front of him and was allowed to take his +hand; after which he called them around in a body, and announced +his apprehension that death would claim him before our +destination was reached. Then, without previously apprising us +of his design, he proceeded to make a verbal testament, and enjoined +it upon all as a duty to his memory to obey implicitly. +If the San Pablo arrived safely in port, he desired that every +officer and mariner should be paid the promised bounty, and that +the proceeds of cargo should be sent to his family in Nantz. +But, if it happened that we were attacked by a cruiser, and the +brig was saved by the risk and valor of a defence,—then, he +directed that one half the voyage’s avails should be shared +between officers and crew, while one quarter was sent to his +friends in France, and the other given to me. His sailing-master +and Cuban consignees were to be the executors of this salt water +document.</p> + +<p>We were now well advanced north-westwardly on our voyage, +and in every cloud could see a promise of the continuing trade-wind, +which was shortly to end a luckless voyage. From deck +to royal,—from flying-jib to ring-tail, every stitch of canvas that +would draw was packed and crowded on the brig. Vessels were +daily seen in numbers, but none appeared suspicious till we got +far to the westward, when my glass detected a cruising schooner, +jogging along under easy sail. I ordered the helmsman to keep +his course; and taughtening sheets, braces, and halyards, went +into the cabin to receive the final orders of our commander.</p> + +<p>He received my story with his usual bravery, nor was he +startled when a boom from the cruiser’s gun announced her in +chase. He pointed to one of his drawers and told me to take +out its contents. I handed him three flags, which he carefully +unrolled, and displayed the ensigns of Spain, Denmark, and +Portugal, in each of which I found a set of papers suitable for +the San Pablo. In a feeble voice he desired me to select a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +nationality; and, when I chose the Spanish, he grasped my hand, +pointed to the door, and bade me not to surrender.</p> + +<p>When I reached the deck, I found our pursuer gaining on +us with the utmost speed. She outsailed us—two to one. +Escape was altogether out of the question; yet I resolved to +show the inquisitive stranger our mettle, by keeping my course, +firing a gun, and hoisting my Spanish signals at peak and main.</p> + +<p>At this time the San Pablo was spinning along finely at the +rate of about six knots an hour, when a shot from the schooner +fell close to our stern. In a moment I ordered in studding-sails +alow and aloft, and as my men had been trained to their duty in +man-of-war fashion, I hoped to impose on the cruiser by the style +and perfection of the manœuvre. Still, however, she kept her +way, and, in four hours after discovery, was within half gun-shot +of the brig.</p> + +<p>Hitherto I had not touched my armament, but I selected this +moment to load under the enemy’s eyes, and, at the word of command, +to fling open the ports and run out my barkers. The act +was performed to a charm by my well-drilled gunners; yet all +our belligerent display had not the least effect on the schooner, +which still pursued us. At last, within hail, her commander +leaped on a gun, and ordered me to “heave to, or take a ball!”</p> + +<p>Now, I was prepared for this arrogant command, and, for +half an hour, had made up my mind how to avoid an engagement. +A single discharge of my broadside might have sunk or seriously +damaged our antagonist, but the consequences would have been +terrible if he boarded me, which I believed to be his aim.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, I paid no attention to the threat, but taughtened +my ropes and surged ahead. Presently, my racing chaser came +up <i>under my lee</i> within pistol-shot, when a reiterated command +to heave to or be fired on, was answered for the first time by a +faint “<i>no intiendo</i>,”—“I don’t understand you,”—while the +man-of-war shot ahead of me.</p> + +<p><i>Then I had him!</i> Quick as thought, I gave the order to +“square away,” and putting the helm up, struck the cruiser +near the bow, carrying away her foremast and bowsprit. Such +was the stranger’s surprise at my daring trick that not a musket +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> +was fired or boarder stirred, till we were clear of the wreck. It +was then too late. The loss of my jib-boom and a few rope-yarns +did not prevent me from cracking on my studding-sails, and +leaving the lubber to digest his stupid <i>forbearance</i>!</p> + +<p>This adventure was a fitting epitaph for the stormy life of our +poor commander, who died on the following night, and was buried +under a choice selection of the flags he had honored with his +various nationalities. A few days after the blue water had closed +over him for ever, our cargo was safely ensconced in the <i>hacienda</i> +nine miles east of St. Jago de Cuba, while the San Pablo was +sent adrift and burnt to the water’s edge.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2> + + +<p>The beneficent disposition of my late commander, though not a +regular testament, was carried out in Cuba, and put me in possession +of twelve thousand dollars as my share of the enterprise. +Yet my restless spirit did not allow me to remain idle. Our +successful voyage had secured me scores of friends among the +Spanish slavers, and I received daily applications for a fresh +command.</p> + +<p>But the plans of my French friend had so bewitched me with +a desire for imitation, that I declined subordinate posts and +aspired to ownership. Accordingly, I proposed to the proprietor +of a large American clipper-brig, that we should fit her on the +same system as the San Pablo; yet, wishing to surpass my late +captain in commercial success, I suggested the idea of fighting +for our cargo, or, in plainer language, of relieving another slaver +of her living freight, a project which promptly found favor with +the owner of “<span class="smcap">La Conchita</span>.” The vessel in question originally +cost twelve thousand dollars, and I proposed to cover this +value by expending an equal sum on her outfit, in order to constitute +me half owner.</p> + +<p>The bargain was struck, and the armament, sails, additional +spars, rigging, and provisions went on board, with prudential +secrecy. Inasmuch as we could not leave port without some +show of a cargo, merchandise <i>in bond</i> was taken from the public +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +warehouses, and, after being loaded in our hold during day, was +smuggled ashore again at night. As the manœuvre was a trick +of my accomplice, who privately gained by the operation, I took +no notice of what was delivered or taken away.</p> + +<p>Finally, all was ready. Forty-five men were shipped, and +the Conchita cleared. Next day, at daybreak, I was to sail with +the land-breeze.</p> + +<p>A sailor’s last night ashore is proverbial, and none of the +customary ceremonies were omitted on this occasion. There was +a parting supper with plenty of champagne; there was a visit to +the <i>café</i>; a farewell call here, another there, and a bumper every +where. In fact, till two in the morning, I was busy with my +adieus; but when I got home at last, with a thumping headache, +I was met at the door by a note from my partner, stating that +our vessel was seized, and an order issued for my arrest. He +counselled me to keep aloof from the <i>alguaziles</i>, till he could +arrange the matter with the custom-house and police.</p> + +<p>I will not enlarge this chapter of disasters. Next day, my +accomplice was lodged in prison for his fraud, the vessel confiscated, +her outfit sold, and my purse cropped to the extent of +twelve thousand dollars. I had barely time to escape before the +officers were in my lodgings; and I finally saved myself from an +acquaintance with the interior of a Cuban prison, by taking +another name, and playing <i>ranchero</i> among the hills for several +weeks.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>My finances were at low-water mark, when I strolled one fine +morning into Matanzas, and, after some delay, again obtained +command of a slaver, through the secret influence of my old and +trusty friends. The new craft was a dashing schooner, of one +hundred and twenty tons, fresh from the United States, and +intended for Ayudah on the Gold Coast. It was calculated that +we might bring home at least four hundred and fifty slaves, for +whose purchase, I was supplied plentifully with rum, powder, +English muskets, and rich cottons from Manchester.</p> + +<p>In due time we sailed for the Cape de Verds, the usual +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> +“port of despatch” on such excursions; and at Praya, exchanged +our flag for the Portuguese, before we put up our helm +for the coast. A British cruiser chased us fruitlessly for two +days off Sierra Leone, and enabled me not only to test the sailing +qualities, but to get the <i>sailing trim</i> of the “Estrella,” in +perfection. So confident did I become of the speed and bottom +of my gallant clipper, that I ventured, with a leading wind, to +chase the first vessel I descried on the horizon, and was altogether +deceived by the tri-color displayed at her peak. Indeed, +I could not divine this novel nationality, till the speaking trumpet +apprised us that the lilies of France had taken triple hues +in the hands of Louis Philippe! Accordingly, before I squared +away for Ayudah, I saluted the <i>royal republican</i>, by lowering +my flag thrice to the new divinity.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>I consigned the Estrella to one of the most remarkable +traders that ever expanded the African traffic by his genius.</p> + +<p>Señor Da Souza,—better known on the coast and interior +as Cha-cha,—was said to be a native mulatto of Rio Janeiro, +whence he emigrated to Dahomey, after deserting the arms of his +imperial master. I do not know how he reached Africa, but it is +probable the fugitive made part of some slaver’s crew, and fled +from his vessel, as he had previously abandoned the military service +in the delicious clime of Brazil. His parents were poor, +indolent, and careless, so that Cha-cha grew up an illiterate, +headstrong youth. Yet, when he touched the soil of Africa, a +new life seemed infused into his veins. For a while, his days +are said to have been full of misery and trouble, but the Brazilian +slave-trade happened to receive an extraordinary impetus +about that period; and, gradually, the adventurous refugee managed +to profit by his skill in dealing with the natives, or by acting +as broker among his countrymen. Beginning in the humblest +way, he stuck to trade with the utmost tenacity till he ripened into +an opulent factor. The tinge of native blood that dyed his complexion, +perhaps qualified him peculiarly for this enterprise. He +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> +loved the customs of the people. He spoke their language with +the fluency of a native. He won the favor of chief after chief. +He strove to be considered a perfect African among Africans; +though, among whites, he still affected the graceful address and +manners of his country. In this way, little by little, Cha-cha +advanced in the regard of all he dealt with, and secured the commissions +of Brazil and Cuba, while he was regarded and protected +as a prime favorite by the warlike king of Dahomey. +Indeed, it is alleged that this noted sovereign formed a sort of +devilish compact with the Portuguese factor, and supplied him +with every thing he desired during life, in consideration of inheriting +his wealth when dead.</p> + +<p>But Cha-cha was resolved, while the power of enjoyment was +still vouchsafed him, that all the pleasures of human life, accessible +to money, should not be wanting in Ayudah. He built a +large and commodious dwelling for his residence on a beautiful +spot, near the site of an abandoned Portuguese fort. He filled +his establishment with every luxury and comfort that could please +the fancy, or gratify the body. Wines, food, delicacies and raiment, +were brought from Paris, London, and Havana. The +finest women along the coast were lured to his settlement. Billiard +tables and gambling halls spread their wiles, or afforded distraction +for detained navigators. In fine, the mongrel Sybarite +surrounded himself with all that could corrupt virtue, gratify +passion, tempt avarice, betray weakness, satisfy sensuality, and +complete a picture of incarnate slavery in Dahomey.</p> + +<p>When he sallied forth, his walk was always accompanied by +considerable ceremony. An officer preceded him to clear the +path; a fool or buffoon hopped beside him; a band of native +musicians sounded their discordant instruments, and a couple of +singers screamed, at the top of their voices, the most fulsome +adulation of the mulatto.</p> + +<p>Numbers of vessels were, of course, required to feed this +African nabob with doubloons and merchandise. Sometimes, +commanders from Cuba or Brazil would be kept months in his +perilous nest, while their craft cruised along the coast, in expectation +of human cargoes. At such seasons, no expedient was left +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> +untried for the entertainment and pillage of wealthy or trusted +idlers. If Cha-cha’s board and wines made them drunkards, it +was no fault of his. If <i>rouge et noir</i>, or <i>monte</i>, won their +doubloons and freight at his saloon, he regretted, but dared not +interfere with the amusements of his guests. If the sirens of +his harem betrayed a cargo for their favor over cards, a convenient +fire destroyed the frail warehouse after its merchandise was +secretly removed!</p> + +<p>Cha-cha was exceedingly desirous that I should accept his +hospitality. As soon as I read my invoice to him,—for he could +not do it himself,—he became almost irresistible in his <i>empressement</i>. +Yet I declined the invitation with firm politeness, and +took up my quarters on shore, at the residence of a native <i>manfuca</i>, +or broker. I was warned of his allurements before I left +Matanzas, and resolved to keep myself and property so clear of +his clutches, that our contract would either be fulfilled or remain +within my control. Thus, by avoiding his table, his “hells,” and +the society of his dissipated sons, I maintained my business relations +with the slaver, and secured his personal respect so effectually, +that, at the end of two months, four hundred and eighty +prime negroes were in the bowels of La Estrella.<a name="FNanchor_5_10" id="FNanchor_5_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_10" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_10" id="Footnote_5_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_10"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Da Souza died in May, 1849. Commander Forbes, R. N., in his book +on Dahomey, says that a boy and girl were decapitated and buried with +him, and that three men were sacrificed on the beach at Whydah. He +alleges that, although this notorious slaver died in May, the funeral honors +to his memory were not yet closed in October. “The town,” he says, “is +still in a ferment. Three hundred of the Amazons are daily in the square, +firing and dancing; bands of Fetiche people parade the streets, headed by +guinea-fowls, fowls, ducks, goats, pigeons, and pigs, on poles, alive, for sacrifice. +Much rum is distributed, and all night there is shouting, firing and +dancing.”—<i>Dahomey and the Dahomans</i>, vol. i, 49.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XL.</h2> + + +<p>If I had dreamed that these recollections of my African career +would ever be made public, it is probable I should have taxed +my memory with many events and characteristic anecdotes, of +interest to those who study the progress of mankind, and the +singular manifestations of human intellect in various portions of +Ethiopia.</p> + +<p>During my travels on that continent, I always found the negro +a believer in some superior creative and controlling power, except +among the marshes at the mouth of the Rio Pongo, where the +Bagers, as I already stated, imagine that death is total annihilation. +The Mandingoes and Fullahs have their Islamism and its +Koran; the Soosoo has his good spirits and bad; another nation +has its “pray-men” and “book-men,” with their special creeds; +another relies on the omnipotence of <i>juju</i> priests and <i>fetiche</i> worship;<a name="FNanchor_6_11" id="FNanchor_6_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_11" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +some believe in the immortality of spirit; while others +confide in the absolute translation of body. The Mahometan +tribes adore the Creator, with an infinitude of ablutions, genuflexions, +prayers, fasts, and by strictly adhering to the laws of the +Prophet; while the heathen nations resort to their adroit priests, +who shield them from the devil by charms of various degree, +which are exclusively in their gift, and may consequently be imposed +on the credulous for enormous prices.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +At Ayudah I found the natives addicted to a very grovelling +species of idolatry. It was their belief that the Good as well as the +Evil spirit existed in living Iguanas. In the home of the <i>manfuca</i>, +with whom I dwelt, several of these animals were constantly +fed and cherished as <i>dii penates</i>, nor was any one allowed +to interfere with their freedom, or to harm them when they grew +insufferably offensive. The death of one of these crawling deities +is considered a calamity in the household, and grief for the reptile +becomes as great as for a departed parent.</p> + +<p>Whilst I tarried at Ayudah, an invitation came from the +King of Dahomey, soliciting the presence of Cha-cha and his +guests at the yearly sacrifice of human beings, whose blood is +shed not only to appease an irritated god but to satiate the appetite +of departed kings. I regret that I did not accompany the +party that was present at this dreadful festival. Cha-cha despatched +several of the captains who were waiting cargoes, under +the charge of his own interpreters and the royal <i>manfucas</i>; and +from one of these eye-witnesses, whose curiosity was painfully +satiated, I received a faithful account of the horrid spectacle.</p> + +<p>For three days our travellers passed through a populous region, +fed with abundant repasts prepared in the native villages +by Cha-cha’s cooks, and resting at night in hammocks suspended +among the trees. On the fourth day the party reached the great +capital of Abomey, to which the king had come for the bloody +festival from his residence at Cannah. My friends were comfortably +lodged for repose, and next morning presented to the sovereign. +He was a well-built negro, dressed in the petticoat-trowsers +of a Turk, with yellow morocco boots, while a profusion +of silk shawls encircled his shoulders and waist, and a lofty <i>chapeau</i>, +with trailing plumes, surmounted his wool. A vast body-guard +of <i>female</i> soldiers or amazons, armed with lances and muskets, +surrounded his majesty. Presently, the <i>manfucas</i> and interpreters, +crawling abjectly on their hands and knees to the +royal feet, deposited Cha-cha’s tribute and the white men’s offering. +The first consisted of several pieces of crape, silks, and taffeta, +with a large pitcher and basin of silver; while the latter +was a trifling gift of twenty muskets and one hundred pieces of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +blue <i>dungeree</i>. The present was gracefully accepted, and the donors +welcomed to the sacrifice, which was delayed on account of +the scarcity of victims, though orders had been given to storm a +neighboring tribe to make up three hundred slaves for the festival. +In the mean while, a spacious house, furnished in European +style, and altogether better than the ordinary dwellings of +Africa, was assigned to the strangers. Liberty was also given +them to enter wherever they pleased, and take what they wished, +inasmuch as all his subjects, male and female, were slaves whom +he placed at the white men’s disposal.</p> + +<p>The sixth of May was announced as the beginning of the sacrificial +rites, which were to last five days. Early in the morning, +two hundred females of the amazonian guard, naked to the +waist, but richly ornamented with beads and rings at every +joint of their oiled and glistening limbs, appeared in the area +before the king’s palace, armed with blunt cutlasses. Very +soon the sovereign made his appearance, when the band of warriors +began their manœuvres, keeping pace, with rude but not unmartial +skill, to the native drum and flute.</p> + +<p>A short distance from the palace, within sight of the square, +a fort or inclosure, about nine feet high, had been built of <i>adobe</i>, +and surrounded by a pile of tall, prickly briers. Within this +barrier, secured to stakes, stood fifty captives who were to be +immolated at the opening of the festival. When the drill of the +amazons and the royal review were over, there was, for a considerable +time, perfect silence in the ranks and throughout the vast +multitude of spectators. Presently, at a signal from the king, +one hundred of the women departed at a run, brandishing their +weapons and yelling their war-cry, till, heedless of the thorny +barricade, they leaped the walls, lacerating their flesh in crossing +the prickly impediment. The delay was short. Fifty of these +female demons, with torn limbs and bleeding faces, quickly returned, +and offered their howling victims to the king. It was now +the duty of this personage to begin the sacrifice with his royal +hand. Calling the female whose impetuous daring had led her +foremost across the thorns, he took a glittering sword from her +grasp, and in an instant the head of the first victim fell to the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +dust. The weapon was then returned to the woman, who, handing +it to the white men, desired them to unite in the brutal deed! +The strangers, however, not only refused, but, sick at heart, +abandoned the scene of butchery, which lasted, they understood, +till noon, when the amazons were dismissed to their barracks, +reeking with rum and blood.</p> + +<p>I have limited the details of this barbarity to the initial cruelties, +leaving the reader’s imagination to fancy the atrocities +that followed the second blow. It has always been noticed that +the sight of blood, which appals a civilized man, serves to excite +and enrage the savage, till his frantic passions induce him to +mutilate his victims, even as a tiger becomes furious after it has +torn the first wound in its prey. For five days the strangers +were doomed to hear the yells of the storming amazons as they +assailed the fort for fresh victims. On the sixth the sacrifice was +over:—the divinity was appeased, and quiet reigned again in the +streets of Abomey.</p> + +<p>Our travellers were naturally anxious to quit a court where +such abominations were regarded as national and religious duties; +but before they departed, his majesty proposed to accord +them a parting interview. He received the strangers with ceremonious +politeness, and called their attention to the throne or +royal seat upon which he had coiled his limbs. The chair is said +to have been an heir-loom of at least twenty generations. Each +leg of the article rests on the skull of some native king or chief, +and such is the fanatical respect for the brutal usages of antiquity, +that every three years the people of Dahomey are +obliged to renew the steadiness of the stool by the fresh skulls +of some noted princes!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>I was not long enough at Ayudah to observe the manners and +customs of the natives with much care, still, as well as I now remember, +there was great similarity to the habits of other tribes. +The male lords it over the weaker sex, and as a man is valued +according to the quantity of his wives; polygamy, even among +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> +civilized residents, is carried to a greater excess than elsewhere. +Female chastity is not insisted on as in the Mandingo and Soosoo +districts, but the husband contents himself with the seeming continence +of his mistresses. Sixty or seventy miles south of Ayudah, +the adulterous wife of a chief is stabbed in the presence of +her relations. Here, also, superstition has set up the altar of +human sacrifice, but the divinity considers the offering of a single +virgin sufficient for all its requirements.</p> + +<p>Some years after my visit to Ayudah, it happened that my +traffic called me to Lagos at the season of this annual festival, so +that I became an unwilling witness of the horrid scene.</p> + +<p>When the slender crescent of the November moon is first observed, +an edict goes forth from the king that his <i>Juju-man</i>, or +high-priest, will go his annual round through the town, and during +his progress it is strictly forbidden for any of his subjects to +remain out of doors after sunset. Such is the terror with which +the priests affect to regard the sacred demon, that even the fires +are extinguished in their houses.</p> + +<p>Towards midnight the <i>Juju-man</i> issued from a sacred <i>gree-gree</i> +bush or grove, the entrance to which is inhibited to all negroes +who do not belong to the religious brotherhood. The costume +of the impostor is calculated to inspire his countrymen with fear. +He was clad in a garment that descended from his waist to his +heels like a petticoat or skirt, made of long black fur; a cape of +the same material was clasped round his neck and covered his +elbows; a gigantic hood which bristled with all the ferocity of a +grenadier’s cap, covered his head; his hands were disguised in +tiger’s paws, while a frightful mask, with sharp nose, thin lips, +and white color, concealed his face. He was accompanied by ten +stout barbarians, dressed and masked like himself, each sounding +some discordant instrument. Every door, by law, is required to +be left ajar for the free access of the <i>Juju</i>, but as soon as the +horrid noise is heard approaching from the <i>tabooed grove</i>, each +inhabitant falls to the ground, with eyes in the dust, to avoid even +a look from the irritated spirit.</p> + +<p>A victim is always agreed upon by the priests and the authorities +before they leave the <i>gree-gree bush</i>, yet to instil a greater +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +degree of superstitious terror, the frightful <i>Juju</i>, as if in doubt, +promenades the town till daylight, entering a house now and +then, and sometimes committing a murder or two to augment the +panic. At dawn the home of the victim,—who, of course, is always +the handsomest virgin in the settlement,—is reached, and +the <i>Juju</i> immediately seizes and carries her to a place of concealment. +Under pain of death her parents and friends are denied +the privilege of uttering a complaint, or even of lifting their +heads from the dust. Next day the unfortunate mother must +seem ignorant of her daughter’s doom, or profess herself proud +of the <i>Juju’s</i> choice. Two days pass without notice of the victim. +On the third, at the river side, the king meets his fanatical +subjects, clad in their choicest raiment, and wearing their sweetest +smiles. A hand of music salutes the sovereign, and suddenly +the poor victim, <i>no longer a virgin and perfectly denuded</i>, is +brought forward by a wizard, who is to act the part of executioner. +The living sacrifice moves slowly with measured steps, but +is no more to be recognized even by her nearest relatives, for +face, body, and limbs, are covered thickly with chalk. As soon +as she halts before the king, her hands and feet are bound to a +bench near the trunk of a tree. The executioner then takes his +stand, and with uplifted eyes and arms, seems to invoke a blessing +on the people, while with a single blow of his blade, her head +is rolled into the river. The bleeding trunk, laid carefully on a +mat, is placed beneath a large tree to remain till a spirit shall +bear it to the land of rest, and at night it is secretly removed by +the priesthood.</p> + +<p>It is gratifying to know that these <i>Jujus</i>, who in Africa assume +the prerogatives of divinity, are only the principals of a +religious fraternity who from time immemorial have constituted a +secret society in this part of Ethiopia, for the purpose of sustaining +their kings and ruling the people through their superstition. +By fear and fanaticism these brutal priests exact confessions +from ignorant negroes, which, in due time, are announced to the +public as divinations of the oracle. The members of the society +are the depositories of many secrets, tricks, and medical preparations, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> +by which they are enabled to paralyze the body as well as +affect the mind of their victim. The king and his chiefs are generally +supreme in this brotherhood of heathen superstition, and +the purity of the sacrificed virgin, in the ceremony just described +was unquestionably yielded to her brutal prince.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_11" id="Footnote_6_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_11"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> From the Portuguese <i>feitiço</i>—witchcraft.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLI.</h2> + + +<p>I have always regretted that I left Ayudah on my homeward +voyage without interpreters to aid in the necessary intercourse +with our slaves. There was no one on board who understood a +word of their dialect. Many complaints from the negroes that +would have been dismissed or satisfactorily adjusted, had we +comprehended their vivacious tongues and grievances, were passed +over in silence or hushed with the lash. Indeed, the whip +alone was the emblem of La Estrella’s discipline; and in the end +it taught me the saddest of lessons.</p> + +<p>From the beginning there was manifest discontent among the +slaves. I endeavored at first to please and accommodate them +by a gracious manner; but manner alone is not appreciated by +untamed Africans. A few days after our departure, a slave leaped +overboard in a fit of passion, and another choked himself during +the night. These two suicides, in twenty-four hours, caused +much uneasiness among the officers, and induced me to make +every preparation for a revolt.</p> + +<p>We had been at sea about three weeks without further disturbance, +and there was so much merriment among the gangs +that were allowed to come on deck, that my apprehensions of +danger began gradually to wear away. Suddenly, however, one +fair afternoon, a squall broke forth from an almost cloudless sky; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +and as the boatswain’s whistle piped all hands to take in sail, a +simultaneous rush was made by the confined slaves at all the +after-gratings, and amid the confusion of the rising gale, they +knocked down the guard and poured upon deck. The sentry +at the <i>fore-hatch</i> seized the cook’s axe, and sweeping it round +him like a scythe, kept at bay the band that sought to emerge +from below him. Meantime, the women in the cabin were not +idle. Seconding the males, they rose in a body, and the helmsman +was forced to stab several with his knife before he could +drive them below again.</p> + +<p>About forty stalwart devils, yelling and grinning with all the +savage ferocity of their wilderness, were now on deck, armed +with staves of broken water-casks, or billets of wood, found in +the hold. The suddenness of this outbreak did not appal me, +for, in the dangerous life of Africa, a trader must be always +admonished and never off his guard. The blow that prostrated +the first white man was the earliest symptom I detected of the +revolt; but, in an instant, I had the arm-chest open on the quarter-deck, +and the mate and steward beside me to protect it. +Matters, however, did not stand so well forward of the mainmast. +Four of the hands were disabled by clubs, while the rest +defended themselves and the wounded as well as they could with +handspikes, or whatever could suddenly be clutched. I had +always charged the cook, on such an emergency, to distribute +from his coppers a liberal supply of scalding water upon the +belligerents; and, at the first sign of revolt, he endeavored to +baptize the heathen with his steaming slush. But dinner had +been over for some time, so that the lukewarm liquid only irritated +the savages, one of whom laid the unfortunate “doctor” +bleeding in the scuppers.</p> + +<p>All this occurred in perhaps less time than I have taken to +tell it; yet, rapid as was the transaction, I saw that, between +the squall with its flying sails, and the revolt with its raving +blacks, we would soon be in a desperate plight, unless I gave the +order <i>to shoot</i>. Accordingly, I told my comrades <i>to aim low and +fire at once</i>.</p> + +<p>Our carabines had been purposely loaded with buck-shot, to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> +suit such an occasion, so that the first two discharges brought +several of the rebels to their knees. Still, the unharmed neither +fled or ceased brandishing their weapons. Two more discharges +drove them forward amongst the mass of my crew, who had +retreated towards the bowsprit; but, being reinforced by the +boatswain and carpenter, we took command of the hatches so +effectually, that a dozen additional discharges among the ebony +legs, drove the refractory to their quarters below.</p> + +<p>It was time; for sails, ropes, tacks, sheets, and blocks, were +flapping, dashing, and rolling about the masts and decks, threatening +us with imminent danger from the squall. In a short time, +every thing was made snug, the vessel put on our course, and attention +paid to the mutineers, who had begun to fight among +themselves in the hold!</p> + +<p>I perceived at once, by the infuriate sounds proceeding from +below, that it would not answer to venture in their midst by +descending through the hatches. Accordingly, we discharged +the women from their quarters under a guard on deck, and sent +several resolute and well-armed hands to remove a couple of +boards from the bulk-head, that separated the cabin from the +hold. When this was accomplished, a party entered, on hands +and knees, through the aperture, and began to press the mutineers +forward towards the bulk-head of the forecastle. Still, +the rebels were hot for fight to the last, and boldly defended +themselves with their staves against our weapons.</p> + +<p>By this time, our lamed cook had rekindled his fires, and the +water was once more boiling. The hatches were kept open but +guarded, and all who did not fight were suffered to come singly +on deck, where they were tied. As only about sixty remained +below engaged in conflict, or defying my party of sappers and +miners, I ordered a number of auger-holes to be bored in the +deck, as the scoundrels were forced forward near the forecastle, +when a few buckets of boiling water, rained on them through the +fresh apertures, brought the majority to submission. Still, however, +two of the most savage held out against water as well as +fire. I strove as long as possible to save their lives, but their +resistance was so prolonged and perilous, that we were obliged +to disarm them <i>for ever</i> by a couple of pistol shots.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> +So ended the sad revolt of “La Estrella,” in which two of +my men were seriously wounded, while twenty-eight balls and +buck-shot were extracted, with sailors’ skill, from the lower limbs +of the slaves. One woman and three men perished of blows +received in the conflict; but none were deliberately slain except +the two men, who resisted unto death.</p> + +<p>I could never account for this mutiny, especially as the blacks +from Ayudah and its neighborhood are distinguished for their +humble manners and docility. There can be no doubt that the +entire gang was not united or concerned in the original outbreak, +else we should have had harder work in subduing them, +amid the risk and turmoil of a West Indian squall.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLII.</h2> + + +<p>There was very little comfort on board La Estrella, after the +suppression of this revolt. We lived with a pent-up volcano +beneath us, and, day and night, we were ceaselessly vigilant. +Terror reigned supreme, and the lash was its sceptre.</p> + +<p>At last, we made land at Porto Rico, and were swiftly passing +its beautiful shores, when the inspector called my attention +to the appearance of one of our attendant slaves, whom we had +drilled as a sort of cabin-boy. He was a gentle, intelligent +child, and had won the hearts of all the officers.</p> + +<p>His pulse was high, quick and hard; his face and eyes red +and swollen; while, on his neck, I detected half a dozen rosy +pimples. He was sent immediately to the forecastle, free from +contact with any one else, and left there, cut off from the crew, +till I could guard against pestilence. It was small-pox!</p> + +<p>The boy passed a wretched night of fever and pain, developing +the malady with all its horrors. It is very likely that I +slept as badly as the sufferer, for my mind was busy with his +<i>doom</i>. Daylight found me on deck in consultation with our +veteran boatswain, whose experience in the trade authorized the +highest respect for his opinion. Hardened as he was, the old +man’s eyes filled, his lips trembled, and his voice was husky, as +he whispered the verdict in my ear. I guessed it before he said +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> +a word; yet I hoped he would have counselled against the dread +alternative. As we went aft to the quarter-deck, all eyes were +bent upon us, for every one conjectured the malady and feared +the result, yet none dared ask a question.</p> + +<p>I ordered a general inspection of the slaves, yet when a +<i>favorable</i> report was made, I did not rest content, and descended +to examine each one personally. It was true; the child was +<i>alone</i> infected!</p> + +<p>For half an hour, I trod the deck to and fro restlessly, and +caused the crew to subject themselves to inspection. But my +sailors were as healthy as the slaves. There was no symptom +that indicated approaching danger. I was disappointed again. +A single case—a single sign of peril in any quarter, would have +spared the poison!</p> + +<p>That evening, in the stillness of night, a trembling hand stole +forward to the afflicted boy with a potion that knows no waking. +In a few hours, all was over. Life and the pestilence were +crushed together; for a necessary murder had been committed, +and the poor victim was beneath the blue water!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>I am not superstitious, but a voyage attended with such +calamities could not end happily. Incessant gales and head +winds, unusual in this season and latitude, beset us so obstinately, +that it became doubtful whether our food and water +would last till we reached Matanzas. To add to our risks and +misfortunes, a British corvette espied our craft, and gave chase +off Cape Maize. All day long she dogged us slowly, but, at +night, I tacked off shore, with the expectation of eluding my +pursuer. Day-dawn, however, revealed her again on our track, +though this time we had unfortunately fallen to leeward. Accordingly, +I put La Estrella directly before the wind, and ran +till dark with a fresh breeze, when I again dodged the cruiser, +and made for the Cuban coast. But the Briton seemed to scent +my track, for sunrise revealed him once more in chase.</p> + +<p>The wind lulled that night to a light breeze, yet the red +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +clouds and haze in the east betokened a gale from that quarter +before meridian. A longer pursuit must have given considerable +advantage to the enemy, so that my best reliance, I calculated, +was in making the small harbor near St. Jago, now about twenty +miles distant, where I had already landed two cargoes. The +corvette was then full ten miles astern.</p> + +<p>My resolution to save the cargo and lose the vessel was +promptly made;—orders were issued to strike from the slaves +the irons they had constantly worn since the mutiny; the boats +were made ready; and every man prepared his bag for a rapid +launch.</p> + +<p>On dashed the cruiser, foaming at the bows, under the impetus +of the rising gale, which struck him some time before it +reached us. We were not more than seven miles apart when the +first increased pressure on our sails was felt, and every thing +was set and braced to give it the earliest welcome. Then came +the tug and race for the beach, three miles ahead. But, under +such circumstances, it was hardly to be expected that St. George +could carry the day. Still, every nerve was strained to effect +the purpose. Regardless of the gale, reef after reef was let out +while force pumps moistened his sails; yet nothing was gained. +Three miles against seven were too much odds;—and, with a +slight move of the helm, and “letting all fly,” as we neared the +line of surf, to break her headway, La Estrella was fairly and +safely <i>beached</i>.</p> + +<p>The sudden shock snapped her mainmast like a pipe-stem, +but, as no one was injured, in a twinkling the boats were overboard, +crammed with women and children, while a stage was +rigged from the bows to the strand, so that the males, the crew +and the luggage were soon in charge of my old <i>haciendado</i>.</p> + +<p>Prompt as we were, we were not sufficiently so for the cruiser. +Half our cargo was ashore when she backed her topsails off the +mouth of the little bay, lowered her boats, filled them with +boarders, and steered towards our craft. The delay of half a +mile’s row gave us time to cling still longer to the wreck, so +that, when the boats and corvette began to fire, we wished them +joy of their bargain over the remnant of our least valuable +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> +negroes. The rescued blacks are now, in all likelihood, citizens of +Jamaica; but, under the influence of the gale, La Estrella made +a very picturesque bonfire, as we saw it that night from the +<i>azotéa</i> of our landlord’s domicile.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLIII.</h2> + + +<p>Disastrous as was this enterprise, both on the sea and in the +counting-house, a couple of months found me on board a splendid +clipper,—born of the famous waters of the Chesapeake,—delighting +in the name of “<span class="smcap">Aguila de Oro</span>,” or “Golden Eagle,” and spinning +out of the Cape de Verds on a race with a famous West Indian +privateer.</p> + +<p>The “Montesquieu” was the pride of Jamaica for pluck and +sailing, when folks of her character were not so unpopular as of +late among the British Islands; and many a banter passed between +her commander and myself, while I was unsuccessfully +waiting till the governor resolved his conscientious difficulties +about the <i>exchange of flags</i>. At last I offered a bet of five hundred +dollars against an equal sum; and next day a bag with the +tempting thousand was tied to the end of my mainboom, with an +invitation for the boaster to “follow and take.” It was understood +that, once clear of the harbor, the “Aguila” should have +five minutes’ start of the Montesquieu, after which we were to +crowd sail and begin the race.</p> + +<p>The contest was quickly noised throughout the port, and the +captains smacked their lips over the <i>déjeuner</i> promised by the +boaster out of the five hundred dollars won from the “Yankee +nutshell.” Accordingly, when all was ready and the breeze +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +favored, the eastern cliffs of the Isle were crowded with spectators +to witness the regatta.</p> + +<p>As we were first at sea and clear of the harbor, we delayed +for our antagonist; and without claiming the conceded start of +five minutes, did not shoot ahead till our rival was within musket +shot. But <i>then</i> the tug began with a will; and as the Aguila +led, I selected her most favorable trim and kept her two points +free. The Montesquieu did the same, but confident of her speed, +did not spread all her canvas that would draw. The error, however, +was soon seen. Our Chesapeake clipper crawled off as if +her opponent was at anchor; and in a jiffy every thing that could +be carried was sheeted home and braced to a hair. The breeze +was steady and strong. Soon the island was cleared entirely; +and by keeping away another point, I got out of the Aguila her +utmost capacity as a racer. As she led off, the Montesquieu followed,—but +glass by glass, and hour by hour, the distance between +us increased, till at sunset the boaster’s hull was below the +horizon, and my bag taken in as a lawful prize.</p> + +<p>I did not return to Praya after this adventure, but keeping +on towards the coast, in four days entered the Rio Salum, an independent +river between the French island of Goree and the +British possessions on the Gambia. No slaver had haunted this +stream for many a year, so that I was obliged to steer my mosquito +pilot-boat full forty miles in the interior, through mangroves +and forests, till I struck the trading ground of “the +king.”</p> + +<p>After three days’ parley I had just concluded my bargain with +his breechless majesty, when a “barker” greeted me with the +cheerless message that the “Aguila” was surrounded by man-of-war +boats! It was true; but the mate refused an inspection of +his craft <i>on neutral ground</i>, and the naval folks departed. Nevertheless, +a week after, when I had just completed my traffic, I was +seized by a gang of the treacherous king’s own people; delivered +to the second lieutenant of a French corvette—“La Bayonnaise;”—and +my lovely little Eagle caged as her lawful prey!</p> + +<p>I confess I have never been able to understand the legal merits +of this seizure, so far as the act of the French officers was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +concerned, as no treaty existed between France and Spain for +the suppression of slavery. The reader will not be surprised to +learn, therefore, that there was a very loud explosion of wrath +among my men when they found themselves prisoners; nor was +their fury diminished when our whole band was forced into a +dungeon at Goree, which, for size, gloom, and closeness, vied with +the celebrated black hole of Calcutta.</p> + +<p>For three days were we kept in this filthy receptacle, in a +burning climate, without communication with friends or inhabitants, +and on scanty fare, till it suited the local authorities to +transfer us to San Luis, on the Senegal, in charge of a file of +marines, <i>on board our own vessel</i>!</p> + +<p>San Luis is the residence of the governor and the seat of +the colonial tribunal, and here again we were incarcerated in a +military <i>cachôt</i>, till several merchants who knew me on the Rio +Pongo, interfered, and had us removed to better quarters in the +military hospital. I soon learned that there was trouble among +the natives. A war had broken out among some of the Moorish +tribes, some two hundred miles up the Senegal, and my Aguila +was a godsend to the Frenchmen, who needed just such a light +craft to guard their returning flotilla with merchandise from Gatam. +Accordingly, the craft was armed, manned, and despatched +on this expedition <i>without waiting the decree of a court as to +the lawfulness of her seizure</i>!</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the sisters of charity—those angels of devoted +mercy, who do not shun even the heats and pestilence of Africa,—made +our prison life as comfortable as possible; and had we +not seen gratings at the windows, or met a sentinel when we attempted +to go out, we might have considered ourselves valetudinarians +instead of convicts.</p> + +<p>A month oozed slowly away in these headquarters of suffering, +before a military sergeant apprised us that he had been elevated +to the dignity of the long-robe, and appointed our counsel in the +approaching trial. No other lawyer was to be had in the colony +for love or money, and, perhaps, our military man might have +acquitted himself as well as the best, had not his superiors often +imposed silence on him during the argument.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> +By this time the nimble Aguila had made two most serviceable +trips under the French officers, and proved so valuable to the +Gallic government that no one dreamed of recovering her. The +colonial authorities had two alternatives under the circumstances,—either +to pay for or condemn her,—and as they knew I would +not be willing to take the craft again after the destruction of my +voyage, the formality of a trial was determined to legalize the +condemnation. It was necessary, however, even in Africa, to +show that I had violated the territory of the French colony by +trading in slaves, and that the Aguila had been caught in +the act.</p> + +<p>I will not attempt a description of the court scene, in which +my military friend was browbeaten by the prosecutor, the prosecutor +by the judge, and the judge by myself. After various outrages +and absurdities, a Mahometan <i>slave</i> was allowed to be +sworn as a witness against me; whereupon I burst forth with a +torrent of argument, defence, abuse, and scorn, till a couple of +soldiers were called to keep my limbs and tongue in forensic +order.</p> + +<p>But the deed was done. The foregone conclusion was formally +announced. The Aguila de Oro became King Louis Philippe’s +property, while my men were condemned to two, my +officers to five, and Don Téodor himself, to ten years’ confinement +in the central prisons of <i>la belle France</i>!</p> + +<p>Such was the style of colonial justice in the reign of <i>le roi +bourgeois</i>!</p> + +<p>My sentence aroused the indignation of many respectable merchants +at San Luis; and, of course, I did not lack kindly visits +in the stronghold to which I was reconducted. It was found to +be entirely useless to attack the sympathy of the tribunal, either +to procure a rehearing of the cause or mitigation of the judgment. +Presently, a generous friend introduced <i>a saw</i> suitable to +discuss the toughness of iron bars, and hinted that on the night +when my window gratings were severed, a boat might be found +waiting to transport me to the opposite shore of the river, whence +an independent chief would convey me on camels to Gambia.</p> + +<p>I know not how it was that the government got wind of my +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +projected flight, but it certainly did, and we were sent on board +a station ship lying in the stream. Still my friends did not +abandon me. I was apprised that a party,—bound on a shooting +frolic down the river on the first <i>foggy</i> morning,—would visit +the commander of the hulk,—a noted <i>bon vivant</i>,—and while the +vessel was surrounded by a crowd of boats, I might slip overboard +amid the confusion. Under cover of the dense mist that +shrouds the surface of an African river at dawn, I could easily +elude even a ball if sent after me, and when I reached the shore, +a canoe would be ready to convey me to a friendly ship.</p> + +<p>The scheme was peculiarly feasible, as the captain happened +to be a good fellow, and allowed me unlimited liberty about his +vessel. Accordingly, when the note had been duly digested, I +called my officers apart, and proposed their participation in my +escape. The project was fully discussed by the fellows; but the +risk of swimming, even in a fog, under the muzzles of muskets, +was a danger they feared encountering. I perceived at once that +it would be best to free myself entirely from the encumbrance of +such chicken-hearted lubbers, so I bade them take their own +course, but divided three thousand francs in government bills +among the gang, and presented my gold pocket chronometer to +the mate.</p> + +<p>Next morning an impervious fog laid low on the bosom of the +Senegal, but through its heavy folds I detected the measured +beat of approaching oars, till five boats, with a sudden rush, +dashed alongside us with their noisy and clamorous crews.</p> + +<p>Just at this very moment a friendly hand passed through +my arm, and a gentle tone invited me to a quarter-deck promenade. +It was our captain!</p> + +<p>There was, of course, no possibility of declining the proffered +civility, for during the whole of my detention on board, the commander +had treated me with the most assiduous politeness.</p> + +<p>“<i>Mon cher Canot</i>,” said he, as soon as we got aft,—“you +seem to take considerable interest in these visitors of ours, and I +wish from the bottom of my heart that you could join the sport; +<i>but, unfortunately for you, these gentlemen will not effect their +purpose</i>!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> +As I did not entirely comprehend,—though I rather guessed,—his +precise meaning, I made an evasive answer; and, arm in +arm I was led from the deck to the cabin. When we were perfectly +alone, he pointed to a seat, and frankly declared that I +had been betrayed by a Judas to his sergeant of marines! I was +taken perfectly aback, as I imagined myself almost free, yet the +loss of liberty did not paralyze me as much as the perfidy of my +men. Like a stupid booby, I stood gazing with a fixed stare at +the captain, when the cabin door burst open, and with a shout +of joyous merriment the hunters rushed in to greet their +comrade.</p> + +<p>My dress that morning was a very elaborate <i>negligé</i>. I had +purposely omitted coat, braces, stockings and shoes, so that my +privateer costume of trowsers and shirt was not calculated for +the reception of strangers. It was natural, therefore, that the +first sally of my friendly liberators should be directed against my +toilette; I parried it, however, as adroitly as my temper would +allow, by reproaching them with their “unseasonable visit, +before I could complete the <i>bath</i> which they saw I was prepared +for!”</p> + +<p>The hint was understood; but the captain thought proper to +tell the entire tale. No man, he said, would have been happier +than he, had I escaped before the treachery. My friends were +entreated not to risk further attempts, which might subject me +to severe restraints; and my base comrades were forthwith summoned +to the cabin, where, in presence of the merchants, they +were forced to disgorge the three thousand francs and the chronometer.</p> + +<p>“But this,” said Captain Z——, “is not to be the end of +the comedy,—<i>en avant, messieurs</i>!” as he led the way to the +mess-room, where a sumptuous <i>déjeuner</i> was spread for officers +and huntsmen, and over its fragrant fumes my disappointment +was, for a while, forgotten.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLIV.</h2> + + +<p>For fifteen days more the angry captive bit his thumbs on +the taffrail of the guard-ship, and gazed either at vacancy or +the waters of the Senegal. At the end of that period, a +gunboat transferred our convict party to the frigate Flora, +whose first lieutenant, to whom I had been privately recommended, +separated me immediately from my men. The scoundrels +were kept close prisoners during the whole voyage to +France, while my lot was made as light as possible, under the +severe sentence awarded at San Luis.</p> + +<p>The passage was short. At Brest, they landed me privately, +while my men and officers were paraded through the streets at +mid-day, under a file of <i>gens d’armes</i>. I am especially grateful +to the commander of this frigate, who alleviated my sufferings +by his generous demeanor in every respect, and whose representations +to the government of France caused my sentence to +be subsequently modified to simple imprisonment.</p> + +<p>I have so many pleasant recollections of this voyage as a +convict in the Flora, that I am loth to recount the following +anecdote; yet I hardly think it ought to be omitted, for it is +characteristic in a double aspect. It exhibits at once the chivalric +courtesy and the coarse boorishness of some classes in the +naval service of France, at the period I am describing.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> +On board our frigate there were two Sisters of Charity, who +were returning to their parent convent in France, after five years +of colonial self-sacrifice in the pestilential marshes of Africa. +These noble women lodged in a large state-room, built expressly +for their use and comfort on the lower battery-deck, and, according +to the ship’s rule, were entitled to mess with the lieutenants +in their wardroom. It so happened, that among the officers, there +was one of those vulgar dolts, whose happiness consists in making +others as uncomfortable as possible, both by bullying manners +and lewd conversation. He seemed to delight in losing no opportunity +to offend the ladies while at table, by ridiculing their +calling and piety; yet, not content with these insults, which the +nuns received with silent contempt, he grew so bold on one occasion, +in the midst of dinner, as to burst forth with a song so +gross, that it would have disgraced the orgies of a <i>cabaret</i>. The +Sisters instantly arose, and, next morning, refused their meals +in the wardroom, soliciting the steward to supply them a sailor’s +ration in their cabin, where they might be free from dishonor.</p> + +<p>But the charitable women were soon missed from mess, and +when the steward’s report brought the dangerous idea of a court-martial +before the terrified imagination of the vulgarians, a +prompt resolve was made to implore pardon for the indecent officer, +before the frigate’s captain could learn the outrage. It is +needless to add that the surgeon—who was appointed ambassador—easily +obtained the mercy of these charitable women, and +that, henceforth, our lieutenants’ wardroom was a model of social +propriety.</p> + + +<h3>THE PRISON OF BREST.</h3> + +<p>I was not very curious in studying the architecture of the +strong stone lock-up, to which they conducted me in the stern +and ugly old rendezvous of Brest. I was sick as soon as I +beheld it from our deck. The entrance to the harbor, through +the long, narrow, rocky strait, defended towards the sea by a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> +frowning castle, and strongly fortified towards the land, looked +to me like passing through the throat of a monster, who was to +swallow me for ever. But I had little time for observation or +reflection on external objects,—my business was with <i>interiors</i>: +and when the polite midshipman with whom I landed bade farewell, +it was only to transfer me to the <i>concièrge</i> of a prison +within the royal arsenal. Here I was soon joined by the crew +and officers. For a while, I rejected their penitence; but a man +who is suddenly swept from the wild liberty of Africa, and +doomed for ten years to penitential seclusion, becomes wonderfully +forgiving when loneliness eats into his heart, and eternal +silence makes the sound of his own voice almost insupportable. +One by one, therefore, was restored at least to sociability; so +that, when I embraced the permission of our keeper to quit my +cell, and move about the prison bounds, I found myself surrounded +by seventy or eighty marines and seamen, who were +undergoing the penalties of various crimes. The whole establishment +was under the <i>surveillance</i> of a naval commissary, subject +to strict regulations. In due time, two spacious rooms were +assigned for my gang, while the jailer, who turned out to be an +amphibious scamp,—half sailor, half soldier,—assured us, “on +the honor of a <i>vieux militaire</i>,” that his entire jurisdiction should +be our limits so long as we behaved with propriety.</p> + +<p>Next day I descended to take exercise in a broad court-yard, +over whose lofty walls the fresh blue sky looked temptingly; and +was diligently chewing the cud of bitter fancies, when a stout +elderly man, in shabby uniform, came to a military halt before +me, and, abruptly saluting in regulation style, desired the favor +of a word.</p> + +<p>“<i>Pardon, mon brâve!</i>” said the intruder, “but I should be +charmed if <i>Monsieur le capitaine</i> will honor me by the information +whether it has been his lot to enjoy the accommodations of +a French prison, prior to the unlucky mischance which gives us +the delight of his society!”</p> + +<p>“No,” said I, sulkily.</p> + +<p>“<i>Encore</i>,” continued the questioner, “will it be disagreeable, +if I improve this opportunity, by apprising Monsieur +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> +<i>le capitaine</i>, on the part of our companions and comrades, of the +regulations of this royal institution?”</p> + +<p>“By no means,” returned I, somewhat softer.</p> + +<p>“Then, <i>mon cher</i>, the sooner you are initiated into the mysteries +of the craft the better, and no one will go through the +ceremony more explicitly, briefly and satisfactorily, than myself—<i>le +Caporal Blon</i>. First of all, <i>mon brâve</i>, and most indispensable, +as your good sense will teach you, it is necessary that +every new comer is bound to pay his footing among the ‘<i>government +boarders</i>;’ and as you, Monsieur le capitaine, seem to be +the honored <i>chef</i> of this charming little squadron, I will make +bold to thank you for a <i>Louis d’or</i>, or a <i>Napoleon</i>, to insure +your welcome.”</p> + +<p>The request was no sooner out than complied with.</p> + +<p>“<i>Bien!</i>” continued the corporal, “<i>c’est un bon enfant, +parbleu!</i> Now, I have but one more <i>mystère</i> to impart, and +that is a regulation which no clever chap disregards. We are +companions in misery; we sleep beneath one roof; we eat out of +one kettle;—in fact, <i>nous sommes frères</i>, and the <i>secrets of +brothers are sacred, within these walls, from jailers and turnkeys</i>!”</p> + +<p>As he said these words, he pursed up his mouth, bent his +eyes scrutinizingly into mine, and laying his finger on his lip, +brought his right hand once more, with a salute, to the oily remnant +of a military cap.</p> + +<p>I was initiated. I gave the required pledge for my party, +and, in return, was assured that, in any enterprise undertaken +for our escape,—which seemed to be the great object and concern +of every body’s prison-life,—we should be assisted and protected +by our fellow-sufferers.</p> + +<p>Most of this day was passed in our rooms, and, at dark, after +being mustered and counted, we were locked up for the night. +For some time we moped and sulked, according to the fashion of +all <i>new</i> convicts, but, at length, we sallied forth in a body to the +court-yard, determined to take the world as it went, and make +the best of a bad bargain.</p> + +<p>I soon fell into a pleasant habit of chatting familiarly with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> +old Corporal Blon, who was grand chamberlain, or master of ceremonies, +to our penal household, and turned out to be a good +fellow, though a frequent offender against “<i>le coq de France</i>.” +Blon drew me to a seat in the sunshine, which I enjoyed, after +shivering in the cold apartments of the prison; and, stepping off +among the prisoners, began to bring them up for introduction to +Don Téodor, separately. First of all, I had the honor of receiving +Monsieur Laramie, a stout, stanch, well-built marine, +who professed to be <i>maître d’armes</i> of our “royal boarding-house,” +and tendered his services in teaching me the use of +rapier and broadsword, at the rate of a <i>franc</i> per week. Next +came a burly, beef-eating bully, half sailor, half lubber, who approached +with a swinging gait, and was presented as <i>frère</i> Zouche, +teacher of single stick, who was also willing to make me skilful +in my encounters with footpads for a reasonable salary. Then +followed a dancing-master, a tailor, a violin-teacher, a shoemaker, +a letter-writer, a barber, a clothes-washer, and various +other useful and reputable tradespeople or professors, all of +whom expressed anxiety to inform my mind, cultivate my taste, +expedite nay correspondence, delight my ear, and improve my +appearance, for weekly stipends.</p> + +<p>I did not, at first, understand precisely the object of all their +ceremonious appeals to my purse, but I soon discovered from +Corporal Blon,—<i>who desired an early discount of his note</i>,—that +I was looked on as a sort of Don Magnifico from Africa, +who had saved an immense quantity of gold from ancient traffic, +all of which I could command, in spite of imprisonment.</p> + +<p>So I thought it best not to undeceive the industrious wretches, +and, accordingly, dismissed each of them with a few kind words, +and promised to accept their offers when I became a little more +familiar with my quarters.</p> + +<p>After breakfast, I made a tour of the corridors, to see +whether the representations of my morning courtiers were true; +and found the shoemakers and tailors busy over toeless boots +and patchwork garments. One alcove contained the violinist +and dancing-master, giving lessons to several scapegraces in the +<i>terpsichorean</i> art; in another was the letter-writer, laboriously +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> +adorning a sheet with cupids, hearts, flames, and arrows, while +a love-lorn booby knelt beside him, dictating a message to his +mistress; in a hall I found two pupils of Monsieur Laramie at +<i>quart</i> and <i>tièrce</i>; in the corridors I came upon a string of tables, +filled with cigars, snuff, writing-paper, ink, pens, wax, wafers, needles +and thread; while, in the remotest cell, I discovered a pawnbroker +and gambling-table. Who can doubt that a real Gaul +knows how to kill time, when he is unwillingly converted into a +“government boarder,” and transfers the occupations, amusements, +and vices of life, to the recesses of a prison!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>Very soon after my incarceration at Brest, I addressed a +memorial to the Spanish consul, setting forth the afflictions of +twenty-two of his master’s subjects, and soliciting the interference +of our ambassador at Paris. We were promptly visited by +the consul and an eminent lawyer, who asserted his ability to +stay proceedings against the ratification of our sentence; but, as +the Spanish minister never thought fit to notice our misfortunes, +the efforts of the lawyer and the good will of our consul were +ineffectual. Three months glided by, while I lingered at Brest; +yet my heart did not sink with hope delayed, for the natural +buoyancy of my spirit sustained me, and I entered with avidity +upon all the schemes and diversions of our stronghold.</p> + +<p>Blon kept me busy discounting his twenty <i>sous</i> notes, which +I afterwards always took care to lose to him at cards. Then I +patronized the dancing-master; took two months’ lessons with +Laramie and Zouche; caused my shoes to be thoroughly mended; +had my clothes repaired and scoured; and, finally, patronized all +the various industries of my comrades, to the extent of two hundred +francs.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, in the midst of these diversions, an order came +for our immediate transfer to the <i>civil prison</i> of Brest, a gloomy +tower in the walled <i>chateau</i> of that detestable town.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLV.</h2> + + +<p>I was taken from one prison to the other in a boat, and once +more spared the mortification of a parade through the streets, +under a guard of soldiers.</p> + +<p>A receipt was given for the whole squad to the <i>brigadier</i> who +chaperoned us. My men were summarily distributed by the +jailer among the cells already filled with common malefactors; +but, as the appearance of the <i>officers</i> indicated the possession of +cash, the turnkey offered “<i>la salle de distinction</i>” for our use, +provided we were satisfied with a monthly rent of ten <i>francs</i>. +I thought the French government was bound to find suitable +accommodations for an involuntary guest, and that it was rather +hard to imprison me first, and make me pay board afterwards; +but, on reflection, I concluded to accept the offer, hard as it was, +and, accordingly, we took possession of a large apartment, with +two grated windows looking upon a narrow and sombre court-yard.</p> + +<p>We had hardly entered the room, when a buxom woman followed +with the deepest curtseys, and declared herself “most +happy to have it in her power to supply us with beds and bedding, +at ten sous per day.” She apprised us, moreover, that the +daily prison fare consisted of two pounds and a half of black +bread, with water <i>à discretion</i>, but if we wished, she might introduce +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> +the <i>vivandière</i> of the regiment, stationed in the chateau, +who would supply our meals twice a day from the mess of the +petty officers.</p> + +<p>My money had not been seriously moth-eaten during our previous +confinement, so that I did not hesitate to strike a bargain +with Madame Sorret, and to request that <i>la vivandière</i> might +make her appearance on the theatre of action as soon as possible. +Presently, the door opened again, and the dame reappeared accompanied +by two Spanish women, wives of musicians in the +corps, who had heard that several of their countrymen had that +morning been incarcerated, and availed themselves of the earliest +chance to visit and succor them.</p> + +<p>For the thousandth time I blessed the noble heart that ever +beats in the breast of a Spanish woman when distress or calamity +appeals, and at once proceeded to arrange the diet of our future +prison life. We were to have two meals a day of three dishes, +for each of which we were to pay fifteen <i>sous in advance</i>. The +bargain made, we sat down on the floor for a chat.</p> + +<p>My brace of Catalan visitors had married in this regiment +when the Duke d’Angoulême marched his troops into Spain; and +like faithful girls, followed their husbands in all their meanderings +about France since the regiment’s return. As two of my officers +were Catalonians by birth, a friendship sprang up like wildfire +between us, and from that hour, these excellent women not only +visited us daily, but ran our errands, attended to our health, +watched us like sisters, and procured all those little comforts +which the tender soul of the sex can alone devise.</p> + +<p>I hope that few of my readers have personal knowledge of +the treatment or fare of civil prisons in the provinces of France +during the republican era of which I am writing. I think it well +to set down a record of its barbarity.</p> + +<p>As I before said, the <i>regular ration</i> consisted exclusively of +black bread and water. Nine pounds of straw were allowed +weekly to each prisoner for his <i>lair</i>. Neither blankets nor covering +were furnished, even in the winter, and as the cells are +built without stoves or chimneys, the wretched convicts were +compelled to huddle together in heaps to keep from perishing. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> +Besides this, the government denied all supplies of fresh raiment, +so that the wretches who were destitute of friends or +means, were alive and hideous with vermin in a few days after +incarceration. No amusement was allowed in the fresh air save +twice a week, when the prisoners were turned out on the flat roof +of the tower, where they might sun themselves for an hour or two +under the muzzle of a guard.</p> + +<p>Such was the treatment endured by twelve of my men during +the year they continued in France. There are some folks who +may be charitable enough to remark—<i>that slavers deserved no +better!</i></p> + +<p>I believe that convicts in the central prisons of France, where +they were either made or allowed to work, fared better in every +respect than in the provincial lock-ups on the coast. There is no +doubt, however, that the above description at the epoch of my incarceration, +was entirely true of all the smaller jurisdictions, +whose culprits were simply doomed to confinement without labor.</p> + +<p>Often did my heart bleed for the poor sailors, whom I aided +to the extent of prudence from my slender means, when I knew +not how long it might be my fate to remain an inmate of the +chateau. After these unfortunate men had disposed of all their +spare garments to obtain now and then a meagre soup to moisten +their stony loaves, they were nearly a year without tasting +either meat or broth! Once only,—on the anniversary of +<span class="smcap">St. Philippe</span>,—the Sisters of Charity gave them a pair of bullock’s +heads to make a<i>festival</i> in honor of the Good King of the +French!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLVI.</h2> + + +<p>As the apartment rented by us from the jailer was the only one +in the prison he had a right to dispose of for his own benefit, several +other culprits, able to pay for comfortable lodgings, were +from time to time locked up in it. These occasional visitors afforded +considerable entertainment for our seclusion, as they were +often persons of quality arrested for petty misdemeanors or political +opinions, and sometimes <i>chevaliers d’industrie</i>, whose professional +careers were rich with anecdote and adventure.</p> + +<p>It was probably a month after we began our intimacy with +this “government boarding-house” that our number was increased +by a gentleman of cultivated manners and foppish costume. +He was, perhaps, a little too much over-dressed with chains, +trinkets, and perfumed locks, to be perfectly <i>comme il faut</i>, yet +there was an intellectual power about his forehead and eyes, and +a bewitching smile on his lips, that insinuated themselves into +my heart the moment I beheld him. He was precisely the sort +of man who is considered by nine tenths of the world as a very +“fascinating individual.”</p> + +<p>Accordingly, I welcomed the stranger most cordially in +French, and was still more bewitched by the retiring shyness of +his modest demeanor. As the jailer retired, a wink signified +his desire to commune with me apart in his office, where I learned +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> +that the new comer had been arrested under a charge of <i>counterfeiting</i>, +but on account of his genteel appearance and blood, was +placed in our apartment. I had no doubt that neither appearance +nor blood had been the springs of sympathy in the jailer’s heart, +but that the artificial money-maker had judiciously used certain +lawful coins to insure better quarters. Nevertheless, I did not +hesitate to approve the turnkey’s disposal of the suspected felon, +and begged him to make no apologies or give himself concern as +to the quality of the article that could afford us a moment’s +amusement in our dreary den.</p> + +<p>I next proceeded to initiate my gentleman into the mysteries +of the <i>chateau</i>; and as dinner was about serving, I suggested that +the most important of our domestic rites on such occasions, imperatively +required three or four bottles of first-rate claret.</p> + +<p>By this time we had acquired a tolerable knack of “slaughtering +the evening.” Our Spanish girls supplied us with guitars +and violins, which my comrades touched with some skill. We +were thus enabled to give an occasional <i>soirée dansante</i>, assisted +by la Vivandière, her companions Dolorescita, Concha, Madame +Sorret, and an old maid who passed for her sister. The arrival +of the counterfeiter enabled us to make up a full cotillon without +the musicians. Our <i>soirées</i>, enlivened by private contributions +and a bottle or two of wine, took place on Thursdays and Sundays, +while the rest of the week was passed in playing cards, +reading romances, writing petitions, flirting with the girls, and +cursing our fate and the French government. Fits of wrath +against the majesty of Gaul were more frequent in the early +morning, when the pleasant sleeper would be suddenly roused +from happy dreams by the tramp of soldiers and grating bolts, +which announced the unceremonious entrance of our inspector to +count his cattle and sound our window gratings.</p> + +<p>But time wastes one’s cash as well as one’s patience in prison. +The more we grumbled, danced, drank, and eat, the more we spent +or lavished, so that my funds looked very like a thin sediment +at the bottom of the purse, when I began to reflect upon means of +replenishing. I could not beg; I was master of no handicraft; +nor was I willing to descend among the vermin of the common +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> +chain-gang. Shame prevented an application to my relatives in +France or Italy; and when I addressed my old partner or former +friends in Cuba, I was not even favored with a reply. At last, +my little trinkets and gold chronometer were sacrificed to pay +the lawyer for a <i>final memorial</i> and to liquidate a week’s +lodging in advance.</p> + +<p>“Now, <i>mon enfant</i>,” said Madame Sorret, as she took my +money,—trimming her cap, and looking at me with that thrifty +interest that a Frenchwoman always knows how to turn to the +best account;—“now, mon enfant,—this is your last <i>franc</i> and +your last week in my apartment, you say;—your last week in +a room where you and I, and Babette, Dolorescita, and Concha, +and <i>Monsieur</i>, have had such good times! <i>Mais pourquoi, mon +cher?</i> why shall it be your last week? Come let us think a bit. +Won’t it be a thousand times better; won’t it do you a vast +deal more good,—if instead of <i>sacré-ing le bon Louis Philippe</i>,—paying +lawyers for memorials that are never read,—hoping for +letters from the Spanish envoy which never come, and eating +your heart up in spite and bitterness—you look the matter plump +in the face like a man, and not like a <i>polisson</i>, and turn to account +those talents which it has pleased <i>le bon Dieu</i> to give +you? Voyez vous, <i>Capitaine Téodore</i>,—you speak foreign languages +like a native; and it was no longer than yesterday that +Monsieur Randanne, your advocate, as he came down from the +last interview with you, stopped at my bureau, and—‘Ah! Madame +Sorret,’ said he, ‘what a linguist poor Canot is,—how delightfully +he speaks English, and how glad I should be if he had +any place in which he could teach my sons the noble tongue of +the great <span class="smcap">Skatspeer</span>!’</p> + +<p>“Now, <i>mon capitaine</i>,” continued she, “what the good Randanne +said, has been growing in my mind ever since, like the +salad seed in the box that is sunned in our prison yard. In +fact, I have fixed the matter perfectly. You shall have my bed-room +for a schoolhouse; and, if you will, you may begin to-morrow +with my two sons for pupils, at fifteen <i>francs</i> a month!”</p> + +<p>Did I not bless the wit and heart of woman again and again +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> +in my joy of industrial deliverance! The heart of woman—that +noble heart! burn it in the fire of Africa; steep it in the snow of +Sweden; lap it in the listless elysium of Indian tropics; cage it +in the centre of dungeons, as the palpitating core of that stony +rind,—yet every where and always, throughout my wild career, +has it been the last sought—but surest, sweetest, and truest of +devoted friends!</p> + +<p><i>Aide toi, et Dieu t’aidera!</i>—was my motto from that moment. +For years it was the first lesson of intellectual power and +self-reliance that had checkered a life of outlawry, in which adventurous +impatience preferred the gambling risks of fortune to +the slow accretions of regular toil. I was a schoolmaster!</p> + +<p>Madame Sorret’s plan was perfectly successful. In less than +a week I was installed in her chamber, with a class formed of my +lady’s lads, a son and friend of my lawyer, and a couple of sons +of officers in the chateau; the whole producing a monthly income +of fifty francs. As I assumed my vocation with the spirit of a +needy professor, I gained the good will of all the parents by +assiduous instruction of their children. Gradually I extended +the sphere of my usefulness, by adding penmanship to my other +branches of tuition; and so well did I please the parents, that +they volunteered a stipend of eighteen <i>francs</i> more.</p> + +<p>I would not dare affirm, that my pupils made extraordinary +progress; yet I am sure the children not only acquired cleverly, +but loved me as a companion. My scheme of instruction was +not modelled upon that of other pedagogues; for I simply contented +myself, in the small class, with reasoning out each lesson +thoroughly, and never allowing the boys to depart till they comprehended +every part of their task. After this, it was my habit to +engage their interest <i>in language</i>, by familiar dialogues, which +taught them the names of furniture, apparel, instruments, implements, +animals, occupations, trades; and thus I led them insensibly +from the most simple nomenclature to the most abstract. +I deprived the interview, as much as I could, of task-like formality; +and invariably closed the school with a story from my +travels or adventures. I may not have ripened my scholars into +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +classical Anglo-Saxons, but I have the happiness to know that I +earned an honest living, supported my companions, and obtained +the regard of my pupils to such a degree, that the little band +accompanied me with tears to the ship, when, long afterwards, I +was sent a happy exile from France.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLVII.</h2> + + +<p>I have said that our genteel felon was not only refined in manners +but shy towards his new companions; nor, for several weeks, +could all our efforts rub off his reserve. I was not surprised that +he kept aloof from the coarser inmates, but I was not prepared +to find that all my own advances to confidence and companionship, +were repulsed with even more decision than those of my officers. +At last, some passing event disclosed my <i>true</i> character to him, +when I learned for the first time that he had mistaken me for <i>a +government spy</i>; inasmuch as he could not otherwise account for +my intimacy with Madame Sorret and her spouse.</p> + +<p>Our first move towards confidence was owing to the following +circumstance. I had been engaged one forenoon in writing +a letter to my mother, when Madame Sorret sent for me to see the +Sisters of Charity, who were making their rounds with a few +comforts for the convicts. I made my toilette and repaired to +the parlor, where the charitable women, who heard many kind +things of me from the landlady, bestowed a liberal donation of +books. Returning quickly to my letter, which I had left open +on the table, confident that no one in the room read Italian, I +again took up my pen to finish a paragraph. But, as I observed +the page, it seemed that I had not written so much, yet the sheet +was nearly full of words, and all in my handwriting. I reperused +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> +the document and found several lines, which, though in perfect +keeping with the sense and context of the composition, were certainly +not in my natural style. I was sure I had not used the +complimentary language, to which I am always so averse. Still +I read the page again—again—and again! I got up; walked +about the room; took the paper to the window; put it down; +walked about again, and then reperused the letter. For my life, +I could not detect the precise difficulty that puzzled me. The +paper was, perhaps, bewitched! It was mine, and yet it was not! +In my dilemma, I rolled out a round Spanish <i>carramba</i> or two; +and, with an <i>Ave Maria</i> of utter bewilderment, begun to put up +my writing materials.</p> + +<p>My companions, who had been huddled in a corner, watching +my actions, could stand it no longer, but bursting into peals of +hearty laughter, announced that Monsieur Germaine had taken +the liberty to add a postscript, while I was deep in literature +with the Sisters of Charity!</p> + +<p>The ice was broken! Monsieur Germaine was not yet convicted, +so we gave him the benefit of the British law, and resolving +to “consider the fellow innocent till proved to be guilty,” we +raised him to the dignity of companionship. His education +was far superior to mine, and his conversational powers were +wonderful. He seemed perfectly familiar with Latin and Greek, +and had a commanding knowledge of history, theology, mathematics, +and astronomy. I never met his equal in penmanship, +drawing, and designing.</p> + +<p>A few days of sociability sufficed to win a mutual confidence, +and to demand the mutual stories of our lives.</p> + +<p>Germaine was born so high up on those picturesque borders +of Piedmont, that it was difficult to say whether the Swiss or +Italian predominated in his blood. The troubles and wars of +the region impoverished his parents, who had been gentlefolks in +better times; yet they managed to bestow the culture that made +him the accomplished person I have described. No opportunity +offered, however, for his advancement as he reached maturity, +and it was thought best that he should go abroad in search of +fortune. For a while the quiet and modest youth was successful +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> +in the humbler employments to which he stooped for bread; but +his address and talents, and especially his skill in designing and +penmanship, attracted the notice of a sharper, with whom he +accidentally became intimate; so that, before he knew it, the +adroit scrivener was both <i>used</i> and <i>compromised</i> by the knave. +In truth, I do not suppose that Germaine’s will was made of +stern and tough materials. Those soft and gentle beings are +generally disposed to grasp the pleasures of life without labor; +and whenever a relaxed conscience has once allowed its possessor +to tamper with crime, its success is not only a stimulant but a +motive for farther enterprise. Germaine was soon a successful +forger. He amassed twenty or thirty thousand <i>francs</i> by practices +so perfect in their execution, that he never dreamed of +detection. But, at last, a daring speculation made him our companion +in the tower.</p> + +<p>Three days before his introduction to the <i>chateau</i> of Brest, +and a few hours before the regular departure of the Paris mail, +Germaine called on an exchange broker with seventeen thousand +<i>francs</i> in gold, with which he purchased a sight draft on the +capital. Soon after he called a second time on the broker, and +exhibiting a letter of orders, bearing a regular post-mark, from +his principals, who were alleged to be oil merchants at Marseilles, +desired to countermand the transaction, and receive back +his gold for the bill of exchange which he tendered. The principal +partner of the brokers did not happen to be within at the +moment, and the junior declined complying till his return. <i>En +attendant</i>, Monsieur Germaine sallied forth, and offered a neighboring +broker an additional half per cent, on the current value +of gold for the cash. He expressed, as the cause of this sacrifice, +extreme anxiety to depart by the four o’clock <i>diligence</i>, but +the urgency aroused the broker’s suspicion, and led him to +request Germaine’s return in half an hour, which he required to +collect the specie.</p> + +<p>The incautious forger went off to his hotel with the promise +in his ear, while the wary broker dropped in on the drawers of +the draft to compare notes. The result of the interview was a +visit to the <i>bureau de police</i>, whence a couple of officers were +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> +despatched to Germaine’s hotel. They entered the dandy’s room +in disguise, but they were not quick enough to save from destruction +several <i>proof impressions</i> of blank drafts, which the counterfeiter +cast into the fire the moment he heard a knock at his +door. In his trunks, they found engraving tools, a small press, +various acids and a variety of inks; all of which were duly noted +and preserved, while Monsieur Germaine was committed to the +<i>chateau</i>.</p> + +<p>In those days there were no electric wires, and as the weather +became thick and cloudy, the old-fashioned semaphore or +telegraph was useless in giving notice to the Parisian police to +stop the payment of a suspected draft, and arrest the forger’s +accomplice in the capital.</p> + +<p>Soon after the mail <i>of that day</i> from Brest reached the +metropolis, a lady of most respectable appearance, clad in mourning, +presented herself at the counter of the broker’s Parisian +correspondent, and exhibiting an unquestionable draft, drew +seventeen thousand francs. From the rapidity with which the +whole of this adroit scheme was accomplished in Brest and Paris, +it seems that Germaine required but four hours to copy, engrave, +print and fill up the forged bill; and yet, so perfectly did he +succeed, that when the discharged draft came back to Brest, +neither drawers, brokers, nor police could distinguish between the +true one and the false! No one had seen Germaine at work, or +could prove complicity with the lady. The mourning dame +was nowhere to be found in Paris, Brest or Marseilles; so that +when I finally quitted the <i>chateau</i>, the adroit <i>chevalier</i> was still +an inmate, but detained only <i>on suspicion</i>!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLVIII.</h2> + + +<p>This charming young soldier of fortune was our room-mate for +nine months, and engaged in several of our enterprises for escape. +But Germaine was more a man of <i>finesse</i> than action, and his imprisonment +was the first mishap of that nature in his felonious +career; so that I cannot say I derived much advantage, either +from his contrivances or suggestions.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>I always cultivated a sneaking fondness for the sex, and was, +perhaps, especially devoted to those who <i>might</i> aid me if they +pleased, when I got into difficulties. Into this category, under +existing circumstances, fell that very worthy person, Mademoiselle +Babette, whom I have heretofore rather ungallantly reported +as an “antique virgin.” It is true that Babette was, perhaps, +not as young as she had been; but an unmarried Frenchwoman +is unquestionably possessed of an elixir against age,—some +<i>eau restoratif</i>,—with which she defies time, preserves her outlines, +and keeps up that elastic gayety of heart, which renders +her always the most delightful of companions. Now, I do not +pretend, when I flirted with Babette, and sometimes made +downright love to the damsel, that I ever intended leading her +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +to any of the altars of Brest, when it should please the “king of +the barricades” to release me from prison. No such design ever +possessed my mind, at the age of twenty-seven, towards a maid +of thirty. Yet, I confess that Babette bewitched the sting and +memory from many an hour of prison-life, and played the comedy +of love <i>à la Francaise</i> to such perfection, that I doubt not +her heart rebounded from the encounter as scarless as my own.</p> + +<p>Germaine joked me very often about the tender passion, the +danger of trifling with youthful hearts, and the risk I ran from +encounters with such glittering eyes; till, one day, he suggested +that we should take advantage of the flirtation, by turning it to +our benefit in flight. Sorret and his wife often went out in the +afternoon, and left the gate and the keys solely in charge of +Babette, who improved their absence by spending half the time +in our apartment. Now, Germaine proposed that, during one of +these absences, I should, in my capacity as teacher, feign some +excuse to leave our room, and, if I found the lieutenant porteress +unwilling to yield the keys to my passionate entreaty, we +would unhesitatingly seize, gag, and muffle the damsel so securely, +that, with the keys in our possession, we might open the gates, +and pass without question the only sentinels who guarded the +exterior corridor. Germaine was eloquent upon the merit of his +scheme, while, to my mind, it indicated the bungling project of a +beginner, and was promptly rejected, because I would not injure +with violence the innocent girl I had trifled with, and because I +would not dishonor the kindness of Sorret and his wife, by compromising +their <i>personal</i> vigilance.</p> + +<p>Next morning, Germaine turned over to me long before daylight, +and whispered his delight that I had discarded his scheme, +for it “never could have been perfected without passports to +quit the town!” This deficiency, he said, had absorbed his +mind the livelong night, and, at last, a bright thought suggested +the supply.</p> + +<p>“Babette,” continued the forger, “is <i>not</i> to be molested in +any way, so you may make your mind easy about your sweetheart, +though I am afraid she will not be able to accompany us +in our enterprise. First and foremost, we must have a visit +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> +from our Spanish girls to-morrow, and, as you enjoy more influence +than I, it will be best for you to prepare them. Dolores, +who is by far the cleverest of the party, is to go with Concha +boldly to the prefecture of police, and demand passports for +Paris. These, in all likelihood, will be furnished without question. +The passports once in hand, our <i>demoiselles</i> must be off +to an apothecary’s for such acids as I shall prescribe; and then, +<i>mon capitaine</i>, leave the rest to me!”</p> + +<p>I turned the matter over in my mind, pretending to finish a +morning nap, and, while we were dressing, assented. The Spanish +women, who never refused their countrymen a favor, daringly +obtained the passports, and smuggled them into prison with the +required acids. Before night the deed was done; the gender +of the documents was changed; Germaine was metamorphosed +into “<i>Pietro Nazzolini</i>” a tailor, and I was turned into a certain +“<i>Dominico Antonetti</i>,” by trade a carpenter!</p> + +<p>How to escape was our next concern. This could not be +effected without breaking prison,—a task of some enterprise, as +our apartment was above a store-room, always closed, barred, and +locked. The door of our room opened on a long passage, broken +at intervals by several iron gates before the main portal was +reached; so that our only hope was the single window, that illuminated +our apartment and looked into a small yard, guarded +after sunset by a sentinel. This court, moreover, was entirely +hemmed in by a wall, which, if successfully escaladed, would +lead us to the parade ground of the <i>chateau</i>.</p> + +<p>Days passed, while my dull brain and the kindled fancy of +the new Nazzolini were inventing plans. Pietro had schemes +enough, for his imagination was both vivid and ceaseless; but +whenever he came to reduce them to words, it was always found +that they required a little more “<i>polishing</i> in certain links,” +which he forthwith retired to perform.</p> + +<p>One of our greatest difficulties was, how to deal with my +officers, who had proved so false on the Senegal. We debated +the matter for a long time; but, considering that they were sick +of long confinement and bereft of future comfort without my +labor we resolved to let them partake our flight, though, once +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> +outside the chateau, we would abandon them to their own +resources.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, we imparted our scheme, which was eagerly +embraced; and, through the kindness of our Spanish girls, we +secretly despatched all our spare garments, so that we might not +issue bare into the censorious world.</p> + +<p>All being prepared, it was proposed by <i>Signore Pietro</i> that +New Year, which was at hand, should be signalized by our enterprise. +As I had carefully kept and secreted the saw received +from my Goree friends, we possessed a most valuable implement; +so that it was resolved to attack a bar the moment we had been +mustered and locked up on that auspicious night. At eleven, a +descent into the court beneath the window was to be commenced, +and, if this proved successful, there was no doubt we could reach +the beach across the parade. But the sentinel still required +“polishing” out of the court-yard! This was a tremendous +obstacle; still, Germaine once more put on his fancy-wings, and +recommended that our fair Catalans, whose occupation made +them familiar with the whole regiment, should ascertain the sentinels +for the night in question, and, as it was a festival, they +might easily insinuate a few bottles of brandy into the guard-house, +and prepare the soldiery for sleep instead of vigilance. +But the success and merit of this plan were considered so doubtful, +that another scheme was kept in reserve to silence the soldier +whose duty required a continual march beneath our window. +If the women failed to accomplish our wishes with liquor, and if +the sentry persisted in a vigilant promenade, it was proposed, as +soon as the bar parted, to drop the noose of a <i>lazo</i> quietly over +his head, and dragging him with a run to the window-sill, knock +out his brains, if necessary, with the iron.</p> + +<p>The last days of December were at hand; every body was +busy with hope or preparation; the women carried off our garments; +then they brought us an abundance of fishing lines, +hidden beneath their petticoats; and, finally, a rope, strong +enough to hang a man, was spun in darkness by the whole +detachment.</p> + +<p>The wished-for day at length came, with the jollity, merriment, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> +and drunkenness, that attend it almost universally throughout +<i>la belle France</i>. But there was not so sober a party in the +kingdom as that which was anxiously gathered together over a +wineless meal in the chateau of Brest. We trembled lest a +word, a traitor, or an accident, should frustrate our hope of life +and freedom.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon, our Spanish women, gay with fresh apparel, +dashing ribbons, and abundant claret, visited their fluttering +birds in the cage, and <i>assured</i> success. The sergeant of the +guard was married to one of their intimate friends, and, <i>in her</i> +company, they were confident, on such a night, of reaching the +guard-room. A long embrace, perhaps a kiss, and a most affectionate +farewell!</p> + +<p>Supper was over. Muster passed. Oh! how slowly was +drawn the curtain of darkness over that shortest of days. Would +night <i>never</i> come? It did. By eight o’clock the severed bar +hung by threads, while the well-greased <i>lazo</i> lay coiled on the +sill. Nine o’clock brought the sentinel, who began his customary +tramp with great regularity, but broke forth in a drinking song +as soon as the sergeant was out of hearing.</p> + +<p>So impatient were my comrades for escape, that they declined +waiting till the appointed hour of eleven, and, at ten, ranged +themselves along the floor, with the end of the rope firmly +grasped, ready for a strong and sudden pull, while the intrepid +Germaine stood by, bar in hand, ready to strike, if necessary. +At a signal from me, after I had dropped the <i>lazo</i>, they were to +haul up, make fast, and follow us through the aperture by a +longer rope, which was already fastened for our descent.</p> + +<p>Softly the sash was opened, and, stretching my neck into the +darkness, I distinctly saw, by a bright star-light, the form of the +sentinel, pacing, with staggering strides, beneath the casement. +Presently, he came to a dead halt, at the termination of a <i>roulade</i> +in his song, and, in a wink, the <i>lazo</i> was over him. A kick with +my heel served for signal to the halliards, and up flew the pendant +against the window-sill. But, alas! it was not the sentinel. +The noose had not slipped or caught with sufficient rapidity, and +escaping the soldier’s neck, it only grasped and secured his <i>chako</i> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> +and musket. In an instant, I saw the fatal misfortune, and, +clearing the weapon, dropped it, <i>plumb</i>, on the head of the tipsy +and terrified guardsman. Its fall must have stunned and prostrated +the poor fellow, for not a word or groan escaped from the +court-yard.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLIX.</h2> + + +<p>Silent as was the sentinel after the restoration of his musket, it +was, nevertheless, unanimously voted that our enterprise was a +failure. Accordingly, the bar was replaced, the window closed, +our implements stowed in the mattresses, and ourselves packed +beneath the blankets, in momentary expectation of a visit from +the jailer and military commander. We passed the night in +feverish expectation, but our bolts remained undrawn.</p> + +<p>Bright and early, with a plenteous breakfast, appeared our +spirited Spaniards, and, as the turnkey admitted and locked them +in, they burst into a fit of uproarious laughter at our maladroit +adventure. The poor sentinel, they said, was found, at the end +of his watch, stretched on the ground in a sort of fainting fit +and half frozen. He swore, in accounting for a bleeding skull, +that an invisible hand from the store-room beneath us, had dealt +him a blow that felled him to the earth! His story was so silly +and maudlin, that the captain of the guard, who remembered the +festival and knew the tipsiness of the entire watch, gave no heed +to the tale, but charged it to the account of New Year and +<i>eau de vie</i>. We were sadly jeered by the lasses for our want of +pluck, in forsaking the advantage fortune had thrown in our way, +and I was specially charged to practise my hand more carefully +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> +with the <i>lazo</i>, when I next got a chance on the plantations of +Cuba, or among the <i>vaqueros</i> of Mexico.</p> + +<p>As we expected the daily visit from the punctual inspector, +to try our bars with his iron rod, we hastened to secure our window, +and stuffing all the fissures with straw and rags, so as almost +to exclude light, we complained bitterly to the official of the cold +wind to which the apertures exposed us, and thus prevented him +from touching the sash. Besides this precaution, we thought it +best to get rid of our tools and cord in the same way we received +them; and thus terminated our project of escape.</p> + +<p>Soon after, I heard from a relative in Paris, that my petition +had been presented to Louis Philippe, whose reception of it encouraged +a hope for my pardon. The news somewhat restored +us to the good humor that used to prevail in our party, but +which had been sadly dashed since our failure. Even Monsieur +Germaine, saw in our anticipated liberation, a phantom of +encouragement for himself, and began to talk confidentially of +his plans. He fancied that I had been gradually schooled <i>into +a taste for misdemeanor</i>, so that he favored me with innumerable +anecdotes of swindling, and countless schemes of future robbery. +By making me an incipient accomplice, he thought to secure my +aid either for his escape or release.</p> + +<p>I will take the liberty to record a single specimen of Germaine’s +prolific fancy in regard to the higher grades of elegant +felony, and will leave him to the tender mercy of the French +government, which allows no <i>bail</i> for such <i>chevaliers</i> but chastises +their crime with an iron hand.</p> + +<p>We had scarcely recovered from our trepidation, when the +forger got up one morning, with a radiant face, and whispered +that the past night was fruitful to his brain, for he had planned +an enterprise which would yield a fortune for <i>any two</i> who were +wise and bold enough to undertake it.</p> + +<p>Germaine was a philosophic felon. It was perhaps the trick +of an intellect naturally astute, and of a spirit originally refined, +to reject the vulgar baseness of common pilfering. Germaine +never stole or defrauded;—he only outwitted and outgeneralled. +If he spoke of the world, either in politics or trade, he insisted +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> +that shams, forgeries, and counterfeits were quite as much played +off in the language, address and dealings of statesmen, merchants, +parsons, doctors, and lawyers, as they were by himself and his +accomplices. The only difference between the felon and the +jury, he alleged, existed in the fact that the jury was in the +majority and the felon in the vocative. He advocated the worst +forms of liberty and equality; he was decidedly in favor of a +division of property, which he was sure would end what <i>the law +called</i> crime, because all would be supplied on the basis of a +common balance. Whenever he told his ancient exploits or suggested +new ones, he glossed them invariably with a rhetorical +varnish about the laws of nature, social contracts, human rights, +<i>meum and tuum</i>; and concluded, to his perfect satisfaction, +with a favorite axiom, that “he had quite as much <i>right</i> to the +world’s goods as they who possessed them.”</p> + +<p>A hypocritical farrago of this character always prefaced one +of Germaine’s tales, so that I hardly ever interrupted the rogue +when he became fluent about social theories, but waited patiently, +in confidence that I was shortly to be entertained with +an adventure or enterprise.</p> + +<p>The forger began his story on this occasion with a most fantastical +and exaggerated account of the celebrated <i>Santissima +Casa</i> of Loretto, which he imagined was still endowed with all +the treasures it possessed anterior to its losses during the pontificate +of Pius VI. He asserted that it was the richest tabernacle +in Europe, and that the adornments of the altar were valued at +several millions of crowns,—the votive offerings and legacies of +devotees during a long period of time.</p> + +<p>This holy and opulent shrine, the professor of politico-economico-equality +proposed to rob at some convenient period; and, +to effect it, he had “polished” the following plan during the +watches of the night.</p> + +<p>On some stormy day of winter, he proposed to leave Ancona, +as a traveller from South America, and approaching the convent +attached to the church of the Madonna of Loretto, demand hospitality +for a penitent who had made the tiresome pilgrimage on +a vow to the Virgin. There could be no doubt of his admission. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> +For three days he would most devoutly attend <i>matins</i> and vespers, +and crave permission to serve as an <i>acolyte</i> at the altar, the +duties of which he perfectly understood. When the period of +his departure arrived, he would be seized with sudden illness, +and, in all likelihood, the brethren would lodge him in their infirmary. +As his malady increased, he would call a confessor, +and, pouring into the father’s credulous ear a tale of woes, sorrows, +superstition and humbug, he would make the convent a +donation of <i>all his estates in South America</i>, and pray for a +remission of his sins!</p> + +<p>When this comedy was over, convalescence should supervene; +but he would adhere with conscientious obstinacy to his dying +gift, and produce documents showing the immense value of the +bequeathed property. Presently, he would be suddenly smitten +with a love for monastic life; and, on his knees, the Prior was to +be interceded for admission to the brotherhood. All this, probably, +would require time, as well as playacting of the adroitest +character; yet he felt confident he could perform the drama.</p> + +<p>At last, when a vow had sealed his novitiate, no one of +the fraternity should exceed him in fervent piety and bodily +mortification. Every hour would find him at the altar before +the Virgin, missal in hand, <i>and eyes intent on the glittering +image</i>. This incessant and unwatched devotion, he calculated, +would enable him in two months to take an impression of all the +locks in the <i>sacristy</i>; and, as his confederate would call every +market-day at the convent gate, in the guise of a pedler, he could +easily cause the keys to be fabricated in different villages by +common locksmiths.</p> + +<p>Germaine considered it indispensable that his colleague in +this enterprise should be <i>a sailor</i>; for the flight with booty was +to be made over sea from Ancona. As soon, therefore, as the +keys were perfected, and in the hands of the impostor, the +mariner was to cause a <i>felucca</i>, to cruise off shore, in readiness +for immediate departure. Then, at a fixed time, the pedler +should lurk near the convent, with a couple of mules; and, in +the dead of night, the sacrilege would be accomplished.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> +When he finished his story, the pleasant villain, rubbed his +hands with glee, and skipping about the floor like a dancing-master, +began to whistle “<i>La Marsellaise</i>.” That night, he +retired earlier than usual, “to polish,” as he said; but before +dawn he again aroused me, with a pull, and whispered a sudden +fear that his “Loretto masterpiece” would prove an abortion!</p> + +<p>“I have considered,” said he, “that the Virgin’s jewels are +probably nothing but false stones and waxen pearls in pinchbeck +gold! Surely, those cunning monks would never leave such an +amount of property idle, simply to adorn a picture or statue! +No, I am positive they must have sold the gems, substituted +imitations, and bought property for their opulent convents!”—As +I felt convinced of this fact, and had some inkling of a recollection +about losses during a former reign, I was happy to hear +that the swindler’s fancy had “polished” the crime to absolute +annihilation.</p> + +<p>And now that I am about to leave this forging philosopher +in prison, to mature, doubtless, some greater act of villany, I +will merely add, that when I departed, he was constructing a +new scheme, in which the Emperor of Russia was to be victim +and paymaster. As my liberation occurred before the +finishing touches were given by the artist, I am unable to say +how it fared with Nicholas; but I doubt, exceedingly, whether +the galleys of Brest contained a greater scoundrel, both in deeds +and imaginings, than the metaphysical dandy—Monsieur Germaine.<a name="FNanchor_7_12" id="FNanchor_7_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_12" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>At length, my pardon and freedom came; but this was the +sole reparation I received at the hands of Louis Philippe, for +the unjust seizure and appropriation of my vessel in the neutral +waters of Africa. When Sorret rushed in, followed by his wife, +Babette, and the children, to announce the glorious news, the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> +good fellow’s emotion was so great, that he stood staring at me +like a booby, and for a long while could not articulate. Then +came La Vivandière Dolores, and my pretty Concha. Next +arrived Monsieur Randanne, with the rest of my pupils; so that, +in an hour, I was overwhelmed with sunshine and tears. I can +still feel the grasp of Sorret’s hand, as he led me beyond the +bolts and bars, to read the act of royal grace. May we not feel +a <i>spasm</i> of regret at leaving even a prison?</p> + +<p>Next day, an affectionate crowd of friends and pupils followed +the emancipated slaver to a vessel, which, by order of the king, +was to bear me, a willing exile, from France for ever.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_12" id="Footnote_7_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_12"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> I know not what was his fate; but he has probably long since realized +his dream of equality, though, in all likelihood, it was the equality +described by old Patris of Caen:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Ici tous sont egaux; je ne te dois plus rien:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Je suis sur mon <i>fumier</i> comme toi sur le tien!”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER L.</h2> + + +<p>I said, at the end of the last chapter, that my friends bade adieu +on the quay of Brest to an “emancipated <i>slaver</i>;” for <i>slaver</i> I +was determined to continue, notwithstanding the capture of my +vessel, and the tedious incarceration of my body. Had the seizure +and sentence been justly inflicted for a violation of local or international +law, I might, perhaps, have become penitent for early +sins, during the long hours of reflection afforded me in the <i>chateau</i>. +But, with all the fervor of an ardent and thwarted nature, +I was much more disposed to rebel and revenge myself when +opportunity occurred, than to confess my sins with a lowly and +obedient heart. Indeed, most of my time in prison had been +spent in cursing the court and king, or in reflecting how I should +get back to Africa in the speediest manner, if I was ever lucky +enough to elude the grasp of the model monarch.</p> + +<p>The vessel that bore me into perpetual banishment from +France, was bound to Lisbon; but, delaying in Portugal only +long enough to procure a new passport, under an assumed name, +I spat upon Louis Philippe’s “eternal exile,” and took shipping +for his loyal port of Marseilles! Here I found two vessels fitting +for the coast of Africa; but, in consequence of the frightful +prevalence of cholera, all mercantile adventures were temporarily +suspended. In fact, such was the panic, that no one dreamed +of despatching the vessel in which I was promised a passage, +until the pestilence subsided. Till this occurred, as my means +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +were of the scantiest character, I took lodgings in an humble +hotel.</p> + +<p>The dreadful malady was then apparently at its height, and +nearly all the hotels were deserted, for most of the regular inhabitants +had fled; while the city was unfrequented by strangers +except under pressing duty. It is altogether probable that the +lodging-houses and hotels would have been closed entirely, so +slight was their patronage, had not the prefect issued an order, +depriving of their licenses, for the space of two years, all who shut +their doors on strangers. Accordingly, even when the scourge +swept many hundred victims daily to their graves, every hotel, +café, grocery, butcher shop, and bakery, was regularly opened in +Marseilles; so that a dread of famine was not added to the fear +of cholera.</p> + +<p>Of course, the lowly establishment where I dwelt was not +thronged at this epoch; most of its inmates or frequenters had +departed for the country before my arrival, and I found the +house tenanted alone by three boarders and a surly landlord, who +cursed the authorities for their compulsory edict. My reception, +therefore, was by no means cordial. I was told that the proclamation +had not prevented the <i>cook</i> from departing; and that I +must be content with whatever the master of the house could toss +up for my fare.</p> + +<p>A sailor—especially one fresh from the <i>chateau</i> of Brest,—is +not apt to be over nice in the article of cookery, and I readily +accompanied my knight of the rueful countenance to his <i>table +d’hôte</i>, which I found to be a long oval board, three fourths bare +of cloth and guests, while five human visages clustered around +its end.</p> + +<p>I took my seat opposite a trim dashing brunette, with the +brightest eyes and rosiest cheeks imaginable. Her face was so +healthily refreshing in the midst of malady and death, that I +altogether forgot the cholera under the charm of her ardent gaze. +Next me sat a comical sort of fellow, who did not delay in scraping +an acquaintance, and jocularly insisted on introducing all the +company.</p> + +<p>“It’s a case of emergency,” said the droll, “we have no time +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> +to lose or to stand on the ceremony of fashionable etiquette. +Here to-day, gone to-morrow—is the motto of Marseilles! <i>Hola! +Messieurs</i>, shall we not make the most of new acquaintances +when they may be so brief?”</p> + +<p>I thanked him for his hospitality. I had so little to lose in +this world, either of property or friends, that I feared the cholera +quite as slightly as any of the company. “A thousand thanks,” +said I, “Monsieur, for your politeness; I’ll bury you to-morrow, +if it is the cholera’s pleasure, with ten times more pleasure now +that I have had the honor of an introduction. A fashionable +man hardly cares to be civil to a stranger—even if he happens to +be a corpse!”</p> + +<p>There was so hearty a cheer at this sally, that, in spite of the +shallow soundings of my purse, I called for a fresh bottle, and +pledged the party in a bumper all round.</p> + +<p>“And now,” continued my neighbor, “as it may be necessary +for some one of us to write your epitaph in a day or two, or, at +least, to send a message of condolence and sympathy to your +friends; pray let us know a bit of your history, and what the devil +brings you to Marseilles when the cholera thermometer is up to +1000 degrees per diem?”</p> + +<p>Very few words were necessary to impart such a name and +tale as I chose to invent for the company’s edification. “Santiago +Ximenes,” and my tawny skin betokened my nationality and +profession, while my threadbare garments spoke louder than +words that I was at suit with Fortune.</p> + +<p>Presently, after a lull in the chat, a dapper little prig of a +dandy, who sat on my left, volunteered to inform me that he was no +less a personage than <i>le Docteur</i> Du Jean, a medical practitioner +fresh from Metropolitan hospitals, who, in a spirit of the loftiest +philanthropy, visited this provincial town at his own expense to +succor the poor.</p> + +<p>“<i>C’est une belle dame, notre vis à vis, n’est elle pas mon +cher?</i>” said he pointing to our patron saint opposite.</p> + +<p>I admitted without argument that she was the most charming +woman I ever saw out of Cuba.</p> + +<p>“<i>C’est ma chère amie</i>,” whispered he confidentially in my +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> +ear, strongly emphasizing the word “friend” and nodding very +knowingly towards the lady herself. “At the present moment +the dear little creature is exclusively under my charge and protection, +for she is <i>en route</i> to join her husband, a captain in the army +at Algiers; but, alas! <i>grâce à Dieu</i>, there’s no chance of a transport +so long as this cursed pestilence blockades Marseilles! +Do you know the man on your right?—No! <i>Bien!</i> that’s +the celebrated S——, the oratorical advocate about whom the +papers rang when Louis Philippe began his assault on the press. +He’s on his way to Algiers too, and will be more successful in +liberalizing the Arabs than the French. That old chap over +yonder with the snuffy nose, the snuffy wig, and snuffy coat, is a +grand speculator in horses, on his way to the richest cavalry corps +of the army; and, as for our <i>maître d’hotel</i> at the head of this +segment, <i>pauvre diable</i>, you see what he is without a revelation. +The pestilence has nearly used him up. He sits half the day in +his bureau on the stairs looking for guests who never come, reading +the record which adds no name, cursing the cholera, counting a +penitential <i>ave</i> and <i>pater</i> on his rosary, and flying from the despair +of silence and desertion to his pans to stew our wretched fare. +<i>Voila mon cher, la carte de la table! le Cholera et ses Convives!</i>”</p> + +<p>If there is a creature I detest in the world it is a flippant, +intrusive, voluntary youth who thrusts his conversation and affairs +upon strangers, and makes bold to monopolize their time with his +unasked confidence. Such persons are always silly and vulgar +pretenders; and before Doctor Du Jean got through his description +of the lady, I had already classified him among my particular +aversions.</p> + +<p>When the doctor nodded so patronizingly to the dame, and +spoke of his friendly protectorate, I thought I saw that the +quick-witted woman not only comprehended his intimation, but +denied it by the sudden glance she gave me from beneath her +thin and arching eyebrows. So, when dinner was over, without +saying a word to the doctor, I made a slight inclination of the +head to Madame Duprez, and rising before the other guests, +passed to her side and tendered my arm for a promenade on the +balcony.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> +“<i>Mon docteur</i>,” said I as we left the room, “life, you know, +is too short and precarious to suffer a monopoly of such blessings,”—looking +intently into the lady’s eyes,—“besides which, we +sailors, in defiance of you landsmen, go in for the most ‘perfect +freedom of the seas.’”</p> + +<p>Madame Duprez declared I was entirely right; that I was no +pirate.—“Mais, mon capitaine,” said the fair one, as she leaned +with a fond pressure on my arm, “I’d have no objection if you were, +so that you’d capture me from that frightful gallipot! Besides, you +sailors are always so gallant towards the ladies, and tell us such +delightful stories, and bring us such charming presents when you +come home, and love us so much while you’re in port, because +you see so few when you are away! Now isn’t that a delightful +<i>catalogue raisonné</i> of arguments why women should love <i>les +mâtelots</i>?”</p> + +<p>“Pity then, madame,” said I, “that you married a <i>soldier</i>.”</p> + +<p>“Ah!” returned the ready dame, “<i>I</i> didn’t;—that was my +mother’s match. In France, you know, the old folks marry us; +but we take the liberty to <i>love</i> whomsoever we please!”</p> + +<p>“But, what of <i>Monsieur le capitaine</i>, in the present instance?” +interrupted I inquiringly.</p> + +<p>“Ah! <i>fi donc!</i>” said Madame, “what bad taste to speak of +an <i>absent</i>, husband when you have the liberty to talk with a +<i>present</i> wife!”</p> + +<p>In fact, the lovely Helen of this tavern-Troy was the +dearest of coquettes, whose fence of tongue was as beautiful a +game of thrust and parry as I ever saw played with Parisian foils. +Du Jean had been horribly mortified by the contemptuous manner +in which the threadbare Spaniard bore off his imaginary prize; +and would probably have assailed me on the spot, before he knew +my temper or quality, had not the lawyer drawn him aside on a +plea of medical advice and given his inflamed honor time to cool.</p> + +<p>But the wit of Madame Duprez was not so satisfied by a +single specimen of our mutual folly, as to allow the surgeon to +resume the undisputed post of <i>cavaliere serviente</i> which he occupied +before my arrival. It was her delight to see us at loggerheads +for her favor, and though we were both aware of her arrant +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> +coquetry, neither had moral courage enough, in that dismal time, +to desist from offering the most servile courtesies. We mined +and counter-mined, marched and counter-marched, deceived and +re-deceived, for several days, without material advantage to either, +till, at last, the affair ended in a battle.</p> + +<p>The prefecture’s bulletin announced at dinner-time twelve +hundred deaths! but, in spite of the horror, or perhaps to drown +its memory, our undiminished party called for several more bottles, +and became uproariously gay.</p> + +<p>The conversation took a physiological turn; and gradually +the modern science of phrenology, which was just then becoming +fashionable, came on the carpet. Doctor Du Jean professed +familiarity with its mysteries. Spurzheim, he said, had been his +professor in Paris. He could read our characters on our skulls +as if they were written in a book. Powers, passions, propensities, +and even thoughts, could not be hidden from him;—and, +“who dared try his skill?”</p> + +<p>“<i>C’est moi!</i>” said Madame Duprez, as she drew her chair +to the centre of the room, and accepting the challenge, cast loose +her beautiful hair, which fell in a raven torrent over snowy neck +and shoulders, heightening tenfold every charm of face and +figure.</p> + +<p>Du Jean was nothing loth to commence his tender manipulation +of the charming head, whose wicked mouth and teasing eyes +shot glances of defiance at me. Several organs were disclosed +and explained to the company; but then came others which he +ventured to whisper in her ears alone, and, as he did so, I noticed +that his mouth was pressed rather deeper than I thought needful +among the folds of her heavy locks. I took the liberty to hint +rather jestingly that the doctor “<i>cut quite too deep</i> with his +lips;” but the coquette at once saw my annoyance, and persisted +with malicious delight in making Du Jean whisper—heaven +knows what—in her ear. In fact, she insisted that some of the +organs should be repeated to her three or four times over, while, +at each rehearsal, the doctor grew bolder in his dives among the +curls, and the lady louder and redder in her merriment.</p> + +<p>At last, propriety required that the scene should be closed, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> +and no one knew better than this arch coquette the precise limit +of decency’s bounds. Next came the lawyer’s cranium; then +followed the horse-jockey and tavern-keeper; and finally, it was +<i>my</i> turn to take the stool.</p> + +<p>I made every objection I could think of against submitting +to inspection, for I was sure the surgeon had wit enough not to +lose so good a chance of quizzing or ridiculing me; but a whispered +word from Madame forced an assent, with the stipulation +that Du Jean should allow <i>me</i> to examine his skull afterwards, +pretending that if he had studied with Spurzheim, I had learned +the science from Gall.</p> + +<p>The doctor accepted the terms and began his lecture. First +of all my Jealousy was enormous, and only equalled by my Conceit +and Envy. I was altogether destitute of Love, Friendship, +or the Moral sentiments. I was an immoderate wine-bibber; +extremely avaricious; passionate, revengeful, and blood-thirsty; +in fine, I was a monstrous conglomerate of every thing devilish +and dreadful. The first two or three essays of the doctor amused +the company and brought down a round of laughter; but as he +grew coarser and coarser, I saw the increasing disgust of our +comrades by their silence, though I preserved my temper most +admirably till he was done. Then I rose slowly from the seat, +and pointing the doctor silently to the vacant chair,—for I could +not speak with rage,—I took my stand immediately in front of +him, gazing intently into his eyes. The company gathered +eagerly round, expecting I would retaliate wittily, or pay him +back in his coin of abuse.</p> + +<p>After a minute’s pause I regained my power of speech, and +inquired whether the phrenologist was ready. He replied affirmatively; +whereupon my right hand discovered the bump of impudence +with a tremendous slap on his left cheek, while my left +hand detected the organ of blackguardism with equal prominence +on his right!</p> + +<p>It was natural that this new mode of scientific investigation +was as novel and surprising as it was disagreeable to poor Du +Jean; for, in an instant, we were exchanging blows with intense +zeal, and would probably have borrowed a couple of graves from +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> +the cholera, had not the boarders interfered. All hands, however, +were unanimous in my favor, asserting that Du Jean had +provoked me beyond endurance; and, as <i>la belle Duprez</i> joined +heartily in the verdict, the doctor gave up the contest, and, ever +after, “cut” the lady.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LI.</h2> + + +<p>In the first lull of the pestilence, the French merchantman was +despatched from Marseilles, and, in twenty-seven days, I had the +pleasure to shake hands with the generous friends, who, two +years before, labored so hard for my escape. The colonial government +soon got wind of my presence notwithstanding my disguise, +and warning me from Goree, cut short the joys of an +African welcome.</p> + +<p>I reached Sierra Leone in time to witness the arbitrary proceeding +of the British government towards Spanish traders and +coasters, by virtue of the treaty for the suppression of the slave-trade. +<i>Six months</i> after this compact was signed and ratified in +London and Madrid, it was made known with the proverbial despatch +of Spain, in the Islands of Cuba and Porto Rico. Its stipulations +were such as to allow very considerable latitude of judgment +in captures; and when prizes were once within the grasp +of the British lion, that amiable animal was neither prompt to release +nor anxious to acquit. Accordingly, when I reached Sierra +Leone, I beheld at anchor under government guns, some thirty +or forty vessels seized by cruisers, several of which I have reason +to believe were captured in the “Middle Passage,” bound from +Havana to Spain, but entirely free from the taint or design of +slavery.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> +I was not so inquisitive or patriotic in regard to treaty rights +and violations, as to dally from mere curiosity in Sierra Leone. +My chief object was employment. At twenty-eight, after trials, +hazards, and chances enough to have won half a dozen fortunes, +I was utterly penniless. The Mongo of Kambia,—the Mahometan +convert of Ahmah-de-Bellah,—the pet of the Ali-Mami of Footha-Yallon,—the +leader of slave caravans,—the owner of barracoons,—and +the bold master of clippers that defied the British flag, +was reduced to the humble situation of coast-pilot and interpreter +on board an American brig bound to the celebrated slave +mart of Gallinas! We reached our destination safely; but I +doubt exceedingly whether the “Reaper’s” captain knows to this +day that his brig was guided by a marine adventurer, who knew +nothing of the coast or port save the little he gleaned in half a +dozen chats with a Spaniard, who was familiar with this notorious +resort and its surroundings.</p> + +<p>In the history of African servitude, no theatre of Spanish, +Portuguese, British, or American action has been the scene of +more touching, tragic, and <i>profitable</i> incidents than the one to +which fortune had now directed my feet.</p> + +<p>Before the generous heart and far-seeing mind of America +perceived <i>in Colonization</i>, the true secret of Africa’s hope, the +whole of its coast, from the Rio Gambia to Cape Palmas, without +a break except at Sierra Leone, was the secure haunt of daring +slavers. The first impression on this lawless disposal of full +fifteen hundred miles of beach and continent, was made by the +bold establishment of Liberia; and, little by little has its power +extended, until treaty, purchase, negotiation, and influence, drove +the trade from the entire region. After the firm establishment +of this colony, the slave-trade on the windward coast, north and +west of Cape Palmas, was mainly confined to Portuguese settlements +at Bissaos, on the Rios Grande, Nunez, and Pongo, at +Grand and Little Bassa, New Sestros and Trade-town; but the +lordly establishment at Gallinas was the heart of the slave marts, +to which, in fact, Cape Mesurado was only second in importance.</p> + +<p>Our concern is now with Gallinas. Nearly one hundred +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> +miles north-west of Monrovia, a short and sluggish river, hearing +this well-known name, oozes lazily into the Atlantic; and, carrying +down in the rainy season a rich alluvion from the interior, +sinks the deposit where the tide meets the Atlantic, and forms +an interminable mesh of spongy islands. To one who approaches +from sea, they loom up from its surface, covered with reeds and +mangroves, like an immense field of <i>fungi</i>, betokening the damp +and dismal field which death and slavery have selected for their +grand metropolis. A spot like this, possessed, of course, no peculiar +advantages for agriculture or commerce; but its dangerous +bar, and its extreme desolation, fitted it for the haunt of the outlaw +and slaver.</p> + +<p>Such, in all likelihood, were the reasons that induced Don +Pedro Blanco, a well-educated mariner from Malaga, to select +Gallinas as the field of his operations. Don Pedro visited this +place originally in command of a slaver; but failing to complete +his cargo, sent his vessel back with one hundred negroes, whose +value was barely sufficient to pay the mates and crew. Blanco, +however, remained on the coast with a portion of the Conquistador’s +cargo, and, on its basis, began a trade with the natives and +slaver-captains, till, four years after, he remitted his owners the +product of their merchandise, and began to flourish on his own +account. The honest return of an investment long given over as +lost, was perhaps the most active stimulant of his success, and +for many years he monopolized the traffic of the Vey country, +reaping enormous profits from his enterprise.</p> + +<p>Gallinas was not in its prime when I came thither, yet enough +of its ancient power and influence remained to show the comprehensive +mind of Pedro Blanco. As I entered the river, and +wound along through the labyrinth of islands, I was struck, first +of all, with the vigilance that made this Spaniard stud the field +with look-out seats, protected from sun and rain, erected some +seventy-five or hundred feet above the ground, either on poles or +on isolated trees, from which the horizon was constantly swept +by telescopes, to announce the approach of cruisers or slavers. +These telegraphic operators were the keenest men on the islands, +who were never at fault, in discriminating between friend and foe. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> +About a mile from the river’s mouth we found a group of islets, +on each of which was erected the factory of some particular slave-merchant +belonging to the grand confederacy. Blanco’s establishments +were on several of these marshy flats. On one, near +the mouth, he had his place of business or trade with foreign vessels, +presided over by his principal clerk, an astute and clever +gentleman. On another island, more remote, was his residence, +where the only white person was a sister, who, for a while, shared +with Don Pedro his solitary and penitential domain. Here this +man of education and refined address surrounded himself with +every luxury that could be purchased in Europe or the Indies, +and dwelt in a sort of oriental but semi-barbarous splendor, that +suited an African prince rather than a Spanish grandee. Further +inland was another islet, devoted to his seraglio, within +whose recesses each of his favorites inhabited her separate establishment, +after the fashion of the natives. Independent of all +these were other islands, devoted to the barracoons or slave-prisons, +ten or twelve of which contained from one hundred to five +hundred slaves in each. These barracoons were made of rough +staves or poles of the hardest trees, four or six inches in diameter, +driven five feet in the ground, and clamped together by +double rows of iron bars. Their roofs were constructed of similar +wood, strongly secured, and overlaid with a thick thatch of +long and wiry grass, rendering the interior both dry and cool. +At the ends, watch-houses—built near the entrance—were tenanted +by sentinels, with loaded muskets. Each barracoon was +tended by two or four Spaniards or Portuguese; but I have +rarely met a more wretched class of human beings, upon whom +fever and dropsy seemed to have emptied their vials.</p> + +<p>Such were the surroundings of Don Pedro in 1836, when I +first saw his slender figure, swarthy face, and received the graceful +welcome, which I hardly expected from one who had passed fifteen +years without crossing the bar of Gallinas! Three years +after this interview, he left the coast for ever, with a fortune of +near a million. For a while, he dwelt in Havana, engaged in +commerce; but I understood that family difficulties induced him +to retire altogether from trade; so that, if still alive, he is probably +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> +a resident of “Geneva la Superba,” whither he went from +the island of Cuba.</p> + +<p>The power of this man among the natives is well-known; it +far exceeded that of Cha-cha, of whom I have already spoken. +Resolved as he was to be successful in traffic, he left no means +untried, with blacks as well as whites, to secure prosperity. I +have often been asked what was the character of a mind which +could voluntarily isolate itself for near a lifetime amid the pestilential +swamps of a burning climate, trafficking in human flesh, +exciting wars, bribing and corrupting ignorant negroes; totally +without society, amusement, excitement, or change; living, from +year to year, the same dull round of seasons and faces; without +companionship, save that of men at war with law; cut loose from +all ties except those which avarice formed among European outcasts +who were willing to become satellites to such a luminary +as Don Pedro? I have always replied to the question, that this +African enigma puzzled <i>me</i> as well as those orderly and systematic +persons, who would naturally be more shocked at the +tastes and prolonged career of a resident slave-factor in the +marshes of Gallinas.</p> + +<p>I heard many tales on the coast of Blanco’s cruelty, but I +doubt them quite as much as I do the stories of his pride and +arrogance. I have heard it said that he shot a sailor for daring +to ask him for permission to light his cigar at the <i>puro</i> of the +Don. Upon another occasion, it is said that he was travelling +the beach some distance from Gallinas, near the island of Sherbro, +where he was unknown, when he approached a native hut for +rest and refreshment. The owner was squatted at the door, and, +on being requested by Don Pedro to hand him fire to light his +cigar, deliberately refused. In an instant Blanco drew back, +seized a carabine from one of his attendants, and slew the negro +on the spot. It is true that the narrator apologized for Don +Pedro, by saying, that to deny a Castilian <i>fire for his tobacco</i> was +the gravest insult that can be offered him; yet, from my knowledge +of the person in question, I cannot believe that he carried +etiquette to so frightful a pitch, even among a class whose lives +are considered of trifling value <i>except in market</i>. On several +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> +occasions, during our subsequent intimacy, I knew him to chastise +with rods, even to the brink of death, servants who ventured +to infringe the sacred limits of his <i>seraglio</i>. But, on the other +hand, his generosity was proverbially ostentatious, not only +among the natives, whom it was his interest to suborn, but +to the whites who were in his employ, or needed his kindly +succor. I have already alluded to his mental culture, which was +decidedly <i>soigné</i> for a Spaniard of his original grade and time. +His memory was remarkable. I remember one night, while several +of his <i>employés</i> were striving unsuccessfully to repeat the +Lord’s prayer in Latin, upon which they had made a bet, that +Don Pedro joined the party, and taking up the wager, went +through the petition without faltering. It was, indeed, a sad +parody on prayer to hear its blessed accents fall perfectly from +such lips on a bet; but when it was won, the slaver insisted on +receiving <i>the slave which was the stake</i>, and immediately bestowed +him in charity on a captain, who had fallen into the +clutches of a British cruiser!</p> + +<p>Such is a rude sketch of the great man merchant of Africa, +the Rothschild of slavery, whose bills on England, France, or the +United States, were as good as gold in Sierra Leone and Monrovia!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LII.</h2> + + +<p>The day after our arrival within the realm of this great spider,—who, +throned in the centre of his mesh, was able to catch almost +every fly that flew athwart the web,—I landed at one of the +minor factories, and sold a thousand quarter-kegs of powder to +Don José Ramon. But, next day, when I proceeded in my capacity +of interpreter to the establishment of Don Pedro, I found +his Castilian plumage ruffled, and, though we were received with +formal politeness, he declined to purchase, because we had failed +to address <i>him</i> in advance of any other factor on the river.</p> + +<p>The folks at Sierra Leone dwelt so tenderly on the generous +side of Blanco’s character, that I was still not without hope that +I might induce him to purchase a good deal of our rum and +tobacco, which would be drugs on our hands unless he consented +to relieve us. I did not think it altogether wrong, therefore, to +concoct a little <i>ruse</i> whereby I hoped to touch the pocket through +the breast of the Don. In fact, I addressed him a note, in which +I truly related my recent mishaps, adventures, and imprisonments; +but I concluded the narrative with a hope that he would +succor one so destitute and unhappy, by allowing him to win an +honest <i>commission</i> allowed by the American captain on any sales +I could effect. The bait took; a prompt, laconic answer +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> +returned; I was bidden to come ashore with the invoice of our +cargo; and, <i>for my sake</i>, Don Pedro purchased from the Yankee +brig $5000 worth of rum and tobacco, all of which was paid by +drafts on London, <i>of which slaves were, of course, the original +basis</i>! My imaginary commissions, however, remained in the +purse of the owners.</p> + +<p>An accident occurred in landing our merchandise, which will +serve to illustrate the character of Blanco. While the hogsheads +of tobacco were discharging, our second mate, who suffered +from <i>strabismus</i> more painfully than almost any cross-eyed man +I ever saw, became excessively provoked with one of the native +boatmen who had been employed in the service. It is probable +that the negro was insolent, which the mate thought proper to +chastise by throwing staves at the Krooman’s head. The negro +fled, seeking refuge on the other side of his canoe; but the enraged +officer continued the pursuit, and, in his double-sighted +blundering, ran against an oar which the persecuted black suddenly +lifted in self-defence. I know not whether it was rage or +blindness, or both combined, that prevented the American from +seeing the blade, but on he dashed, rushing impetuously against +the implement, severing his lip with a frightful gash, and knocking +four teeth from his upper jaw.</p> + +<p>Of course, the luckless negro instantly fled to “the bush;” +and, that night, in the agony of delirium, caused by fever and +dreaded deformity, the mate terminated his existence by laudanum.</p> + +<p>The African law condemns the man who <i>draws blood</i> to a +severe fine in slaves, proportioned to the harm that may have +been inflicted. Accordingly, the culprit Krooman, innocent as +he was of premeditated evil, now lay heavily loaded with irons in +Don Pedro’s barracoon, awaiting the sentence which the whites +in his service already declared <i>should be death</i>. “He struck a +white!” they said, and the wound he inflicted was reported to +have caused that white man’s ruin. But, luckily, before the sentence +was executed, <i>I</i> came ashore, and, as the transaction occurred +in my presence, I ventured to appeal from the verdict of +public opinion to Don Pedro, with the hope that I might exculpate +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> +the Krooman. My simple and truthful story was sufficient. +An order was instantly given for the black’s release, and, in +spite of native chiefs and grumbling whites, who were savagely +greedy for the fellow’s blood, Don Pedro persisted in his judgment +and sent him back on board the “Reaper.”</p> + +<p>The character manifested by Blanco on this occasion, and +the admirable management of his factory, induced me to seize a +favorable moment to offer my services to the mighty trader. +They were promptly accepted, and in a short time I was employed +as <i>principal</i> in one of Don Pedro’s branches.</p> + +<p>The Vey natives on this river and its neighborhood were not +numerous before the establishment of Spanish factories, but since +1813, the epoch of the arrival of several Cuban vessels with rich, +merchandise, the neighboring tribes flocked to the swampy flats, +and as there was much similarity in the language and habits of +the natives and emigrants, they soon intermarried and mingled in +ownership of the soil.</p> + +<p>In proportion as these upstarts were educated in slave-trade +under the influence of opulent factors, they greedily acquired the +habit of hunting their own kind and abandoned all other occupations +but war and kidnapping. As the country was prolific and +the trade profitable, the thousands and tens of thousands annually +sent abroad from Gallinas, soon began to exhaust the neighborhood; +but the appetite for plunder was neither satiated nor +stopped by distance, when it became necessary for the neighboring +natives to extend their forays and hunts far into the interior. +In a few years war raged wherever the influence of this river extended. +The slave factories supplied the huntsmen with powder, +weapons, and enticing merchandise, so that they fearlessly advanced +against ignorant multitudes, who, too silly to comprehend +the benefit of alliance, fought the aggressors singly, and, +of course, became their prey.</p> + +<p>Still, however, the demand increased. Don Pedro and his +satellites had struck a vein richer than the gold coast. His +flush barracoons became proverbial throughout the Spanish and +Portuguese colonies, and his look-outs were ceaseless in their +signals of approaching vessels. New factories were established, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> +as branches, north and south of the parent den. Mana Rock, +Sherbro, Sugarei, Cape Mount, Little Cape Mount, and even +Digby, at the door of Monrovia, all had depots and barracoons +of slaves belonging to the whites of Gallinas.</p> + +<p>But this prosperity did not endure. The torch of discord, in +a civil war which was designed for revengeful murder rather than +slavery, was kindled by a black Paris, who had deprived his uncle +of an Ethiopian Helen. Every bush and hamlet contained +its Achilles and Ulysses, and every town rose to the dignity of +a Troy.</p> + +<p>The geographical configuration of the country, as I have described +it, isolated almost every family of note on various branches +of the river, so that nearly all were enabled to fortify themselves +within their islands or marshy flats. The principal parties in this +family feud were the Amarars and Shiakars. Amarar was a +native of Shebar, and, through several generations, had Mandingo +blood in his veins;—Shiakar, born on the river, considered +himself a noble of the land, and being aggressor in this conflict, +disputed his prize with the wildest ferocity of a savage. +The whites, who are ever on the watch for native quarrels, +wisely refrained from partisanship with either of the combatants, +but continued to purchase the prisoners brought +to their factories by both parties. Many a vessel bore across the +Atlantic two inveterate enemies shackled to the same bolt, while +others met on the same deck a long-lost child or brother who +had been captured in the civil war.</p> + +<p>I might fill a volume with the narrative of this horrid conflict +before it was terminated by the death of Amarar. For several +months this savage had been blockaded in his stockade by +Shiakar’s warriors. At length a sortie became indispensable to +obtain provisions, but the enemy were too numerous to justify +the risk. Upon this, Amarar called his soothsayer, and required +him to name a propitious moment for the sally. The oracle +retired to his den, and, after suitable incantations, declared that +the effort should be made as soon as the hands of Amarar were +stained in the blood of his own son. It is said that the prophet intended +the victim to be a youthful son of Amarar, who had joined +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> +his mother’s family, and was then distant; but the impatient +and superstitious savage, seeing a child of his own, two years +old, at hand, when the oracle announced the decree, snatched the +infant from his mother’s arms, threw it into a rice mortar, and, +with a pestle, mashed it to death!</p> + +<p>The sacrifice over, a sortie was ordered. The infuriate and +starving savages, roused by the oracle and inflamed by the +bloody scene, rushed forth tumultuously. Amarar, armed with +the pestle, still warm and reeking with his infant’s blood, was +foremost in the onset. The besiegers gave way and fled; the +town was re-provisioned; the fortifications of the enemy demolished, +and the soothsayer rewarded with a slave for his barbarous +prediction!</p> + +<p>At another time, Amarar was on the point of attacking a +strongly fortified town, when doubts were intimated of success. +Again the wizard was consulted, when the mysterious oracle +declared that the chief “<i>could not conquer till he returned once +more to his mother’s womb</i>!” That night Amarar committed +the blackest of incests; but his party was repulsed, and the false +prophet stoned to death!</p> + +<p>These are faint incidents of a savage drama which lasted several +years, until Amarar, in his native town, became the prisoner +of Shiakar’s soldiery. Mana, his captor, caused him to be decapitated; +and while the blood still streamed from the severed +neck, the monster’s head was thrust into the fresh-torn bowels +of his mother!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LIII.</h2> + + +<p>The first expedition upon which Don Pedro Blanco despatched +me revealed a new phase of Africa to my astonished eyes. I was +sent in a small Portuguese schooner to Liberia for tobacco; and +here the trader who had never contemplated the negro on the +shores of his parent country except as a slave or a catcher of +slaves, first beheld the rudiments of an infant state, which in +time may become the wedge of Ethiopian civilization. The comfortable +government house, neat public warerooms, large emigration +home, designed for the accommodation of the houseless; +clean and spacious streets, with brick stores and dwellings; the +twin churches with their bells and comfortable surroundings; the +genial welcome from well dressed negroes; the regular wharves +and trim craft on the stocks, and last of all, a visit from a colored +collector with a <i>printed</i> bill for twelve dollars “anchor dues,” +all convinced me that there was, in truth, something more in these +ebony frames than an article of commerce and labor. I paid the +bill eagerly,—considering that a document <i>printed in Africa by +Negroes</i>, under North American influence, would be a curiosity +among the infidels of Gallinas!</p> + +<p>My engagements with Blanco had been made on the basis +of familiarity with the slave-trade in all its branches, but my +independent spirit and impatient temper forbade, from the first, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> +the acceptance of any subordinate position at Gallinas. Accordingly, +as soon as I returned from the new Republic, Don Pedro +desired me to prepare for the establishment of a branch factory, +under my exclusive control, at New Sestros, an independent +principality in the hands of a Bassa chief.</p> + +<p>I lost no time in setting forth on this career of comparative +independence, and landed with the trading cargo provided for +me, at the Kroomen’s town, where I thought it best to dwell till +a factory could be built.</p> + +<p>An African, as well as a white man, must be drilled into the +traffic. It is one of those things that do not “come by nature:” +yet its mysteries are acquired, like the mysteries of commerce +generally, with much more facility by some tribes than others. +I found this signally illustrated by the prince and people of New +Sestros, and very soon detected their great inferiority to the +Soosoos, Mandingoes, and Veys. For a time their conduct was +so silly, arrogant, and trifling, that I closed my chests and broke +off communication. Besides this, the slaves they offered were +of an inferior character and held at exorbitant prices. Still, as +I was commanded to purchase rapidly, I managed to collect +about seventy-five negroes of medium grades, all of whom I designed +sending to Gallinas in the schooner that was tugging at +her anchor off the beach.</p> + +<p>At the proper time I sent for the black prince <i>to assist me in +shipping the slaves</i>, and to receive the head-money which was +his export duty on my cargo. The answer to my message was an +illustration of the character and insolence of the ragamuffins with +whom I had to deal. “The prince,” returned my messenger, +“don’t like your sauciness, Don Téodore, <i>and won’t come till +you beg his pardon by a present</i>!”</p> + +<p>It is very true that after my visit to their republic, I began +to entertain a greater degree of respect than was my wont, for +black men, yet my contempt for the original, unmodified race was +so great, that when the prince’s son, a boy of sixteen, delivered +this reply on behalf of his father, I did not hesitate to cram it +down his throat by a back-handed blow, which sent the sprig of +royalty bleeding and howling home.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> +It may be easily imagined what was the condition of the native +town when the boy got back to the “palace,” and told his +tale of Spanish boxing. In less than ten minutes, another messenger +arrived with an order for my departure from the country +“before next day at noon;”—an order which, the envoy declared, +would be <i>enforced</i> by the outraged townsfolk unless I willingly +complied.</p> + +<p>Now, I had been too long in Africa to tremble before a +negro prince, and though I really hated the region, I determined +to disobey in order to teach the upstart a lesson of civilized manners. +Accordingly, I made suitable preparations for resistance, +and, when my hired servants and <i>barracooniers</i> fled in terror at +the prince’s command, I landed some whites from my schooner, +to aid in protecting our slaves.</p> + +<p>By this time, my house had been constructed of the frail bamboos +and matting which are exclusively used in the buildings of +the Bassa country. I had added a cane verandah or piazza to +mine, and protected it from the pilfering natives, by a high palisade, +that effectually excluded all intruders. Within the area of +this inclosure was slung my hammock, and here I ate my meals, +read, wrote, and received “Princes” as well as the mob.</p> + +<p>At nightfall, I loaded twenty-five muskets, and placed them +<i>inside my sofa</i>, which was a long trade-chest. I covered the +deal table with a blanket, beneath whose pendent folds I concealed +a keg of powder <i>with the head out</i>. Hard by, under a broad-brimmed +<i>sombrero</i>, lay a pair of double-barrelled pistols. With +these dispositions of my volcanic armory, I swung myself asleep +in the hammock, and leaving the three whites to take turns in +watching, never stirred till an hour after sunrise, when I was +roused by the war-drum and bells from the village, announcing +the prince’s approach.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes my small inclosure of palisades was filled +with armed and gibbering savages, while his majesty, in the red +coat of a British drummer, but without any trowsers, strutted +pompously into my presence. Of course, I assumed an air of +humble civility, and leading the potentate to one end of the guarded +piazza, where he was completely isolated from his people, I +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> +stationed myself between the table and the <i>sombrero</i>. Some of +the prince’s relations attempted to follow him within my inclosure, +but, according to established rules, they dared not advance beyond +an assigned limit.</p> + +<p>When the formalities were over, a dead silence prevailed for +some minutes. I looked calmly and firmly into the prince’s eyes, +and waited for him to speak. Still he was silent. At last, getting +tired of dumb-show, I asked the negro if he had “come to +assist me in shipping my slaves; the sun is getting rather high,” +said I, “and we had better begin without delay!”</p> + +<p>“Did you get my message?” was his reply, “and why haven’t +you gone?”</p> + +<p>“Of course I received your message,” returned I, “but as I +came to New Sestros at my leisure, I intend to go away when it +suits me. Besides this, Prince Freeman, I have no fear that you +will do me the least harm, especially as I shall be <i>before</i> you in +any capers of that sort.”</p> + +<p>Then, by a sudden jerk, I threw off the blanket that hid the +exposed powder, and, with pistols in hand, one aimed at the keg +and the other at the king, I dared him to give an order for my +expulsion.</p> + +<p>It is inconceivable how <i>moving</i> this process proved, not only +to Freeman, but to the crowd comprising his body-guard. The +poor blusterer, entirely cut off from big companions, was in a +laughable panic. His tawny skin became ashen, as he bounded +from his seat and rushed to the extremity of the piazza; and, to +make a long story short, in a few minutes he was as penitent and +humble as a dog.</p> + +<p>I was, of course, not unforgiving, when Freeman advanced to +the rail, and warning the blacks that he had “changed his mind,” +ordered the odorous crowd out of my inclosure. Before the negroes +departed, however, I made him swear eternal fidelity and +friendship in their presence, after which I sealed the compact with +a couple of demijohns of New England rum.</p> + +<p>Before sunset, seventy-five slaves were shipped for me in his +canoes, and ever after, Prince Freeman was a model monument of +the virtues of gunpowder physic!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LIV.</h2> + + +<p>The summary treatment of this ebony potentate convinced the +Kroo and Fishmen of New Sestros that they would find my breakfast +parties no child’s play. Bold <i>bravado</i> had the best effect on the +adjacent inland as well as the immediate coast. The free blacks +not only treated my person and people with more respect, but +began to supply me with better grades of negroes; so that when +Don Pedro found my success increasing, he not only resolved to +establish a permanent factory, but enlarged my commission to ten +slaves for every hundred I procured. Thereupon, I at once commenced +the erection of buildings suitable for my personal comfort +and the security of slaves. I selected a pretty site closer to the +beach. A commodious two-story house, surrounded by double +verandahs, was topped by a look-out which commanded an ocean-view +of vast extent, and flanked by houses for all the necessities +of a first-rate factory. There were stores, a private kitchen, a +rice house, houses for domestic servants, a public workshop, a depot +for water, a slave-kitchen, huts for single men, and sheds under +which gangs were allowed to recreate from time to time during +daylight. The whole was surrounded by a tall hedge-fence, thickly +planted, and entered by a double gate, on either side of which +were long and separate <i>barracoons</i> for males and females. The +entrance of each slave-pen was commanded by a cannon, while in +the centre of the square, I left a vacant space, whereon I have +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> +often seen seven hundred slaves, guarded by half a dozen musketeers, +singing, drumming and dancing, after their frugal meals.</p> + +<p>It is a pleasant fancy of the natives, who find our surnames +rather difficult of pronunciation, while they know very little of +the Christian calendar, to baptize a new comer with some title, +for which, any chattel or merchandise that strikes their fancy, is +apt to stand godfather. My exploit with the prince christened +me “Powder” on the spot; but when they saw my magnificent +establishment, beheld the wealth of my warehouse, and heard the +name of “store,” I was forthwith whitewashed into “<i>Storee</i>.”</p> + +<p>And “<i>Storee</i>,” without occupying a legislative seat in Africa, +was destined to effect a rapid change in the motives and prospects +of that quarter. In a few months, New Sestros was alive. +The isolated beach, which before my arrival was dotted with half +a dozen Kroo hovels, now counted a couple of flourishing towns, +whose inhabitants were supplied with merchandise and labor in +my factory. The neighboring princes and chiefs, confident of +selling their captives, struggled to the sea-shore through the trackless +forest; and in a very brief period, Prince Freeman, who “no +likee war” over my powder-keg, sent expedition after expedition +against adjacent tribes, to redress imaginary grievances, or to settle +old bills with his great-grandfather’s debtors. There was no absolute +idea of “extending the area of freedom, or of territorial +annexation,” but it was wonderful to behold how keen became the +sovereign’s sensibility to national wrongs, and how patriotically +he labored to vindicate his country’s rights. It is true, this African +metamorphosis was not brought about without some sacrifice +of humanity; still I am confident that during my stay, greater +strides were made towards modern civilization than during the +visit of any other factor. When I landed among the handful of +savages I found them given up to the basest superstition. All +classes of males as well as females, were liable to be accused upon +any pretext by the <i>juju-men</i> or priests, and the dangerous <i>saucy-wood</i> +potion was invariably administered to test their guilt or innocence. +It frequently happened that accusations of witchcraft +or evil practices were purchased from these wretches in order to +get rid of a sick wife, an imbecile parent, or an opulent relative; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> +and, as the poisonous draught was mixed and graduated by the <i>juju-man</i>, +it rarely failed to prove fatal when the drinker’s death was +necessary.<a name="FNanchor_F_13" id="FNanchor_F_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_13" class="fnanchor">[F]</a> Ordeals of this character occurred almost daily in the +neighboring country, of course destroying numbers of innocent +victims of cupidity or malice. I very soon observed the frequency +of this abominable crime, and when it was next attempted in the +little settlement that clustered around my factory, I respectfully +requested that the accused might be locked up <i>for safety in my +barracoon</i>, till the fatal liquid was prepared and the hour for its +administration arrived.</p> + +<p>It will be readily understood that the saucy-wood beverage, +like any other, may be prepared in various degrees of strength, so +that the operator has entire control of its noxious qualities. If +the accused has friends, either to pay or tamper with the medicator, +the draft is commonly made weak enough to insure its harmless +rejection from the culprit’s stomach; but when the victim is +friendless, time is allowed for the entire venom to exude, and the +drinker dies ere he can drink the second bowl.</p> + +<p>Very soon after the offer of my <i>barracoon</i> as a prison for the +accused, a Krooman was brought to it, accused of causing his +nephew’s death by fatal incantations. The <i>juju</i> had been consulted +and confirmed the suspicion; whereupon the luckless negro +was seized, ironed, and delivered to my custody.</p> + +<p>Next day early the <i>juju-man</i> ground his bark, mixed it with +water, and simmered the potion over a slow fire to extract the +poison’s strength. As I had reason to believe that especial enmity +was entertained against the imprisoned uncle, I called at the +<i>juju’s</i> hovel while the medication was proceeding, and, with the +bribe of a bottle, requested him to impart triple power to the +noxious draught. My own <i>juju</i>, I said, had nullified his by +pronouncing the accused innocent, and I was exceedingly anxious +to test the relative truth of our soothsayers.</p> + +<p>The rascal promised implicit compliance, and I hastened back +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> +to the <i>barracoon</i> to await the fatal hour. Up to the very moment +of the draught’s administration, I remained alone with the +culprit, and administering a double dose of tartar-emetic just +before the gate was opened, I led him forth loaded with irons. +The daring negro, strong in his truth, and confident of the white +man’s superior witchcraft, swallowed the draught without a wink, +and in less than a minute, the rejected venom established his innocence, +and covered the African wizard with confusion.</p> + +<p>This important trial and its results were of course noised +abroad throughout so superstitious and credulous a community. +The released Krooman told his companions of the “white-man-saucy-wood,” +administered by me in the <i>barracoon</i>; and, ever +afterwards, the accused were brought to my sanctuary where the +conflicting charm of my emetic soon conquered the native poison +and saved many a useful life. In a short time the malicious +practice was discontinued altogether.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>During the favorable season, I had been deprived of three +vessels by British cruisers, and, for as many months, had not +shipped a single slave,—five hundred of whom were now crowded +in my <i>barracoons</i>, and demanded our utmost vigilance for safe +keeping. In the gang, I found a family consisting of a man, his +wife, three children and a sister, all sold under an express obligation +of exile and slavery among Christians. The luckless +father was captured by my blackguard friend Prince Freeman in +person, and the family had been secured when the parents’ village +was subsequently stormed. Barrah was an outlaw and an +especial offender in the eyes of an African, though his faults were +hardly greater than the deeds that bestowed honor and knighthood +in the palmy days of our ancestral feudalism. Barrah was +the discarded son of a chief in the interior, and had presumed to +blockade the public path towards the beach, and collect duties +from transient passengers or caravans. This interfered with +Freeman and his revenues; but, in addition to the pecuniary +damage, the alleged robber ventured on several occasions to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> +defeat and plunder the prince’s vagabonds, so that, in time, he became +rich and strong enough to build a town and fortify it with +a regular stockade, <i>directly on the highway</i>! All these offences +were so heinous in the sight of my beach prince, that no foot was +suffered to cool till Barrah was captured. Once within his +power, Freeman would not have hesitated to kill his implacable +enemy as soon as delivered at New Sestros; but the interference +of friends, and, perhaps, the laudable conviction that a live negro +was worth more than a dead one, induced his highness to sell +him under pledge of Cuban banishment.</p> + +<p>Barrah made several ineffectual attempts to break my <i>barracoon</i> +and elude the watchfulness of my guards, so that they were +frequently obliged to restrict his liberty, deprive him of comforts, +or add to his shackles. In fact, he was one of the most +formidable savages I ever encountered, even among the thousands +who passed in terrible procession before me in Africa. +One day he set fire to the bamboo-matting with which a portion +of the <i>barracoon</i> was sheltered from the sun, for which he was +severely lashed; but next day, when allowed, under pretence of +ague, to crawl with his heavy irons to the kitchen fire, he suddenly +dashed a brand into the thatch, and, seizing another, sprang +towards the powder-house, which his heavy shackles did not +allow him to reach before he was felled to the earth.</p> + +<p>Freeman visited me soon afterwards, and, in spite of profit +and liquor, insisted on taking the brutal savage back; but, in +the mean time, the Bassa chief, to whom my prince was subordinate, +heard of Barrah’s attempt on my magazine, and demanded +the felon to expiate his crime, according to the law of his country, +at the stake. No argument could appease the infuriate +judges, who declared that a cruel death would alone satisfy the +people whose lives had been endangered by the robber. Nevertheless, +I declined delivering the victim for such a fate, so that, +in the end, we compromised the sentence by shooting Barrah in +the presence of all the slaves and townsfolk,—the most unconcerned +spectators among whom were his wife and sister!</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_13" id="Footnote_F_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_13"><span class="label">[F]</span></a> <i>Saucy-wood</i> is the reddish bark of the <i>gedu</i> tree, which when ground +and mixed with water, makes a poisonous draught, believed to be infallible +in the detection of crime. It is, in fact, “a trial by ordeal;” if the +drinker survives he is innocent, if he perishes, guilty.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LV.</h2> + + +<p>There is no river at the New Sestros settlement, though geographers, +with their usual accuracy in African outlines, have often +projected one on charts and maps. Two miles from the short +and perilous beach where I built my <i>barracoons</i>, there was a +slender stream, which, in consequence of its shallow bed, and +narrow, rock-bound entrance, the natives call “Poor River;” but +my factory was at New Sestros <i>proper</i>; and there, as I have +said, there was no water outlet from the interior; in fact, nothing +but an embayed strand of two hundred yards, flanked by +dangerous cliffs. Such a beach, open to the broad ocean and for +ever exposed to the fall rage of its storms, is of course more or +less dangerous at all times for landing; and, even when the air +is perfectly calm, the common surf of the sea pours inward with +tremendous and combing waves, which threaten the boats of all +who venture among them without experienced skill. Indeed, the +landing at New Sestros would be impracticable were it not for +the dexterous Kroomen, whose canoes sever and surmount the billows +in spite of their terrific power.</p> + +<p>Kroomen and Fishmen are different people from the Bushmen. +The two former classes inhabit the sea-shore exclusively, +and living apart from other African tribes, are governed by their +elders under a somewhat democratic system. The Bushmen do +not suffer the Kroos and Fishes to trade with the interior; but, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> +in recompense for the monopoly of traffic with the strongholds of +Africa’s heart, these expert boatmen maintain despotic sway +along the beach in trade with the shipping. As European or +Yankee boats cannot live in the surf I have described, the Kroo +and Fishmen have an advantage over their brothers of the Bush, +as well as over the whites, which they are not backward in using +to their profit. In fact, the Bushmen fight, travel, steal and +trade, while the Kroos and Fishes, who for ages have fringed at +least seven hundred miles of African coast, constitute the mariners, +without whose skill and boldness slaves would be drugs in +caravans or <i>barracoons</i>. And this is especially the case since +British, French, and American cruisers have driven the traffic +from every nook and corner of the west coast that even resembled +<i>a harbor</i>, and forced the slavers to lay in wait in open +roadsteads for their prey.</p> + +<p>The Kroo canoe, wedge-like at both ends, is hollowed from +the solid trunk of a tree to the thickness of an inch. Of course +they are so light and buoyant that they not only lie like a feather +on the surface of the sea, so as to require nothing but freedom +from water for their safety, but a canoe, capable of containing +four people, may be borne on the shoulders of one or two to any +reasonable distance. Accordingly, Kroomen and Fishmen are +the prime pets of all slavers, traders, and men-of-war that frequent +the west coast of Africa; while no one dwelling on the +shore, engaged in commerce, is particularly anxious to merit or +receive their displeasure.</p> + +<p>When I landed at New Sestros, I promptly supplied myself +with a little fleet of these amphibious natives; and, as the news +of my liberality spread north and south along the shore, the +number of my retainers increased with rapidity. Indeed, in six +months a couple of rival towns,—one of Kroos and the other of +Fishes,—hailed me severally as their “Commodore” and “Consul.” +With such auxiliaries constantly at hand, I rarely feared +the surf when the shipment of slaves was necessary. At Gallinas, +under the immediate eye of Don Pedro, the most elaborate +care was taken to secure an ample supply of these people and +their boats, and I doubt not that the multitude employed in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> +establishment’s prime, could, at a favorable moment, despatch +at least a thousand slaves within the space of four hours. Yet +I have heard from Kroomen at Gallinas the most harrowing tales +of disaster connected with the shipment of negroes from that +perilous bar. Even in the dry season, the mouth of this river is +frequently dangerous, and, with all the adroitness they could +display, the Kroos could not save boat-load after boat-load from +becoming food for the ravenous sharks!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>I was quite afloat at New Sestros on the tide of success, when +the cruiser that for a while had annoyed me with a blockade, became +short of food, and was obliged to bear away for Sierra Leone. +My well paid spy—a Krooman who had been employed by the +cruiser—soon apprised me of the brig’s departure and its cause; +so that in an hour the beach was in a bustle, despatching a swift +canoe to Gallinas with a message to Don Pedro:—“The coast is +clear:—send me a vessel:—relieve my plethora!”</p> + +<p>Forty-eight hours were hardly over when the twin masts of a +clipper brig were seen scraping along the edge of the horizon, +with the well-known signal for “embarkation.” I was undoubtedly +prepared to welcome my guest, for Kroos, Fishes, Bushmen, +Bassas and all, had been alert since daybreak, ready to hail the +craft and receive their fees. There had been a general embargo +on all sea-going folks for a day before, so that there was not a +fish to be had for love or money in the settlement. Minute precautions +like these are absolutely necessary for all prudent +slavers, for it was likely that the cruiser kept a spy in her pay +among <i>my</i> people, as well as I did among <i>hers</i>!</p> + +<p>All, therefore, was exceedingly comfortable, so far as ordinary +judgment could foresee; but alas! the moon was full, and the +African surf at such periods is fearfully terrific. As I listened +from my piazza or gazed from my <i>bellevue</i>, it roared on the +strand like the charge of interminable cavalry. My watchful +enemy had been several days absent, and I expected her return +from hour to hour. The shipment, though extremely perilous, was, +therefore indispensable; and four short hours of daylight alone +remained to complete it. I saw the risk, yet, taking counsel with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> +the head Kroo and Fishmen, I persuaded them, under the provocation +of triple reward, to attempt the enterprise with the smallest +skiffs and stoutest rowers, while a band of lusty youths stood by +to plunge in whenever the breakers capsized a canoe.</p> + +<p>We began with females, as the most difficult cargo for embarkation, +and seventy reached the brig safely. Then followed +the stronger sex; but by this time a sea-breeze set in from the +south-west like a young gale, and driving the rollers with greater +rapidity, upset almost every alternate cockleshell set adrift with +its living freight. It was fortunate that our sharks happened +that evening to be on a frolic elsewhere, so that negro after negro +was rescued from the brine, though the sun was rapidly sinking +when but two thirds of my slaves were safely shipped.</p> + +<p>I ran up and down the beach, in a fever of anxiety, shouting, +encouraging, coaxing, appealing, and <i>refreshing</i> the boatmen +and swimmers; but as the gangs came ashore, they sank exhausted +on the beach, refusing to stir. Rum, which hitherto +roused them like electricity, was now powerless. Powder they +did not want, nor muskets, nor ordinary trade stuff, for they +never engaged in kidnapping or slave wars.</p> + +<p>As night approached the wind increased. <i>There</i> was the brig +with topsails aback, signalling impatiently for despatch; but never +was luckless factor more at fault! I was on the eve of giving +up in despair, when a bright flash brought to recollection a +quantity of Venetian beads of mock coral which I had stowed in +my chest. They happened, at that moment, to be the rage among +the girls of our beach, and were of course irresistible keys to the +heart of every belle. Now the smile of a lip has the same magical +power in Africa as elsewhere; and the offer of a coral bunch for +each head embarked, brought all the dames and damsels of Sestros +to my aid. Such a shower of chatter was never heard out of a +canary cage. Mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, sweethearts, took +charge of the embarkation by coaxing or commanding their respective +gentlemen; and, before the sun’s rim dipped below the +horizon, a few strands of false coral, or the kiss of a negro wench, +sent one hundred more of the Africans into Spanish slavery.</p> + +<p>But this effort exhausted my people. The charm of beads +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> +and beauty was over: Three slaves found a tomb in the sharks, +or a grave in the deep, while the brig took flight in the darkness +without the remaining one hundred and twenty I had designed +for her hold.</p> + +<p>Next morning the cruiser loomed once more in the offing, +and, in a fit of impetuous benevolence, I hurried a Krooman +aboard, with the offer of my compliments, and a <i>sincere</i> hope that +I could render some service!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LVI.</h2> + + +<p>About this time, a Spanish vessel from the Canaries, laden with +fruit, the greater part of which had been sold at Goree, Sierra +Leone, Gallinas, and Cape Mesurado, dropped anchor opposite +my little roadstead with a letter from Blanco. The Spaniard +had been chartered by the Don to bring from the Grain Coast a +cargo of rice, which he was to collect under my instructions.</p> + +<p>My <i>barracoons</i> happened to be just then pretty bare, and as +the season did not require my presence in the factory for trade, +it struck me that I could not pass a few weeks more agreeably, +and ventilate my jaded faculties more satisfactorily, than by +throwing my carpet-bag on the Brilliant, and purchasing the +cargo myself.</p> + +<p>In the prosecution of this little adventure, I called along the +coast with cash at several English factories, where I obtained +rice; and on my return anchored off the river to purchase sea-stores. +Here I found Governor Findley, chief of the colony, +laboring under a protracted illness which refused yielding to +medicine, but might, probably, be relieved by a voyage, even of +a few days, in the pure air of old Neptune. Slaver as I was, I +contrived never to omit a civility to gentlemen on the coast +of Africa; and I confess I was proud of the honorable service, +when Governor Findley accepted the Brilliant for a trip along +the coast. He proposed visiting Monrovia and Bassa; and after +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> +landing at some port in that quarter to await the captain’s return +from windward.</p> + +<p>I fanned along the coast as slowly as I could, to give the +Governor every possible chance to recruit his enervated frame +by change of air; but, as I looked in at New Sestros in passing, +I found three trading vessels with cargoes of merchandise to my +consignment, so that I was obliged to abandon my trip and return +to business. I left the Governor, however, in excellent hands, +and directed the captain to land him at Bassa, await his pleasure +three days, and finally, to bear him to Monrovia, the last place +he desired visiting.</p> + +<p>The Rio San Juan or Grand Bassa, is only fourteen miles +north-west of New Sestros, yet it was near nightfall when the +Brilliant approached the river landing. The Spaniard advised +his guest not to disembark till next morning, but the Governor was +so restless and anxious about delay, that he declined our captain’s +counsel, and went ashore at a native town, with the design of +crossing on foot the two miles of beach to the American settlement.</p> + +<p>As Findley went over the Brilliant’s side into the Krooman’s +canoe, the jingle of silver was heard in his pocket; and warning +was given him either to hide his money or leave it on board. +But the Governor smiled at the caution, and disregarding it entirely, +threw himself into the African skiff.</p> + +<p>Night fell. The curtain of darkness dropped over the coast and +sea. Twice the sun rose and set without word from the Governor. +At last, my delayed mariner became impatient if not anxious, +and despatched one of my servants who spoke English, in search +of Mr. Findley at the American Settlement. <i>No one had seen +or heard of him!</i> But, hurrying homeward from his fruitless +errand, my boy followed the winding beach, and half way to the +vessel found a human body, its head gashed with a deep wound, +floating and beating against the rocks. He could not recognize +the features of the battered face; but the well-remembered +garments left no doubt on the servant’s mind that the corpse was +Findley’s.</p> + +<p>The frightful story was received with dismay on the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> +Brilliant, whose captain, unfamiliar with the coast and its people, +hesitated to land, with the risk of treachery or ambush, even to +give a grave to the dust of his wretched passenger. In this +dilemma he thought best to run the fourteen miles to New Sestros, +where he might counsel with me before venturing ashore.</p> + +<p>Whatever personal anxiety may have flashed athwart my mind +when I heard of the death of a colonial governor while enjoying +the hospitality of myself,—a slaver,—the thought vanished as +quickly as it was conceived. In an instant I was busy with +detection and revenge.</p> + +<p>It happened that the three captains had already landed the +cargoes to my consignment, so that their empty vessels were lying +at anchor in the roads, and the officers ready to aid me in any +enterprise I deemed feasible. My colleagues were from three +nations:—one was a Spaniard, another a Portuguese, and the last +American.</p> + +<p>Next morning I was early aboard the Spaniard, and sending +for the Portuguese skipper, we assembled the crew. I dwelt +earnestly and heartily on the insult the Castilian flag had received +by the murder of an important personage while protected by its +folds. I demonstrated the necessity there was for prompt chastisement +of the brutal crime, and concluded by informing the +crowd, that their captains had resolved to aid me in vindicating +our banner. When I ventured to hope that <i>the men</i> would not +hesitate to back their officers, a general shout went up that they +were ready to land and punish the negroes.</p> + +<p>As soon as the enterprise was known on board the American, +her captain insisted on volunteering in the expedition; and by +noon, our little squadron was under way, with fifty muskets in the +cabins.</p> + +<p>The plan I roughly proposed, was, under the menacing appearance +of this force, to demand the murderer or murderers of +Governor Findley, and to execute them, either on his grave, or the spot +where his corpse was found. Failing in this, I intended to +land portions of the crews, and destroy the towns nearest the +theatre of the tragedy.</p> + +<p>The sun was still an hour or more high, when we sailed in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> +line past the native towns along the fatal beach, and displayed our +flags and pennants. Off the Rio San Joan, we tacked in man-of-war +fashion, and returning southward, each vessel took post opposite +a different town as if to command it.</p> + +<p>While I had been planning and executing these manœuvres, +the colonial settlers had heard of the catastrophe, and found poor +Findley’s mangled corpse. At the moment of our arrival off the +river’s mouth, an anxious council of resolute men was discussing +the best means of chastising the savages. When my servant +inquired for the governor he had spoken of him as a passenger in +the Spanish craft, so that the parade of our vessels alongshore +and in front of the native towns, betokened, they thought, co-operation +on the part of the Mongo of New Sestros.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, we had not been long at anchor before Governor +Johnson despatched a Krooman to know whether I was aboard a +friendly squadron; and, if so, he trusted I would land at once, +and unite with his forces in the intended punishment.</p> + +<p>In the interval, however, the cunning savages who soon found +out that we had no cannons, flocked to the beach, and as they were +beyond musket shot, insulted us by gestures, and defied a battle.</p> + +<p>Of course no movement was made against the blacks that +night, but it was agreed in council at the American settlement, +that the expedition, supported by a field piece, should advance +next day by the beach, where I could reinforce it with my seamen +a short distance from the towns.</p> + +<p>Punctual to the moment, the colonial flag, with drum and fife, +appeared on the sea-shore at nine in the morning, followed by some +forty armed men, dragging their cannon. Five boats, filled with +sailors instantly left our vessels to support the attack, and, by this +time, the colonists had reached a massive rock which blocked the +beach like a bulwark, and was already possessed by the natives. +My position, in flank, made my force most valuable in dislodging +the foe, and of course I hastened my oars to open the passage. As +I was altogether ignorant of the numbers that might be hidden +and lurking in the dense jungle that was not more than fifty feet +from the water’s edge, I kept my men afloat within musket shot, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> +and, with a few rounds of ball cartridge purged the rock of its +defenders, though but a single savage was mortally wounded.</p> + +<p>Upon this, the colonists advanced to the vacant bulwark, and +were joined by our reinforcement. Wheeler, who commanded +the Americans, proposed that we should march in a compact body +to the towns, and give battle to the blacks if they held out in their +dwellings. But his plan was not executed, for, before we reached +the negro huts, we were assailed from the bushes and jungle. +Their object was to keep hidden within the dense underwood; to +shoot and run; while we, entirely exposed on the ocean shore, were +obliged to remain altogether on the defensive by dodging the balls, +or to fire at the smoke of an unseen enemy. Occasionally, large +numbers of the savages would appear at a distance beyond musket +range, and tossing their guns and lances, or brandishing their +cutlasses, would present their naked limbs to our gaze, slap their +shining flanks, and disappear! But this diverting exercise was +not repeated very often. A sturdy colonist, named Bear, who +carried a long and heavy old-fashioned <i>rifle</i>, took rest on my +shoulder, and, when the next party of annoying jokers displayed +their personal charms, laid its leader in the dust by a Yankee +ball. Our cannon and blunderbusses were next brought into play +to scour the jungle and expel the marksmen, who, confident in the +security of their impervious screen, began to fire among us with +more precision than was desirable. A Krooman of our party was +killed, and a colonist severely wounded. Small sections of our +two commands advanced at a run, and fired a volley into the bushes, +while the main body of the expedition hastened along the beach +towards the towns. By repeating this process several times, we +were enabled, without further loss, to reach the first settlement.</p> + +<p>Here, of course, we expected to find the savages arrayed in +force to defend their roof-trees, but when we entered the place +cautiously, and crept to the first dwelling in the outskirt, it was +empty. So with the second, third, fourth,—until we overran +the whole settlement and found it utterly deserted;—its furniture, +stock, implements, and even <i>doors</i> carried off by the deliberate +fugitives. The guardian <i>fetiche</i> was alone left to protect +their abandoned hovels. But the superstitious charm did not +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> +save them. The brand was lighted; and, in an hour, five of +these bamboo confederacies were given to the flames.</p> + +<p>We discovered while approaching the towns, that our assault +had made so serious an inroad on the slim supply of ammunition, +that it was deemed advisable to send a messenger to the colony +for a reinforcement. By neglect or mishap, the powder and ball +never reached us; so that when the towns were destroyed, no +one dreamed of penetrating the forest to unearth its vermin with +the remnant of cartridges in our chest and boxes. I never was +able to discover the cause of this unpardonable neglect, or the +officer who permitted it to occur in such an exigency; but it was +forthwith deemed advisable to waste no time in retreating after +our partial revenge.</p> + +<p>Till now, the Africans had kept strictly on the defensive, but +when they saw our faces turned towards the beach, or colony, +every bush and thicket became alive again with aggressive foes. +For a while, the cannon kept them at bay, but its grape soon +gave out; and, while I was in the act of superintending a fair +division of the remaining ball cartridges, I was shot in the right +foot with an iron slug. At the moment of injury I scarcely +felt the wound, and did not halt, but, as I trudged along in the +sand and salt water, my wound grew painful, and the loss of +blood which tracked my steps, soon obliged me to seek refuge in +the canoe of my Kroomen.</p> + +<p>The sight of my bleeding body borne to the skiff, was hailed +with shouts and gestures of joy and contempt by the savages. As +I crossed the last breaker and dropped into smooth water, my +eyes reverted to the beach, where I heard the exultant war-drum +and war bells, while the colonists were beheld in full flight, +leaving their artillery in the hands of our foe! It was subsequently +reported that the commander of the party had been +panic struck by the perilous aspect of affairs, and ordered the +precipitate and fatal retreat, which that very night emboldened +the negroes to revenge the loss of their towns by the conflagration +of Bassa-Cove.</p> + +<p>Next day, my own men, and the volunteers from our Spanish, +Portuguese and American vessels, were sent on board, eight of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> +them bearing marks of the fray, which fortunately proved neither +fatal nor dangerous. The shameful flight of my comrades not +only gave heart to the blacks, but spread its cowardly panic +among the resident colonists. The settlement, they told me, +was in danger of attack, and although my wound and the disaster +both contributed to excite me against the fugitives, I did not +quit the San Juan without reinforcing Governor Johnson with +twenty muskets and some kegs of powder.</p> + +<p>I have dwelt rather tediously perhaps on this sad occurrence—but +I have a reason. Governor Findley’s memory was, at this +time, much vilified on the coast, because that functionary had accepted +the boon of a passage in the Brilliant, which was falsely declared +to be “a Spanish slaver.” There were some among the +overrighteous who even went so far as to proclaim his death “a +judgment for venturing on the deck of such a vessel!”</p> + +<p>As no one took the trouble to investigate the facts and contradict +the malicious lie, I have thought it but justice to tell +the entire story, and exculpate a gentleman who met a terrible +death in the bold prosecution of his duty.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LVII.</h2> + + +<p>I took the earliest opportunity to apprise Don Pedro Blanco of +the mishap that had befallen his factor’s limb, so that I might +receive the prompt aid of an additional clerk to attend the more +active part of our business. Don Pedro’s answer was extremely +characteristic. The letter opened with a draft for five hundred +dollars, which he authorized me to bestow on the widow and +orphans of Governor Findley, if he left a family. The slaver of +Gallinas then proceeded to comment upon my Quixotic expedition; +and, in gentle terms, intimated a decided censure for my +immature attempt to chastise the negroes. He did not disapprove +my <i>motives</i>; but considered any revengeful assault on the +natives unwise, unless every precaution had previously been +taken to insure complete success. Don Pedro hoped that, henceforth, +I would take things more coolly, so as not to hazard either +my life or his property; and concluded the epistle by superscribing +it:</p> + +<p><span class="receipt1">“To</span><br /> +<span class="receipt2">“<i>Señor</i> <span class="smcap">Powder</span>,<br /></span> +<span class="receipt3">“<i>at his Magazine</i>,<br /></span> +<span class="receipt4">“<span class="smcap">New Sestros</span>.”<br /></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>The slug that struck the upper part of my foot, near the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> +ankle joint, tore my flesh and tendons with a painfully dangerous +wound, which, for nine months, kept me a prisoner on +crutches. During the long and wearying confinement which almost +broke my restless heart, I had little to do save to superintend +the general fortunes of our factory. Now and then, an incident +occurred to relieve the monotony of my sick chair, and make me +forget, for a moment, the pangs of my crippled limb. One of +these events flashes across my memory as I write, in the shape +of a letter which was mysteriously delivered at my landing by a +coaster, and came from poor Joseph, my ancient partner on the +Rio Pongo. Coomba’s spouse was in trouble! and the ungrateful +scamp, though forgetful of my own appeals from the <i>Chateau +of Brest</i>, did not hesitate to claim my brotherly aid. Captured +in a Spanish slaver, and compromised beyond salvation, Joseph +had been taken into Sierra Leone, where he was now under sentence +of transportation. The letter hinted that a liberal sum +might purchase his escape, even from the tenacious jaws of the +British lion; and when I thought of old times, the laughable +marriage ceremony, and the merry hours we enjoyed at Kambia, +I forgave his neglect. A draft on Don Pedro was readily cashed +at Sierra Leone, notwithstanding the paymaster was a slaver and +the jurisdiction that of St. George and his Cross. The transaction, +of course, was “purely commercial,” and, therefore, sinless; +so that, in less than a month, Joseph and the bribed +turnkey were on their way to the Rio Pongo.</p> + +<p>By this time the sub-factory of New Sestros was somewhat +renowned in Cuba and Porto Rico. Our dealings with commanders, +the character of my cargoes, and the rapidity with which I +despatched a customer and his craft were proverbial in the islands. +Indeed, the third year of my lodgment had not rolled over, before +the slave-demand was so great, that in spite of rum, cottons, +muskets, powder, kidnapping and Prince Freeman’s wars, the +country could not supply our demand.</p> + +<p>To aid New Sestros, I had established several <i>nurseries</i>, or +junior factories, at Little Bassa and Digby; points a few miles +from the limits of Liberia. These “chapels of ease” furnished +my parent <i>barracoons</i> with young and small negroes, mostly +kidnapped, I suppose, in the neighborhood of the beach.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> +When I was perfectly cured of the injury I sustained in my +first philanthropic fight, I loaded my spacious cutter with a +choice collection of trade-goods, and set sail one fine morning +for this outpost at Digby. I designed, also, if advisable, to +erect another receiving <i>barracoon</i> under the lee of Cape +Mount.</p> + +<p>But my call at Digby was unsatisfactory. The pens were +vacant, and our merchandise squandered <i>on credit</i>. This put +me in a very uncomfortable passion, which would have rendered +an interview between “Mr. Powder” and his agent any thing +but pleasant or profitable, had that personage been at his post. +Fortunately, however, for both of us, he was abroad carousing +with “a <i>king</i>;” so that I refused landing a single yard of merchandise, +and hoisted sail for the next village.</p> + +<p>There I transacted business in regular “ship-shape.” Our +rum was plenteously distributed and established an <i>entente cordiale</i> +which would have charmed a diplomatist at his first dinner in a +new capital. The naked blackguards flocked round me like +crows, and I clothed their loins in parti-colored calicoes that +enriched them with a plumage worthy of parrots. I was the +prince of good fellows in “every body’s” opinion; and, in five +days, nineteen newly-“<i>conveyed</i>” darkies were exchanged for +London muskets, Yankee grog, and Manchester cottons!</p> + +<p>My cutter, though but twenty-seven feet long, was large +enough to stow my gang, considering that the voyage was short, +and the slaves but boys and girls; so I turned my prow homeward +with contented spirit and promising skies. Yet, before +night, all was changed. Wind and sea rose together. The sun +sank in a long streak of blood. After a while, it rained in terrible +squalls; till, finally, darkness caught me in a perfect gale. So +high was the surf and so shelterless the coast, that it became +utterly impossible to make a lee of any headland where we might +ride out the storm in safety. Our best hope was in the cutter’s +ability to keep the open sea without swamping; and, accordingly, +under the merest patch of sail, I coasted the perilous breakers, +guided by their roar, till day-dawn. But, when the sun lifted +over the horizon,—peering for an instant through a rent in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> +storm-cloud, and then disappearing behind the gray vapor,—I +saw at once that the coast offered no chance of landing our +blacks at some friendly town. Every where the bellowing shore +was lashed by surf, impracticable even for the boats and skill of +Kroomen. On I dashed, therefore, driving and almost burying +the cutter, with loosened reef, till we came opposite Monrovia; +where, safe in the absence of cruisers, I crept at dark under the +lee of the cape, veiling my cargo with our useless sails.</p> + +<p>Sunset “killed the wind,” enabling us to be off again at +dawn; yet hardly were we clear of the cape, when both gale and +current freshened from the old quarter, holding us completely +in check. Nevertheless, I kept at sea till evening, and then +sneaked back to my protecting anchorage.</p> + +<p>By this time, my people and slaves were well-nigh famished, +for their sole food had been a scant allowance of raw <i>cassava</i>. +Anxiety, toil, rain, and drenching spray, broke their spirits. +The blacks, from the hot interior, and now for the first time off +their mother earth, suffered not only from the inclement weather, +but groaned with the terrible pangs of sea-sickness. I resolved, +therefore, if possible, to refresh the drooping gang by a hot meal; +and, beneath the shelter of a tarpaulin, contrived to cook a mess +of rice. Warm food comforted us astonishingly; but, alas! the +next day was a picture of the past! A slave—cramped and +smothered amid the crowd that soaked so long in the salt water +at our boat’s bottom—died during the darkness. Next morning, +the same low, leaden, coffin-lid sky, hung like a pall over sea and +shore. Wind in terrific blasts, and rain in deluging squalls, +howled and beat on us. Come what might, I resolved not to +stir! All day I kept my people beneath the sails, with orders +to move their limbs as much as possible, in order to overcome the +benumbing effect of moisture and packed confinement. The incessant +drenching from sea and sky to which they had been so +long subjected, chilled their slackened circulation to such a degree, +that death from torpor seemed rapidly supervening. Motion, +motion, motion, was my constant command; but I hoarded +my alcohol for the last resource.</p> + +<p>I saw that no time was to be lost, and that nothing but a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> +bold encounter of hazard would save either lives or property. +Before dark my mind was made up as to the enterprise. I would +land in the neighborhood of the colony, and cross its territory +during the shadow of night!</p> + +<p>I do not suppose that the process by which I threw my stiffened +crew on the beach, and revived them with copious draughts +of brandy, would interest the reader; <i>but midnight did not +strike before my cargo, under the escort of Kroo guides, was +boldly marched through the colonial town, and safe on its way +to New Sestros!</i> Fortunately for my dare-devil adventure, the +tropical rain poured down in ceaseless torrents, compelling the +unsuspicious colonists to keep beneath their roofs. Indeed, no +one dreamed of a forced march by human beings on that dreadful +night of tempest, else it might have gone hard had I been detected +in the desecration of colonial soil. Still I was prepared for +all emergencies. I never went abroad without the two great +keys of Africa—gold and fire-arms; and had it been my lot to +encounter a colonist, he would either have learned the value of +silence, or have been carried along, under the muzzle of a pistol, +till the gang was in safety.</p> + +<p>While it was still dark, I left the caravan advancing by an +interior path to Little Bassa, where one of my branches could +furnish it with necessaries to cross the other colony of Bassa San +Juan, so as to reach my homestead in the course of three days. +Meanwhile I retraced my way to Monrovia, and, reaching it by +sunrise, satisfied the amiable colonists that I had just taken shelter +in their harbor, and was fresh from my dripping cutter. It +is very likely that no one in the colony to the present day knows +the true story of this adventure, or would believe it unless <i>confessed</i> +by me.</p> + +<p>It was often my fate in Africa, and elsewhere, to hear gossips +declare that colonists were no better than others who dwelt amid +coast temptations, and that they were sometimes even willing to +back a certain Don Theodore Canot, if not absolutely to share +his slave-trade! I never thought it prudent to exculpate those +honorable emigrants who were consolidating the first colonial +lodgments from the United States; for I believed that <i>my</i> denial +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> +would only add sarcastic venom to the scandal of vilifiers. +But now that my African career is over, and the slave-trade a +mere tradition in the neighborhood of Liberia, I may assure the +friends of colonization, that, in all my negro traffic, no American +settler gave assistance or furnished merchandise which I could not +have obtained at the most loyal establishments of Britain or +France. I think it will be granted by unprejudiced people, that +the colonist who sold me a few pieces of cloth, lodged me in travelling, +or gave me his labor for my flesh-colored gold, participated +no more in the African slave-trade than the European or +American supercargo who sold assorted cargoes, selected with +the most deliberate judgment in London, Paris, Boston, New York, +Philadelphia, or Baltimore, expressly to suit the well-known +cupidity of my warriors, kidnappers, and slave merchants.</p> + +<p>Commerce is sometimes an adroit metaphysican—but a bad +moralist!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LVIII.</h2> + + +<p>It was my invariable custom whenever a vessel made her appearance +in the roadstead of New Sestros, to despatch my canoe +with “Captain Canot’s compliments;” nor did I omit this graceful +courtesy when his Britannic Majesty’s cruisers did me the +honor of halting in my neighborhood to watch or destroy my operations. +At such times I commonly increased the politeness by +an offer of my services, and a tender of provisions, or of any commodity +the country could supply!</p> + +<p>I remember an interesting rencounter of this sort with the +officers of the brig of war Bonito. My note was forwarded by a +trusty Krooman, even before her sails were furled, but the courteous +offer was respectfully declined “<i>for the present</i>.” The captain +availed himself, however, of my messenger’s return, to announce +that the “commodore in command of the African squadron +had specially deputed the Bonito <i>to blockade</i> New Sestros, +for which purpose she was provisioned for <i>six months</i>, and ordered +not to budge from her anchorage till relieved by a +cruiser!”</p> + +<p>This formidable announcement was, of course, intended to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> +strike me with awe. The captain hoped in conclusion, that I +would see the folly of prosecuting my abominable traffic in the +face of such a disastrous <i>vis à vis</i>; nor could he refrain from intimating +his surprise that a man of my reputed character and +ability, would consent to manacle and starve the unfortunate negroes +who were now suffering in my <i>barracoons</i>.</p> + +<p>I saw at once from this combined attack of fear and flattery, +backed by blockade, that his majesty’s officer had either been +grossly misinformed, or believed that a scarcity of rice prevailed +in my establishment as well as elsewhere along the coast.</p> + +<p>The suspicion of <i>starving blacks in chains</i>, was not only pathetic +but mortifying! It was part of the sentimental drapery of +British reports and despatches, to which I became accustomed +in Africa. I did not retort upon my dashing captain with a +sneer at his ancestors who had taught the traffic to Spaniards, +yet I resolved not to let his official communications reach the +British admiralty with a fanciful tale about <i>my</i> barracoons and +starvation. Accordingly, without more ado, I sent a second <i>billet</i> +to the Bonito, desiring her captain or any of her officers to +visit New Sestros, and ascertain personally the condition of my +establishment.</p> + +<p>Strange to tell, my invitation was accepted; and at noon a +boat with a white flag, appeared on the edge of the surf, conveying +two officers to my beach. The surgeon and first lieutenant +were my visitors. I welcomed them most cordially to my cottage, +and as soon as the customary refreshments were despatched, +proposed a glance at the dreadful <i>barracoons</i>.</p> + +<p>As well as I now remember, there must have been at least +five hundred slaves in my two pens, sleek in flesh, happy in +looks, and ready for the first customer who could outwit the +cruiser. I quietly despatched a notice of our advent to the <i>barracooniers</i>, +with directions as to their conduct, so that the moment +my naval friends entered the stanch inclosures, full two +hundred and fifty human beings, in each, rose to their feet and +saluted the strangers with long and reiterated clapping. This +sudden and surprising demonstration somewhat alarmed my +guests at its outburst, and made them retreat a pace towards the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> +door,—perhaps in fear of treachery;—but when they saw the +smiling faces and heard the pleased chatter of my people, they +soon came forward to learn that the compliment was worth a customary +<i>demijohn of rum</i>.</p> + +<p>The adventure was a fortunate one for the reputation of New +Sestros, Don Pedro my employer, and Don Téodor, his clerk. +Our establishment happened just then to be at a summit of +material comfort rarely exceeded or even reached by others. My +pens were full of slaves; my granary, of rice; my stores, of +merchandise.</p> + +<p>From house to house,—from hut to hut,—the sailor and saw-bones +wandered with expressions of perfect admiration, till the +hour for dinner approached. I ordered the meal to be administered +with minute attention to all our usual ceremonies. The +washing, singing, distribution of food, beating time, and all the +prandial <i>etceteras</i> of comfort, were performed with the utmost +precision and cleanliness. They could not believe that such was +the ordinary routine of slave life in <i>barracoons</i>, but ventured to +hint that I must have got up the drama for their special diversion, +and that it was impossible for such to be the ordinary drill +and demeanor of Africans. Our dapper little surgeon, with almost +dissective inquisitiveness, pried into every nook and corner; +and at length reached the slave kitchen, where a caldron was +full and bubbling with the most delicious rice. Hard by stood +a pot, simmering with meat and soup, and in an instant the doctor +had a morsel between his fingers and brought his companion +to follow his example.</p> + +<p>Now, in sober truth, this was no casual display got up for +effect, but the common routine of an establishment conducted +with prudent foresight, for the profit of its owners as well as +the comfort of our people. And yet, such was the fanatical prepossession +of these Englishmen, whose idea of Spanish <i>factories</i> +and <i>barracoons</i> was formed exclusively from exaggerated reports, +that I could not satisfy them of my truth till I produced our +journal, in which I noted minutely every item of daily expenditure. +It must be understood, however, that it was not my habit +to give the slaves <i>meat</i> every day of the week. Such a diet would +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> +not be prudent, because it is not habitual with the majority of +negroes. Two bullocks were slaughtered each week for the use +of my <i>factory</i>, while the hide, head, blood, feet, neck, tail, and +entrails, were appropriated for broth in the <i>barracoons</i>. It happened +that my visitors arrived on the customary day of our +butchering.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>A stinging appetite was the natural result of our review, and +while the naval guests were whetting it still more, I took the opportunity +to slip out of my verandah with orders for our harbor-pilot +to report the beach “impracticable for boats,”—a report +which no prudent sailor on the coast ever disregards. Meanwhile, +I despatched a Krooman with a note to the Bonito’s captain, notifying +that personage of the marine hazard that prevented his +officers’ immediate return, and fearing they might even find it +necessary to tarry over night. This little <i>ruse</i> was an <i>impromptu</i> +device to detain my inspectors, and make us better acquainted +over the African <i>cuisine</i>, which, by this time was smoking +in tureens and dishes flanked by spirited sentinels, in black +uniform, of claret and eau de vie.</p> + +<p>Our dinner-chat was African all over: slavery, cruisers, prize-money, +captures, war, negro-trade, and philanthropy! The surgeon +melted enough under the blaze of the bottle to admit, <i>as a +philosopher</i>, that Cuffee was happier in the hands of white men +than of black, and that he would even support the institution if +it could be carried on with a little more humanity and less bloodshed. +The lieutenant saw nothing, even through the “Spiritual +Medium” of our flagons, save prize-money and obedience to the +Admiral; while Don Téodor became rather tart on the service, +and confessed that his incredulity of British philanthropy +would never cease till England abandoned her Indian wars, her +opium smuggling, and her persecution of the Irish!</p> + +<p>In truth, these loyal subjects of the King, and the Spanish slaver +became most excellent friends before bed-time, and ended the +evening by a visit to Prince Freeman, who forthwith got up a +negro dance and jollification for our special entertainment.</p> + +<p>I have not much recollection after the end of this savage frolic +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> +till my “look-out” knocked at the door with the news that our +brig was firing for her officers, while a suspicious sail flitted along +the horizon.</p> + +<p>All good sailors sleep with one eye and ear open, so that in a +twinkling the lieutenant was afoot making for the beach, and calling +for the surgeon to follow. “A canoe! a canoe! a canoe!” +shouted the gallant blade, while he ran to and fro on the edge of +the surf, beholding signal after signal from his vessel. But alas! +for the British navy,—out of all the Kroo spectators not one +stirred hand or foot for the royal officer. Next came the jingle of +dollars, and the offer of twenty to the boatmen who would launch +their skiff and put them on board. “No savez! No savez! ax +Commodore! ax Consul!”</p> + +<p>“Curse your Commodore and Consul!” yelled the Lieutenant, +as the surgeon came up with the vociferous group: “put us aboard +and be paid, or I’ll——?”</p> + +<p>“Stop, stop!” interposed my pacific saw-bones, “no swearing +and no threats, lieutenant. One’s just as useless as the other. +First of all, the Bonito’s off about her business;—and next, my +dear fellow, the chase she’s after is one of Canot’s squadron, and, +of course, there’s an embargo on every canoe along this beach! +The Commodore’s altogether <i>too cute</i>, as the Yankees say, to +reinforce his enemy with officers!”</p> + +<p>During this charming little episode of my <i>blockade</i>, I was +aloft in my bellevieu, watching the progress of the chase; and as +both vessels kept steadily northward they soon disappeared behind +the land.</p> + +<p>By this time it was near breakfast, and, with a good appetite, +I descended to the verandah, with as unconcerned an air as if +nothing had occurred beyond the ordinary routine of factory life. +But, not so, alas! my knight of the single epaulette.</p> + +<p>“This is a pretty business, sir;” said the lieutenant, fixing a +look on me which was designed to annihilate; striding up and +down the piazza, “a <i>very</i> pretty business, I repeat! Pray, Commodore, +Consul, Don, Señor, Mister, Monsieur, Theodore Canot, +or whatever the devil else you please to call yourself, how long +do you intend to keep British officers prisoners in your infernal +slave den?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> +Now it is very likely that some years before, or if I had not +contrived the plot of this little naval <i>contre temps</i>, I might have +burst forth in a beautiful rage, and given my petulant and foiled +visitor a specimen of my Spanish vocabulary, which would not +have rested pleasantly in the memory of either party. But as <i>he</i> +warmed <i>I</i> cooled. His rage, in fact, was a fragment of my practical +satire, and I took special delight in beholding the contortions +caused by my physic.</p> + +<p>“Sit down, sit down, lieutenant!” returned I very composedly, +“we’re about to have coffee, and you are my <i>guest</i>. Nothing, +lieutenant, ever permits me to neglect the duties of hospitality in +such an out-of-the-way and solitary place as Africa. Sit down, +doctor! Calm yourselves, gentlemen. Take example by <i>me</i>! +Your Bonito is probably playing the devil with one of Don Pedro’s +craft by this time; but that don’t put me out of temper, or <i>make +me unmannerly</i> to gentlemen who honor my bamboo hut with their +presence!” I laid peculiar stress, by way of accent, on the word +“unmannerly,” and in a moment I saw the field was in my hands.</p> + +<p>“Yes, gentlemen,” continued I, “I comprehend very well both +your duty and responsibility; but, now that I see you are calmer, +have the kindness to say <i>in what</i> I am to blame? Did you not +come here to ‘blockade’ New Sestros, with a brig and provisions +for half a year? And do I prevent your embarkation, if you can +find any Krooman willing to take you on board? Nay, did either +of you apprise me, as is customary when folks go visiting, that +you designed leaving my quarters at so early an hour as to afford +me the pleasure of seeing every thing in order for your accommodation? +Come now, my good fellows, New Sestros is <i>my</i> flagship, +as the Bonito is <i>yours</i>! No body stirs from this beach without +the wink from its Commodore; and I shall be much surprised to +hear such excellent disciplinarians dispute the propriety of my rule. +Nevertheless, as you feel anxious to be gone on an independent +cruise, you shall be furnished with a canoe <i>instanter</i>!”</p> + +<p>“An offer,” interjected the surgeon, “which it would be d——d +nonsense to accept! Have done with your infernal sneering, Don +Téodor; strike your flag, Mr. Lieutenant; and let the darkies +bring in the breakfast!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> +I have narrated this little anecdote to show that Spanish slavers +sometimes ventured to have a little fun with the British lion, +and that when we got him on his haunches, his month full of beef +and his fore paws in air, he was by no means the unamiable beast +he is described to be, when, in company with the <i>unicorn</i>, he +goes</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“a-fighting for the crown!”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LIX.</h2> + + +<p>The balance of life vibrated considerably on the African +coast. Sometimes Mr. Bull’s scale ascended and sometimes the +Slaver’s. It was now the turn of the former to be exalted for a +while by way of revenge for my forced hospitality.</p> + +<p>Our friends of the Bonito held on with provoking pertinacity +in front of my factory, so that I was troubled but little with company +from Cuba for several months. At last, however, it became +necessary that I should visit a neighboring colony for supplies, +and I took advantage of a Russian trader along the coast to effect +my purpose. But when we were within sight of our destination, +a British cruiser brought us to and visited the “Galopsik.” As +her papers were in order, and the vessel altogether untainted, I +took it for granted that Lieutenant Hill would make a short stay +and be off to his “Saracen.” Yet, a certain “slave deck,” and +an unusual quantity of water-casks, aroused the officer’s suspicions, +so that instead of heading for our port, we were unceremoniously +favored with a prize crew, and ordered to Sierra Leone!</p> + +<p>I did not venture to protest against these movements, inasmuch +as I had no interest whatever in the craft, but I ventured +to suggest that “as I was only a <i>passenger</i>, there could be no objection +to my landing before the new voyage was commenced.”</p> + +<p>“By no means, sir,” was the prompt reply, “<i>your presence +is a material fact for the condemnation of the vessel</i>!” +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> +Indeed, I soon found out that I was recognized by some of the Kroomen +on the cruiser, and my unlucky reputation was a hole in the +bottom of our Russian craft!</p> + +<p>At Sierra Leone matters became worse. The Court did not +venture to condemn the Russian, but resolved on ordering her to +England; and when I re-stated my reasonable appeal for release, +I was told that I must accompany the vessel on her visit to Great +Britain.</p> + +<p>This arbitrary decision of our captors sadly disconcerted my +plans. A voyage to England would ruin New Sestros. My <i>barracoons</i> +were alive with blacks, but I had not a month’s provisions +in my stores. The clerk, temporarily in charge, was altogether +unfit to conduct a factory during a prolonged absence,—and all +my personal property, as well as Don Pedro’s, was at the hazard +of his judgment during a period of considerable difficulty.</p> + +<p>I resolved to take “French leave.”</p> + +<p>Three men-of-war were anchored astern and on our bows. No +boats were allowed to approach us from shore; at night two marines +and four sailors paraded the deck, so that it was a thing of +some peril to dream of escape in the face of such Arguses. Yet +there was no help for it. I could not afford an Admiralty or +Chancery suit in England, while my <i>barracoons</i> were foodless in +Africa.</p> + +<p>No one had been removed from the Russian since her seizure, +nor were we denied liberty of motion and intercourse so long as +suspicion had not ripened into legal condemnation. The captain, +by birth a Spaniard, was an old acquaintance, while the steward +and boatswain were good fellows who professed willingness to aid +me in any exploit I might devise for my liberty.</p> + +<p>I hit upon the plan of a regular carouse; and at once decided +that my Spanish skipper was bound to keep his birthday with +commendable merriment and abundant grog. There was to be +no delay; one day was as good as another for his festival, while +all that we needed, was time enough to obtain the requisite supplies +of food and fluid.</p> + +<p>This was soon accomplished, and the “fatted pig” slaughtered +for the feast. As I never left home unprovided with gold, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> +means were not wanting to stock our pantry with champagne as +well as brandy.</p> + +<p>Every thing went off to a charm. We fed like gluttons and +drank like old-fashioned squires. Bumper after bumper was +quaffed to the captain. Little by little, the infection spread, as it +always does, from the wardroom to the cabin, and “goodfellowship” +was the watchword of the night. Invitations were given +and accepted by our prize crew. Bull and the Lion again relaxed +under the spell of beef and brandy, so that by sundown every lip +had tasted our <i>eau de vie</i>, and watered for more. The “first +watch” found every soul on board, with the exception of our corporal +of marines, as happy as lords.</p> + +<p>This corporal was a regular “character;” and, from the first, +had been feared as our stumbling-block. He was a perfect martinet; +a prim, precise, black-stock’d, military, Miss Nancy. He +neither ate nor drank, neither talked nor smiled, but paraded the +deck with a grim air of iron severity, as if resolved to preserve +his own “discipline” if he could not control that of any one else. +I doubt very much whether her Majesty has in her service a more +dutiful loyalist than Corporal Blunt, if that excellent functionary +has not succumbed to African malaria.</p> + +<p>I hoped that something would occur to melt the corporal’s +heart during the evening, and had prepared a little vial in my +pocket, which, at least, would have given him a stirless nap of +twenty-four hours. But nothing broke the charm of his spell-bound +sobriety. There he marched, to and fro, regular as a drum +tap, hour after hour, stiff and inexorable as a ramrod!</p> + +<p>But who, after the fall of Corporal Blunt, shall declare that +there is a living man free from the lures of betrayal? And +yet, he only surrendered to an enemy in disguise!</p> + +<p>“God bless me, corporal,” said our prize lieutenant, “in the +name of all that’s damnable, why don’t you let out a reef or +two from those solemn cheeks of yours, and drink a bumper to +Captain Gaspard and Don Téodor? You ain’t afraid of <i>cider</i>, +are you?”</p> + +<p>“<i>Cider</i>, captain?” said the corporal, advancing to the front +and throwing up his hand with a military salute.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> +“Cider and be d——d to you!” returned the lieutenant. +“Cider—of course, corporal; what other sort of pop can starving +wretches like us drink in Sary-loney?”</p> + +<p>“Well, lieutenant,” said the corporal, “if so be as how them +fizzing bottles which yonder Spanish gentleman is a-pourin’ down +is <i>only cider</i>; and if cider ain’t agin rules after ‘eight bells;’ +and if you, lieutenant, orders me to handle my glass,—I don’t +see what right I have to disobey the orders of my superior!”</p> + +<p>“Oh! blast your sermon and provisos,” interjected the +lieutenant, filling a tumbler and handing it to the corporal, who +drained it at a draught. In a moment the empty glass was returned +to the lieutenant, who, instead of receiving it from the +subaltern, refilled the tumbler.</p> + +<p>“Oh, I’m sure I’m a thousand times obliged, lieutenant,” +said Blunt, with his left hand to his cap, “a thousand, thousand +times, lieutenant,—but I’d rather take no more, if it’s all the +same to your honor.”</p> + +<p>“But it ain’t, Blunt, by any means; the rule is universal +among gentlemen on ship and ashore, that whenever a fellow’s +glass is filled, he must drink it to the dregs, though he may leave +a drop in the bottom to pour out on the table in honor of his +sweetheart;—so, down with the cider! And now Blunt, my boy, +that you’ve calked your <i>first</i> nail-head, I insist upon a bumper +all round to that sweetheart you were just talking of!”</p> + +<p>“<i>Me</i>, lieutenant?”</p> + +<p>“<i>You</i>, corporal!”</p> + +<p>“I wasn’t talking about any sweetheart, as I remembers, +lieutenant;—’pon the honor of a soldier, I haven’t had no such a +thing this twenty years, since one warm summer’s afternoon, +when Jane——”</p> + +<p>“Now, corporal, you don’t pretend to contradict your superior +officer, I hope. You don’t intend to be the first man on this ship +to show a mutinous example!”</p> + +<p>“Oh! God bless me, lieutenant, the thought never entered +my brain!”</p> + +<p>But the third tumbler of champagne <i>did</i>, in the apple-blossom +disguise of “<i>cider</i>;” and, in half an hour, there wasn’t an +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> +odder figure on deck than the poor corporal, whose vice-like stock +steadied his neck, though there was nothing that could make him +toe the plank which he pertinaciously insisted on promenading. +Blunt the immaculate, was undeniably drunk!</p> + +<p>In fact,—though I say it with all possible respect for her +Majesty’s naval officers, <i>while on duty</i>,—there was, by this time, +hardly a sober man on deck or in the cabin except myself and +the Spanish captain, who left me to engage the prize-officer in a +game of backgammon or dominoes. The crew was dozing about +the decks, or nodding over the taffrail, while my colleague, the +boatswain, prepared an oar on the forecastle to assist me in reaching +the beach.</p> + +<p>It was near midnight when I stripped in my state-room, +leaving my garments in the berth, and hanging my watch over +its pillow. In a small bundle I tied a flannel shirt and a pair +of duck pantaloons, which I fastened behind my neck as I stood +on the forecastle; and then, placing the oar beneath my arm, I +glided from the bows into the quiet water.</p> + +<p>The night was not only very dark, but a heavy squall of wind +and rain, accompanied by thunder, helped to conceal my escape; +and free the stream from sharks. I was not long in reaching a +native town, where a Krooman from below, who had known me +at Gallinas, was prepared for my reception and concealment.</p> + +<p>Next morning, the cabin-boy, who did not find me as usual +on deck, took my coffee to the state-room, where, it was supposed, +I still rested in comfortable oblivion of last night’s carouse. +But the bird had flown! There were my trunk, my garments, +my watch,—undisturbed as I left them when preparing for bed. +There was the linen of my couch turned down and tumbled during +repose. The inquest had no doubt of my fate:—<i>I had fallen +overboard during the night</i>, and was doubtless, by this time, +well digested in the bowels of African sharks! Folks shook +their heads with surprise when it was reported that the notorious +slaver, Canot, had fallen a victim to <i>mania à potu</i>!</p> + +<p>The <i>report</i> of my death soon reached shore; the British +townsfolk believed it, but I never imagined for a moment that +the warm-hearted tar who commanded the prize had been deceived +by such false signals.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> +During eight days I remained hidden among the friendly negroes, +and from my loophole, saw the Russian vessel sail under +the Saracen’s escort. I was not, however, neglected in my concealment +by the worthy tradesmen of the British colony, who +knew I possessed money as well as credit. This permitted me +to receive visits and make purchases for the factory, so that I +was enabled, on the eighth day, with a full equipment of all I +desired, to quit the British jurisdiction in a Portuguese vessel.</p> + +<p>On our way to New Sestros, I made the skipper heave his +main-yard aback at Digby, while I embarked thirty-one “darkies,” +and a couple of stanch canoes with their Kroomen, to +land my human freight in case of encountering a cruiser.</p> + +<p>And well was it for me that I took this precaution. Night +fell around us, dark and rainy,—the wind blowing in squalls, and +sometimes dying away altogether. It was near one o’clock when +the watch announced two vessels on our weather bow; and, of +course, the canoes were launched, manned, filled with twenty of +the gang, and set adrift for the coast, ere our new acquaintances +could honor us with their personal attention. Ten of the slaves +still remained on board, and as it was perilous to risk them in +our own launch, we capsized it over the squad, burying the fellows +in its bowels under the lee of a sailor’s pistol to keep them +quiet if we were searched.</p> + +<p>Our lights had hardly been extinguished in cabin and binnacle, +when we heard the measured stroke of a man-of-war oar. +In a few moments more the boat was alongside, the officer on +deck, and a fruitless examination concluded. The blacks beneath +the launch were as silent as death; nothing was found to +render the “Maria” suspicious; and we were dismissed with a +left-handed blessing for rousing gentlemen from their bunks on +so comfortless a night. Next morning at dawn we reached New +Sestros, where my ten lubbers were landed without delay.</p> + +<p>But our little comedy was not yet over. Noon had not +struck before the “Dolphin” cast anchor within hail of the +“Maria,” and made so free as to claim her for a prize! In the +darkness and confusion of shipping the twenty slaves who were +first of all despatched in canoes, one of them slipped overboard +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> +with a paddle, and sustained himself till daylight, when he was +picked up by the cruiser whose jaws we had escaped during the +night! The negro’s story of our trick aroused the ire of her +commander, and the poor “Maria” was obliged to pay the forfeit +by revisiting Sierra Leone in custody of an officer.</p> + +<p>There were great rejoicings on my return to New Sestros. +The coast was full of odd and contradictory stories about our +capture. When the tale of my death at Sierra Leone by drowning, +in a fit of drunkenness, was told to my patron Don Pedro, +that intelligent gentleman denied it without hesitation, because, +in the language of the law, “<i>it proved too much</i>.” It was <i>possible</i>, +he said, that I might have been drowned; but when they told +him I had come to my death by strong drink, they declared what +was not only improbable, but altogether out of the question. +Accordingly, he would take the liberty to discredit the entire +story, being sure that I would turn up before long.</p> + +<p>But poor Prince Freeman was not so clever a judge of nature +as Don Pedro. Freeman had heard of my death; and, imbued +as he was with the superstitions of his country, nobody could +make him credit my existence till he despatched a committee to +my factory, headed by his son, to report the facts. But then, on +the instant, the valiant prince paid me a visit of congratulation. +As I held out both hands to welcome him, I saw the fellow shrink +with distrust.</p> + +<p>“Count your fingers!” said Freeman.</p> + +<p>“Well,” said I, “what for?—here they are—one—two—three—four—five—six—seven—eight—nine—ten!”</p> + +<p>“Good—good!” shouted the prince, as he clasped my digits. +“White men tell too many lies ’bout the commodore! White +man say, John Bull catch commodore, and cut him fingers all +off, so commodore no more can ‘makee book’ for makee fool of +John Bull!” Which, being translated into English, signifies +that it was reported my fingers had been cut off by my British +captors to prevent me from writing letters by which the innocent +natives believed I so often bamboozled and deceived the cruisers +of her Majesty.</p> + +<p>During my absence, a French captain, who was one of our +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> +most attentive friends, had left a donkey which he brought from +the Cape de Verds for my especial delectation, by way of an occasional +<i>promenade à cheval</i>! I at once resolved to bestow +the “long-eared convenience” on Freeman, not only as a type, +but a testimonial; yet, before a week was over, the unlucky +quadruped reappeared at my quarters, with a message from the +prince that it might do well enough for a bachelor like me, but +its infernal voice was enough to cause the miscarriage of an entire +harem, if not of every honest woman throughout his jurisdiction! +The superstition spread like wildfire. The women +were up in arms against the beast; and I had no rest till I got +rid of its serenades by despatching it to Monrovia, where the +dames and damsels were not afraid of donkeys of any dimensions.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LX.</h2> + + +<p>It was my habit to employ at New Sestros a clerk, store-keeper, +and four seamen, all of whom were whites of reliable character, +competent to aid me efficiently in the control of my <i>barracoons</i>.</p> + +<p>One of these sailors died of dropsy while in my service; and, +as I write, the memory of his death flashes across my mind so +vividly, that I cannot help recording it among the characteristic +events of African coast-life.</p> + +<p>Sanchez, I think, was by birth a Spaniard; at least his perfect +familiarity with the language, as well as name and appearance, +induced me to believe that the greater part of his life must +have been spent under the shield of Saint Iago. The poor fellow +was ill for a long time, but in Africa, existence is so much a +long-drawn malady, that we hardly heeded his bloated flesh or +cadaverous skin, as he sat, day after day, musket in hand, at the +gate of our barracoon. At last, however, his confinement to bed +was announced, and every remedy within our knowledge applied +for relief. This time, however, the summons was peremptory; +the sentence was final; there was no reprieve.</p> + +<p>On the morning of his death, the sufferer desired me to be +called, and, sending away the African nurse and the two old comrades +who watched faithfully at his bedside, explained that he +felt his end approaching, yet could not depart without easing his +soul by <i>confession</i>!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> +“Here, Don Téodor,” said he, “are five ounces of gold—all +I have saved in this world,—the lees of my life,—which I +want you to take care of, and when I am dead send to my sister, +who is married to ——, in Matanzas. Will you promise?”</p> + +<p>I promised.</p> + +<p>“And now, Don Téodor,” continued he, “I must <i>confess</i>!”</p> + +<p>I could not repress a smile as I replied,—“But, José, I am +no <i>padre</i>, you know; a <i>clerigo</i> in no part of a slave factory; I +cannot absolve your sins; and, as for my <i>prayers</i>, poor fellow, +alas! what can they do for your sins when I fear they will hardly +avail for my own!”</p> + +<p>“It’s all one, <i>mi capitan</i>” answered the dying man; “it +makes not the least difference, Don Téodor, if you are a clergyman +or any thing else; it is the law of our church; and when +confession is over, a man’s soul is easier under canvas, even if +there’s no regular <i>padre</i> at hand to loosen the ropes, and let +one’s sins fly to the four winds of heaven. Listen,—it will be +short.</p> + +<p>“It is many years since I sailed from Havana with that notorious +slaver, Miguel ——, whose murder you may have +heard of on the coast. Our vessel was in capital order for speed +as well as cargo, and we reached Cape Mount after a quick voyage. +The place, however, was so bare of slaves, that we coasted the +reefs till we learned from a Mesurado Krooman that, in less than +a month, the supply at Little Bassa would be abundant. We +shipped the savage with his boatman, and next day reached our +destination.</p> + +<p>“Miguel was welcomed warmly by the chiefs, who offered a +choice lot of negroes for a portion of our cargo, inviting the captain +to tarry with the rest of his merchandise and establish a +factory. He assented; our brig was sent home with a short +cargo, while I and two others landed with the captain, to aid in +the erection and defence of the requisite buildings.</p> + +<p>“It did not take long to set up our bamboo houses and open +a trade, for whose supply Miguel began an intercourse with Cape +Mesurado, paying in doubloons and receiving his merchandise in +vessels manned by American blacks.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> +“Our captain was no niggard in housekeeping. Bountiful +meals every day supplied his friends and factory. No man went +from his door hungry or dissatisfied. When the colonists came +up in their boats with goods, or walked the beach from the Cape +to our settlement, Miguel was always alert with a welcome. A +great intimacy, of course, ensued; and, among the whole crowd +of traffickers, none were higher in our chief’s estimation than a +certain T——, who rarely visited the <i>barracoons</i> without a +gift from Miguel, in addition to his stipulated pay.</p> + +<p>“In due time the brig returned from Havana, with a cargo +of rum, tobacco, powder, and <i>a box of doubloons</i>; but she was +ordered to the Cape de Verds to change her flag. In the interval, +the Mesurado colonists picked a quarrel with the Trade-Town +chiefs, and, aided by an American vessel, under Colombian colors, +landed a division of colonial troops and destroyed the Spanish +barracoons.<a name="FNanchor_G_14" id="FNanchor_G_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_14" class="fnanchor">[G]</a></p> + +<p>“The ruin of a Spanish factory could not be regarded by our +captain with any other feeling than that of resentment. Still, +he manifested his sensibility by coolness towards the colonists, +or by refraining from that <i>profitable</i> welcome to which they had +hitherto been accustomed. But the Monrovians were not to be +rebuffed by disdain. They had heard, I suppose, of the box of +doubloons, and Miguel was ‘a good fellow,’ in spite of his frigidity. +They were <i>his</i> friends for ever, and all the harm that had +been done his countrymen was attributable alone to their Colombian +foes, and not to the colonists. Such were the constant +declarations of the Monrovians, as they came, singly and in +squads, to visit us after the Trade-Town plunder. T——, in +particular, was loud in his protestations of regard; and such was +the earnestness of his manner, that Miguel, by degrees, restored +him to confidence.</p> + +<p>“Thus, for a while, all things went smoothly, till T—— +reached our anchorage, with several passengers in his craft, +bound, as they said, to Grand Bassa. As usual on such visits, +the whole party dined with Miguel at four in the afternoon, and, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> +at six, retired towards their vessel, with a gift of provisions and +liquor for their voyage.</p> + +<p>“About eight o’clock, a knocking at our gates—closed invariably +at dark, according to custom—gave notice that our recent +guests had returned. They craved hospitality for the night. +They had dallied a couple of hours on the beach, with the hope +of getting off, but the surf was so perilous that no Kroomen +would venture to convey them through the breakers.</p> + +<p>“Such an appeal was, of course, enough for the heart of a +courteous Spaniard,—and, on the coast, you know, it is imperative. +Miguel opened the door, and, in an instant, fell dead on +the threshold, with a ball in his skull. Several guns were discharged, +and the house filled with colonists. At the moment of +attack I was busy in the <i>barracoon</i>; but, as soon as I came +forth, the assailants approached in such numbers that I leaped +the barriers and hid myself in the forest till discovered by some +friendly natives.</p> + +<p>“I remained with these Africans several weeks, while a canoe +was summoned from Gallinas for my rescue. From thence I +sailed to Cuba, and was the first to apprise our owners of the +piratical onslaught by which the factory had been destroyed.</p> + +<p>“After this, I made several successful voyages to the coast; +and, at last, sauntering one evening along the <i>paseo</i> at Havana, I +met Don Miguel’s brother, who, after a sorrowful chat about the +tragedy, offered me a quarter-master’s berth in a brig he was +fitting out for Africa. It was accepted on the spot.</p> + +<p>“In a month we were off Mesurado, and cruised for several +days from the cape to Grand Bassa, avoiding every square-rigged +vessel that loomed above the horizon. At length, we +espied a small craft beating down the coast. We bore the stranger +company for several hours, till, suddenly taking advantage +of her long tack out to sea, we gave chase and cut off her return +towards land.</p> + +<p>“It was a fine afternoon, and the sun was yet an hour in the +sky when we intercepted the schooner. As we ran alongside, I +thought I recognized the faces of several who, in days of old, +wore familiar in our factory,—but what was my surprise, when +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> +T—— himself came to the gangway, and hailed us in +Spanish!</p> + +<p>“I pointed out the miscreant to my comrade, and, in an instant, +he was in our clutches. We let the sun go down before +we contrived a proper death for the felon. His five companions, +double-ironed, were nailed beneath the hatches in the hold. +After this, we riveted the murderer, in chains, to the mainmast, +and, for better security, fastened his spread arms to the deck by +spikes through his hands. Every sail was then set on the craft, +two barrels of tar were poured over the planks, and a brand was +thrown in the midst of the combustible materials. For a while, +the schooner was held by a hawser till we saw the flames spread +from stern to cut-water, and then, with a cheer, <i>adios</i>! It was +a beautiful sight,—that <i>auto-da-fé</i>, on the sea, in the darkness!</p> + +<p>“My confession, Don Téodor, is over. From that day, I +have never been within a church or alongside a <i>padre</i>; but I +could not die without sending the gold to my sister, and begging +a mass in some parish for the rest of my soul!”</p> + +<p>I felt very conscious that I was by no means the person to +afford ghostly consolation to a dying man under such circumstances, +but while I promised to fulfil his request carefully, I +could not help inquiring whether he sincerely repented these +atrocious deeds?</p> + +<p>“Ah! yes, Don Téodor, a thousand times! Many a night, +when alone on my watch at sea, or in yonder stockade, marching +up and down before the <i>barracoon</i>, I have wept like a child for +the innocent crew of that little schooner; but, as for the murderer +of <i>Don Miguel</i>—!” He stared wildly for a minute into +my eyes—shuddered—fell back—was dead!</p> + +<p>I have no doubt the outlaw’s story contained exaggerations, +or fell from a wrecked mind that was drifting into eternity on +the current of delirium. I cannot credit his charge against the +Monrovian colonists; yet I recount the narrative as an illustration +of many a bloody scene that has stained the borders of +Africa.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_14" id="Footnote_G_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_14"><span class="label">[G]</span></a> The reader will recollect this is not <span class="smcap">Canot’s</span> story, but the sailor’s.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXI.</h2> + + +<p>During my first visit to Digby, I promised my trading friends—perhaps +rather rashly—that I would either return to their settlement, +or, at least, send merchandise and a clerk to establish a +factory. This was joyous news for the traffickers, and, accordingly, +I embraced an early occasion to despatch, in charge of a +clever young sailor, such stuffs as would be likely to tickle the +negro taste.</p> + +<p>There were two towns at Digby, governed by cousins who +had always lived in harmony. My mercantile venture, however, +was unhappily destined to be the apple of discord between these +relatives. The establishment of so important an institution as a +slave-factory within the jurisdiction of the younger savage, gave +umbrage to the elder. His town could boast neither of “merchandise” +nor a “white man;” there was no profitable tax to +be levied from foreign traffic; and, in a very short time, this +unlucky partiality ripened the noble kinsmen into bitter enemies.</p> + +<p>It is not the habit in Africa for negroes to expend their +wrath in harmless words, so that preparations were soon made in +each settlement for defence as well as hostility. Both towns +were stockaded and carefully watched by sentinels, day and night. +At times, forays were made into each other’s suburbs, but as the +chiefs were equally vigilant and alert, the extent of harm was the +occasional capture of women or children, as they wandered to +the forest and stream for wood and water.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> +This dalliance, however, did not suit the ardor of my angry +favorite. After wasting a couple of months, he purchased the +aid of certain <i>bushmen</i>, headed by a notorious scoundrel named +Jen-ken, who had acquired renown for his barbarous ferocity +throughout the neighborhood. Jen-ken and his chiefs were <i>cannibals</i>, +and never trod the war-path without a pledge to return +laden with human flesh to gorge their households.</p> + +<p>Several assaults were made by this savage and his <i>bushmen</i> +on the dissatisfied cousin, but as they produced no significant +results, the barbarians withdrew to the interior. A truce +ensued. Friendly proposals were made by the younger to the +elder, and again, a couple of months glided by in seeming peace.</p> + +<p>Just at this time business called me to Gallinas. On my +way thither I looked in at Digby, intending to supply the displeased +chieftain with goods and an agent if I found the establishment +profitable.</p> + +<p>It was sunset when I reached the beach; too late, of course, +to land my merchandise, so that I postponed furnishing both +places until the morning. As might fairly be expected, there +was abundant joy at my advent. The neglected rival was wild +with satisfaction at the report that he, too, at length was favored +with a “white-man.” His “town” immediately became a +scene of unbounded merriment. Powder was burnt without stint. +Gallons of rum were distributed to both sexes; and dancing, +smoking and carousing continued till long after midnight, when +all stole off to maudlin sleep.</p> + +<p>About three in the morning, the sudden screams of women +and children aroused me from profound torpor! Shrieks were +followed by volleys of musketry. Then came a loud tattoo +of knocks at my door, and appeals from the negro chief to rise +and fly. “The town was besieged:—the head-men were on the +point of escaping:—resistance was vain:—they had been betrayed—there +were no fighters to defend the stockade!”</p> + +<p>I was opening the door to comply with this advice, when my +Kroomen, who knew the country’s ways even better than I, dissuaded +me from departing, with the confident assurance that our +assailants were unquestionably composed of the rival townsfolk, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> +who had only temporarily discharged the bushmen to deceive my +entertainer. The Kroo insisted that I had nothing to fear. We +might, they said, be seized and even imprisoned; but after a +brief detention, the captors would be glad enough to accept +our ransom. If we fled, we might be slaughtered by mistake.</p> + +<p>I had so much confidence in the sense and fidelity of the +band that always accompanied me,—partly as boatmen and partly +as body-guard,—that I experienced very little personal alarm +when I heard the shouts as the savages rushed through the town +murdering every one they encountered. In a few moments our +own door was battered down by the barbarians, and Jen-ken, +torch in hand, made his appearance, claiming us as prisoners.</p> + +<p>Of course, we submitted without resistance, for although +fully armed, the odds were so great in those ante-revolver days, +that we would have been overwhelmed by a single wave of the +infuriated crowd. The barbarian chief instantly selected our +house for his headquarters, and despatched his followers to +complete their task. Prisoner after prisoner was thrust in. +At times the heavy mash of a war club and the cry of strangling +women, gave notice that the work of death was not yet ended. +But the night of horror wore away. The gray dawn crept +through our hovel’s bars, and all was still save the groans of +wounded captives, and the wailing of women and children.</p> + +<p>By degrees, the warriors dropped in around their chieftain. +A <i>palaver-house</i>, immediately in front of my quarters, was the +general rendezvous; and scarcely a <i>bushman</i> appeared without +the body of some maimed and bleeding victim. The mangled +but living captives were tumbled on a heap in the centre, and +soon, every avenue to the square was crowded with exulting +savages. Rum was brought forth in abundance for the chiefs. +Presently, slowly approaching from a distance, I heard the +drums, horns, and war-bells; and, in less than fifteen minutes, a +procession of women, whose naked limbs were smeared with chalk +and ochre, poured into the palaver-house to join the beastly rites. +Each of these devils was armed with a knife, and bore in her +hand some cannibal trophy. Jen-ken’s wife, a corpulent wench +of forty-five,—dragged along the ground, by a single limb, the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> +slimy corpse of an infant ripped alive from its mother’s womb. +As her eyes met those of her husband the two fiends yelled forth +a shout of mutual joy, while the lifeless babe was tossed in the +air and caught as it descended on the point of a spear. Then +came the <i>refreshment</i>, in the shape of rum, powder, and blood, +which was quaffed by the brutes till they reeled off, with linked +hands, in a wild dance around the pile of victims. As the +women leaped and sang, the men applauded and encouraged. +Soon, the ring was broken, and, with a yell, each female leaped +on the body of a wounded prisoner and commenced the final +sacrifice with the mockery of lascivious embraces!</p> + +<p>In my wanderings in African forests I have often seen the +tiger pounce upon its prey, and, with instinctive thirst, satiate +its appetite for blood and abandon the drained corpse; but these +African negresses were neither as decent nor as merciful as the +beast of the wilderness. Their malignant pleasure seemed to +consist in the invention of tortures, that would agonize but not +slay. There was a devilish spell in the tragic scene that fascinated +my eyes to the spot. A slow, lingering, tormenting mutilation +was practised on the living, as well as on the dead; and, +in every instance, the brutality of the women exceeded that of +the men. I cannot picture the hellish joy with which they passed +from body to body, digging out eyes, wrenching off lips, +tearing the ears, and slicing the flesh from the quivering bones; +while the queen of the harpies crept amid the butchery gathering +the brains from each severed skull as a <i>bonne-bouche</i> for the approaching +feast!</p> + +<p>After the last victim yielded his life, it did not require long +to kindle a fire, produce the requisite utensils, and fill the air +with the odor of <i>human flesh</i>. Yet, before the various messes +were half broiled, every mouth was tearing the dainty morsels +with shouts of joy, denoting the combined satisfaction of revenge +and appetite! In the midst of this appalling scene, I heard a +fresh cry of exultation, as a pole was borne into the apartment, +on which was impaled the living body of the conquered chieftain’s +wife. A hole was quickly dug, the stave planted and +fagots supplied; but before a fire could be kindled the wretched +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> +woman was dead, so that the barbarians were defeated in their +hellish scheme of burning her alive.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>I do not know how long these brutalities lasted, for I remember +very little after this last attempt, except that the bush men +packed in plantain leaves whatever flesh was left from the orgie, +to be conveyed to their friends in the forest. This was the +first time it had been my lot <i>to behold the most savage development +of African nature under the stimulus of war</i>. The butchery +made me sick, dizzy, paralyzed. I sank on the earth benumbed +with stupor; nor was I aroused till nightfall, when my Kroomen +bore me to the conqueror’s town, and negotiated our redemption +for the value of twenty slaves.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXII.</h2> + + +<p>I hope that no one will believe I lingered a moment in Digby, +or ever dealt again with its miscreants, after the dreadful catastrophe +I have described in the last chapter. It is true that this +tragedy might never have happened within the territory of the +rival kinsmen had not the temptations of slave-trade been offered +to their passionate natures; yet the event was so characteristic, +not only of slave-war but of indigenous barbarity, that I dared +not withhold it in these sketches of my life.</p> + +<p>Light was not gleaming over the tops of the forest next +morning before I was on the beach ready to embark for Gallinas. +But the moon was full, and the surf so high that my boat could +not be launched. Still, so great were my sufferings and disgust +that I resolved to depart at all hazards; and divesting myself +of my outer garments, I stepped into a native canoe with one +man only to manage it, and dashed through the breakers. Our +provisions consisted of three bottles of gin, a jug of water, and a +basket of raw cassava, while a change of raiment and my accounts +were packed in an air-tight keg. Rough as was the sea, we succeeded +in reaching the neighborhood of Gallinas early next +morning. My Spanish friends on shore soon detected me with +their excellent telescopes, by my well-known cruising dress of +red flannel shirt and Panama hat; but, instead of running to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> +the beach with a welcome, they hoisted the black flag, which is +ever a signal of warning to slavers.</p> + +<p>My Krooman at once construed the telegraphic despatch as +an intimation that the surf was impassable. Indeed, the fact +was visible enough even to an uninstructed eye, as we approached +the coast. For miles along the bar at the river’s mouth, the +breakers towered up in tall masses, whitening the whole extent +of beach with foam. As our little canoe rose on the top of the +swell, outside the rollers, I could see my friends waving their +hats towards the southward, as if directing my movements towards +Cape Mount.</p> + +<p>In my best days on the coast I often swam in perilous seasons +a far greater distance than that which intervened betwixt my boat +and the shore. My companions at Gallinas well knew my dexterity +in the water, and I could not comprehend, therefore, why they +forbade my landing, with so much earnestness. In fact, their zeal +somewhat nettled me, and I began to feel that dare-devil resistance +which often goads us to acts of madness which make us heroes if +successful, but fools if we fail.</p> + +<p>It was precisely this temper that determined me to hazard the +bar; yet, as I rose on my knees to have a better view of the approaching +peril, I saw the black flag thrice lowered in token of +adieu. Immediately afterward it was again hoisted <i>over the +effigy of an enormous shark</i>!</p> + +<p>In a twinkling, I understood the <i>real</i> cause of danger, which +no alacrity or courage in the water could avoid, and comprehended +that my only hope was in the open sea. A retreat to Cape +Mount was a toilsome task for my weary <i>Krooman</i>, who had been +incessantly at work for twenty-four hours. Yet, there were but +two alternatives,—either to await the subsidence of the surf, or +the arrival of some friendly vessel. In the mean time, I eat my +last morsel of cassava, while the <i>Krooman</i> stretched himself in +the bottom of the canoe,—half in the water and half in the glaring +sun,—and went comfortably to sleep.</p> + +<p>I steered the boat with a paddle, as it drifted along with tide +and current, till the afternoon, when a massive pile of clouds in +the south-east gave warning of one of those tornadoes which +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> +deluge the coast of Africa in the months of March and April. A +stout punch in the Krooman’s ribs restored him to consciousness +from his hydropathic sleep; but he shivered as he looked at the +sky and beheld a token of that greatest misfortune that can befall +a negro,—a wet skin at sea from a shower of rain.</p> + +<p>We broached our last bottle to battle the chilling element. +Had we been in company with other canoes, our first duty would +have been to lash the skiffs together so as to breast the gusts and +chopping sea with more security; but as I was entirely alone, our +sole reliance was on the expert arm and incessant vigilance of +my companion.</p> + +<p>I will not detain the reader by explaining the simple process +that carried us happily through the deluge. By keeping the canoe +bow on, we nobly resisted the shock of every wave, and gradually +fell back under the impulse of each undulation. Thus we held on +till the heavy clouds discharged their loads, beating down the sea +and half filling the canoe with rain water. While the Krooman +paddled and steered, I conducted the bailing, and as the African +dipper was not sufficient to keep us free, I pressed my Panama hat +into service as an extra hand.</p> + +<p>These savage squalls on the African coast, at the beginning of +the rainy season, are of short duration, so that our anxiety quickly +left us to the enjoyment of soaking skins. A twist at my red +flannel relieved it of superabundant moisture, but as the negro +delighted in no covering except his flesh, an additional kiss of +the bottle was the only comfort I could bestow on his shivering +limbs.</p> + +<p>This last dram was our forlorn hope, but it only created a +passing comfort, which soon went off leaving our bodies more chill +and dejected than before. My head swam with feverish emptiness. +I seemed suddenly possessed by a feeling of wild independence—seeing +nothing, fearing nothing. Presently, this died +away, and I fell back in utter helplessness, wholly benumbed.</p> + +<p>I do not remember how long this stupor lasted, but I was +aroused by the Krooman with the report of a land-breeze, and a +sail which he declared to be a cruiser. It cost me considerable +effort to shake off my lethargy, nor do I know whether I would +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> +have succeeded had there not been a medical magic in the idea of +a man-of-war, which flashed athwart my mind a recollection of the +slave accounts in our keg!</p> + +<p>I had hardly time to throw the implement overboard before +the craft was within hail; but instead of a cruiser she turned out +to be a slaver, destined, like myself, for Gallinas. A warm welcome +awaited me in the cabin, and a comfortable bed with plenty +of blankets restored me for a while to health, though in all likelihood +my perilous flight from Digby and its horrors, will ache +rheumatically in my limbs till the hour of my death.</p> + +<p>It was well that I did not venture through the breakers on the +day that the dead shark was hoisted <i>in terrorem</i> as a telegraph. +Such was the swarm of these monsters in the surf of Gallinas, +that more than a hundred slaves had been devoured by them in +attempting a shipment a few nights before!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXIII.</h2> + + +<p>“Don Pedro Blanco had left Gallinas,—a retired <i>millionnaire</i>!” +When I heard this announcement at the factory, I could with +difficulty restrain the open expression of my sorrow. It confirmed +me in a desire that for some time had been strengthening +in my mind. Years rolled over my head since, first of all, I +plunged accidentally into the slave-trade. My passion for a roving +life and daring adventure was decidedly cooled. The late barbarities +inflicted on the conquered in a war of which I was the involuntary +cause, appalled me with the traffic; and humanity called +louder and louder than ever for the devotion of my remaining +days to honest industry.</p> + +<p>As I sailed down the coast to restore a child to his father,—the +King of Cape Mount,—I was particularly charmed with the +bold promontory, the beautiful lake, and the lovely islands, that +are comprised in this enchanting region. When I delivered the +boy to his parent, the old man’s gratitude knew no bounds for +his offspring’s redemption from slavery. Every thing was tendered +for my recompense; and, as I seemed especially to enjoy the +delicious scenery of his realm, he offered me its best location as a +gift, if I desired to abandon the slave-trade and establish a <i>lawful</i> +factory.</p> + +<p>I made up my mind on the spot that the day should come +when I would be lord and master of Cape Mount; and, nestling +under the lee of its splendid headland, might snap my fingers at +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> +the cruisers. Still I could not, at once, retreat from my establishment +at New Sestros. Don Pedro’s departure was a sore disappointment, +because it left my accounts unliquidated and my release +from the trade dependent on circumstances. Nevertheless, +I resolved to risk his displeasure by quitting the factory for a +time, and visiting him at Havana after a trip to England.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>It was in the summer of 1839 that I arranged my affairs for +a long absence, and sailed for London in the schooner Gil Blas. +We had a dull passage till we reached the chops of the British +Channel, whence a smart south-wester drove us rapidly towards our +destination.</p> + +<p>Nine at night was just striking from the clocks of Dover when +a bustle on deck, a tramping of feet, a confused sound of alarm, +orders, obedience and anxiety, was followed by a tremendous crash +which prostrated me on the cabin floor, whence I bounded, with a +single spring, to the deck. “A steamer had run us down!” +Aloft, towered a huge black wall, while the intruder’s cut-water +pressed our tiny craft almost beneath the tide. There was no +time for deliberation. The steamer’s headway was stopped. The +Gil Blas, like her scapegrace godfather, was in peril of sinking; +and as the wheels began to revolve and clear the steamer from +our wreck, every one scrambled in the best way he could on board +the destroyer.</p> + +<p>Our reception on this occasion by the British lion was not +the most respectful or hospitable that might be imagined. In fact, +no notice was taken of us by these “hearts of oak,” till a clever +Irish soldier, who happened to be journeying to Dublin, invited +us to the forward cabin. Our mate, however, would not listen to +the proposal, and hastening to the quarter-deck, coarsely upbraided +the steamer’s captain with his misconduct, and demanded suitable +accommodations for his wounded commander and passengers.</p> + +<p>In a short time the captain of the Gil Blas and I were conducted +to the “gentlemen’s cabin,” and as I was still clad in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span> +thin cotton undress in which I was embarking for the land of +dreams when the accident occurred, a shirt and trowsers were +handed me fresh from the slop-shop. When my native servant +appeared in the cabin, a shower of coppers greeted him from the +passengers.</p> + +<p>Next morning we were landed at Cowes, and as the steward +claimed the restitution of a pair of slippers in which I had encased +my toes, I was forced to greet the loyal earth of England with +bare feet as well as uncovered head. Our sailors, however, were +better off. In the forecastle they had fallen into the hands of +Samaritans. A profusion of garments was furnished for all their +wants, while a subscription, made up among the soldiers and women, +supplied them with abundance of coin for their journey to +London.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>An economical life in Africa, and a series of rather profitable +voyages, enabled me to enjoy my wish to see London, “above +stairs as well as below.”</p> + +<p>I brought with me from Africa a body-servant named Lunes, +an active youth, whose idea of city-life and civilization had been +derived exclusively from glimpses of New Sestros and Gallinas. +I fitted him out on my arrival in London as a fashionable “tiger,” +with red waistcoat, corduroy smalls, blue jacket and gold band; +and trotted him after me wherever I went in search of diversion. +It may be imagined that I was vastly amused by the odd remarks +and the complete amazement, with which this savage greeted +every object of novelty or interest. After he became somewhat +acquainted with the streets of London, Lunes occasionally made +explorations on his own account, yet he seldom came back without +a tale that showed the African to have been quite as much a +curiosity to the cockneys as the cockneys were to the darkey.</p> + +<p>It happened just at this time that “Jim Crow” was the rage +at one of the minor theatres, and as I felt interested to know how +the personification would strike the boy, I sent him one night to +the gallery with orders to return as soon as the piece was concluded. +But the whole night passed without the appearance of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> +my valet. Next morning I became anxious about his fate, and, +after waiting in vain till noon, I employed a reliable officer to +search for the negro, without disclosing the fact of his servitude.</p> + +<p>In the course of a few hours poor Lunes was brought to me +in a most desolate condition. His clothes were in rags, and his +gold-lace gone. It appeared that “Jim Crow” had outraged his +sense of African character so greatly that he could not restrain +his passion; but vented it in the choicest <i>billingsgate</i> with which +his vocabulary had been furnished in the forecastle of the “Gil +Blas.” His criticism of the real Jim was by no means agreeable +to the patrons of the fictitious one. In a moment there was +a row; and the result was, that Lunes after a thorough dilapidation +of his finery departed in custody of the police, more, however, +for the negro’s protection than his chastisement.</p> + +<p>The loss of his dashing waistcoat, and the sound thrashing he +received at the hands of a London mob while asserting the +dignity of his country, and a night in the station house, spoiled +my boy’s opinion of Great Britain. I could not induce him +afterwards to stir from the house without an escort, nor would he +believe that every policeman was not specially on the watch to +apprehend him. I was so much attached to the fellow, and his +sufferings became so painful, that I resolved to send him back to +Africa; nor shall I ever forget his delight when my decision was +announced. The negro’s joy, however, was incomprehensible to +my fellow-lodgers, and especially to the gentle dames, who could +not believe that an African, whose liberty was assured in England, +would <i>voluntarily</i> return to Africa and slavery!</p> + +<p>One evening, just before his departure, Lunes was sternly +tried on this subject in my presence in the parlor, yet nothing +could make him revoke his trip to the land of palm-trees and +<i>malaria</i>. London was too cold for him;—he hated stockings;—shoes +were an abomination!</p> + +<p>“Yet, tell me, Lunes,” said one of the most bewitching of +my fair friends,—“how is it that you go home to be a slave, +when you may remain in London as a freeman?”</p> + +<p>I will repeat his answer—divested of its native gibberish:</p> + +<p>“Yes, Madam, I go—because I like my country best; if I +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span> +am to be a slave or work, I want to do so for a true <i>Spaniard</i>. +I don’t like this thing, Miss,”—pointing to his shirt collar,—“it +cuts my ears;—I don’t like this thing”—pointing to his trowsers; +“I like my country’s fashion better than yours;”—and, taking +out a large handkerchief, he gave the inquisitive dame a rapid +demonstration of African economy in concealing nakedness, by +twisting it round those portions of the human frame which +modesty is commonly in the habit of hiding!</p> + +<p>There was a round of applause and a blaze of blushes at this +extemporaneous pantomime, which Lunes concluded with the +assurance that he especially loved his master, because,—“when +he grew to be a proper man, I would give him plenty of wives!”</p> + +<p>I confess that my valet’s philanthropic audience was not +exactly prepared for this edifying culmination in favor of Africa; +but, while my friends were busy in obliterating the red and the +wrinkles from their cheeks, I took the liberty to enjoy, from +behind the shadow of my tea cup, the manifest disgust they felt +for the bad taste of poor Lunes!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXIV.</h2> + + +<p>By this time my curiosity was not only satiated by the diversions +of the great metropolis, but I had wandered off to the country +and visited the most beautiful parts of the islands. Two months +thus slipped by delightfully in Great Britain when a sense of +duty called me to Havana; yet, before my departure, I resolved, +if possible, to secure the alliance of some opulent Englishman to +aid me in the foundation and maintenance of lawful commerce at +Cape Mount. Such a person I found in Mr. George Clavering +Redman, of London, who owned the Gil Blas, which, with two +other vessels, he employed in trade between England and Africa.</p> + +<p>I had been introduced to this worthy gentleman as “a lawful +trader on the coast,” still, as I did not think that business relations +ought to exist between us while he was under so erroneous +an impression, I seized an early opportunity to unmask myself. At +the same time, I announced my unalterable resolution to abandon +a slaver’s life for ever; to establish a trading post at some fortunate +location; and, while I recounted the friendship and peculiar +bonds between the king and myself, offered to purchase Cape +Mount from its African proprietor, if such an enterprise should +be deemed advisable.</p> + +<p>Redman was an enterprising merchant. He heard my +proposal with interest, and, after a few days’ consideration, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> +assented to a negotiation, as soon as I gave proofs of having +abandoned the slave traffic for ever. It was understood that no +contract was to be entered into, or document signed, till I was at +liberty to withdraw completely from Don Pedro Blanco and all +others concerned with him. This accomplished, I was to revisit +England and assume my lawful functions.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>When I landed in the beautiful Queen of the Antilles I found +Don Pedro in no humor to accede to these philanthropic notions. +The veteran slaver regarded me, no doubt, as a sort of cross +between a fool and zealot. An American vessel had been recently +chartered to carry a freight to the coast; and, accordingly, instead +of receiving a release from servitude, I was ordered on board the +craft as supercargo of the enterprise! In fact, on the third day +after my arrival at Havana, I was forced to re-embark for the +coast without a prospect of securing my independence.</p> + +<p>The reader may ask why I did not burst the bond, and free +myself at a word from a commerce with which I was disgusted? +The question is <i>natural</i>—but the reply is <i>human</i>. I had too +large an unliquidated interest at New Sestros, and while it +remained so, I was not entitled to demand from my employer a +final settlement for my years of labor. In other words <i>I was in +his power</i>, so far as my means were concerned, and my services +were too valuable to be surrendered by him voluntarily.</p> + +<p>A voyage of forty-two days brought me once more to New +Sestros, accompanied by a couple of negro women, who paid +their passage and were lodged very comfortably in the steerage. +The elder was about forty and extremely corpulent, while her +companion was younger as well as more comely.</p> + +<p>This respectable dame, after an absence of twenty-four years, +returned to her native Gallinas, on a visit to her father, king +Shiakar. At the age of fifteen, she had been taken prisoner and +sent to Havana. A Cuban confectioner purchased the likely +girl, and, for many years, employed her in hawking his cakes and +pies. In time she became a favorite among the townsfolk, and, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> +by degrees, managed to accumulate a sufficient amount to purchase +her freedom. Years of frugality and thrift made her proprietor +of a house in the city and an egg-stall in the market, +when chance threw in her way a cousin, lately imported from +Africa, who gave her news of her father’s family. A quarter of +a century had not extinguished the natural fire in this negro’s +heart, and she immediately resolved to cross the Atlantic and +behold once more the savage to whom she owed her birth.</p> + +<p>I sent these adventurous women to Gallinas by the earliest +trader that drifted past New Sestros, and learned that they were +welcomed among the islands with all the ceremony common +among Africans on such occasions. Several canoes were despatched +to the vessel, with flags, tom-toms, and horns, to receive +and welcome the ladies. On the shore, a procession was formed, +and a bullock offered to the captain in token of gratitude for his +attention.</p> + +<p>When her elder brother was presented to the retired egg-merchant, +he extended his arms to embrace his kinswoman; but, +to the amazement of all, she drew back with a mere offer of her +hand, refusing every demonstration of affection <i>till he should +appear dressed with becoming decency</i>. This rebuke, of course, +kept the rest of her relatives at bay, for there was a sad deficiency +of trowsers in the gang, and it was the indispensable garment +that caused so unsisterly a reception.</p> + +<p>But Shiakar’s daughter, travelled as she was, could neither +set the fashions nor reform the tastes of Gallinas. After a sojourn +of ten days, she bade her kindred an eternal adieu, and +returned to Havana, disgusted with the manners and customs +of her native land.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXV.</h2> + + +<p>On my return to New Sestros, I found that the colonial authorities +of Liberia had been feeling the pulse of my African friend, +Freeman, in order to secure the co-operation of that distinguished +personage in the suppression of the slave traffic. Freeman professed +his willingness to conclude a treaty of commerce and +amity with Governor Buchanan, but respectfully declined to +molest the factories within his domain.</p> + +<p>Still, Buchanan was not to be thwarted by a single refusal, +and enlisted the sympathy of an officer in command of a United +States cruiser, who accompanied the governor to the anchorage +at New Sestros. As soon as these personages reached their destination, +a note was despatched to the negro potentate, desiring +him to expel from his territory all Spaniards who were possessed +of factories. To this, it is said, the chief returned a short and +tart rebuke for the interference with his independence; whereupon +the following singular missive was immediately delivered +to the Spaniards:—</p> + +<p class="address1">“<span class="smcap">U. S. Brig Dolphin</span>,</p> +<p class="address2">“<span class="smcap">New Sestros</span>, <i>March 6, 1840</i>.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir:</span></p> + +<p>“I address you in consequence of having received a +note from you a few evenings since; but I wish it to be understood +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> +that this communication is intended for all or any persons +who are now in New Sestros, engaged in the slave-trade.</p> + +<p>“I have received information that you now have, in your +establishments on shore, several hundred negroes confined in barracoons, +waiting for an opportunity to ship them. Whether you +are Americans, English, French, Spaniards, or Portuguese, you +are acting in violation of the established laws of your respective +countries, and, therefore, are not entitled to any protection from +your governments. You have placed yourselves beyond the +protection of any civilized nation, as you are engaged in a traffic +which has been made <i>piracy</i> by most of the Christian nations +of the world.</p> + +<p>“As I have been sent by my government to root out, if possible, +this traffic on and near our settlements on the coast, I +must now give you notice, that you must break up your establishment +at this point, in two weeks from this date; failing to do +so, I shall take such measures as I conceive necessary to attain +this object. I will thank you to send a reply to this communication +immediately, stating your intentions, and also sending an +account of the number of slaves you have on hand.</p> + +<p class="sig1">“I am, &c., &c., &c.,</p> +<p class="sig2">“<span class="smcap">Charles R. Bell</span>,</p> +<p class="sig3">“<i>Lieut. Com. U. S. Naval Forces, Coast of Africa</i>.</p> + +<p class="receipt1">“To Mr. A. <span class="smcap">Demer</span> and others,</p> +<p class="receipt2">“<span class="smcap">New Sestros</span>, <i>Coast of Africa</i>.”</p> + +<p>I do not know what reply was made to this communication, +as a copy was not retained; but when my clerk handed me the +original letter from Lieutenant Bell, on my arrival from Cuba +I lost no time in forwarding the following answer to Col. Hicks, +at Monrovia, to be despatched by him to the American officer:</p> + +<p class="receipt1">“<span class="smcap">To Charles R. Bell, Esq.</span>,</p> +<p class="receipt2">“<i>Lieut. Com. of the U. S. Forces, Coast of Africa, Monrovia</i>.</p> + +<p class="address1">“<span class="smcap">New Sestros</span>, <i>April 2, 1840</i>.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir:</span></p> + +<p>“Your letter of the 6th March, directed to the white +residents of New Sestros, was handed me on my return to this +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span> +country, and I am sorry I can make but the following short +answer.</p> + +<p>“First, sir, you seem to assume a supremacy over the most +civilized nations of the world, and, under the doubtful pretext +of your nation’s authority, threaten to land and destroy our property +on these neutral shores. Next, you are pleased to inform +us that all Christian nations have declared the slave-trade +<i>piracy</i>, and that we are not entitled to any protection from our +government. Why, then, do the Southern States of your great +confederacy allow slavery, public auctions, transportation from +one State to another,—not only of civilized black native subjects,—but +of nearly white, American, Christian citizens? Such is +the case in your free and independent country; and, though the +slave-trade is carried on in the United States of America with +more brutality than in any other colony, I still hope you are a +Christian!</p> + +<p>“To your third article, wherein you observe, having ‘been +sent by your government to root out this traffic, if possible, near +your own settlements on the coast,’—allow me to have my doubts +of such orders. Your government could not have issued them +without previously making them publicly known;—and, permit +me to say, those Christian nations you are pleased to mention, +are not aware that your nation had set up colonies on the coast +of Africa. They were always led to believe that these Liberian +settlements were nothing but Christian beneficial societies, +humanely formed by private philanthropists, to found a refuge +for the poor blacks born in America, who cannot be protected in +their native country by the free and independent laws and institutions +of the United States.</p> + +<p>“If my argument cannot convince you that you are not justified +in molesting a harmless people on these desolate shores, +allow me to inform you that, should you put your threats in execution +and have the advantage over us, many factories would suffer +by your unjust attack, which would give them an indisputable +right to claim high damages from your government.</p> + +<p>“Most of the white residents here, are, and have been, +friendly to Americans at large; some have been educated in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> +your country, and it would be the saddest day of their lives, if +obliged to oppose by force of arms the people of a nation they +love as much as their own countrymen. The undersigned, in +particular, would wish to observe that the same spirit that led +him to avenge Governor Findley’s murder, will support him in +defence of his property, though much against his inclination.</p> + +<p class="sig1">“I remain, very respectfully,</p> +<p class="sig2">“Your obedient servant,</p> +<p class="sig3">“<span class="smcap">Theodore Canot</span>.”</p> + +<p>This diplomatic encounter terminated the onslaught. Buchanan, +who was over hasty with military display on most occasions, +made a requisition for volunteers to march against +New Sestros. But the troops were never set in motion. In +the many years of my residence in the colonial neighborhood, +this was the only occasion that menaced our friendship or +verged upon hostilities.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>Whilst I was abroad in England and Cuba, my <i>chargé +d’affaires</i> at New Sestros sent off a cargo of three hundred +negroes, nearly all of whom were safely landed in the West +Indies, bringing us a profit of nine thousand dollars. There +were, however, still one hundred and fifty in our <i>barracoons</i> to +be shipped; and, as the cargo from the Crawford was quickly +exchanged with the natives for more slaves, in two months’ time, +I found my pens surcharged with six hundred human beings. +Two other neighboring factories were also crammed; while, +unfortunately, directly in front of us, a strong reinforcement of +British men-of-war kept watch and ward to prevent our depletion.</p> + +<p>No slaver dared show its topsails above the horizon. The +season did not afford us supplies from the interior. Very few +coasters looked in at New Sestros; and, as our stock of grain +and provisions began to fail, the horrors of famine became the +sole topic of conversation among our alarmed factors.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span> +It will readily be supposed that every effort was made, not +only to economize our scanty stores, but to increase them +through the intervention of boats that were sent far and wide to +scour the coast for rice and cassava. Double and triple prices +were offered for these articles, yet our agents returned without +the required supplies. In fact, the free natives themselves were +in danger of starvation, and while they refused to part with +their remnants, even under the temptation of luxuries, they +sometimes sent deputations to my settlement in search of +food.</p> + +<p>By degrees I yielded to the conviction that I must diminish +my mouths. First of all, I released the old and feeble from the +<i>barracoon</i>. This, for a few days, afforded ample relief; but, as +I retained only the staunchest, the remaining appetites speedily +reduced our rations to a single meal <i>per diem</i>. At last, the +steward reported, that even this allowance could be continued +for little more than a week. In twelve days, at farthest, my resources +would be utterly exhausted.</p> + +<p>In this extremity I summoned a council of neighboring +chiefs, and exposing my situation, demanded their opinion as to +a fitting course on the dreaded day. I had resolved to retain my +blacks till the last measure was distributed, and then to liberate +them to shift for themselves.</p> + +<p>But the idea of releasing six hundred famishing foemen +struck the beach people with horror. It would, they said, be a +certain source of war and murder; and they implored me not +to take such a step till they made every effort to ease my burden. +As a beginning, they proposed at once relieving the <i>barracoon</i> +of a large portion of females and of all the male youths, +who were to be fed and guarded by them, on my account, till +better times.</p> + +<p>By this system of colonizing I got rid of the support of two +hundred and twenty-five negroes; and, as good luck would have +it, a visit from a friendly coaster enabled me, within ten days, +to exchange my beautiful cutter “Ruth” for a cargo of rice from +the colony at Cape Palmas.</p> + +<p>It was fortunate that in a week after this happy relief the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> +British cruisers left our anchorage for a few days. No sooner +were they off, than a telegraph of smoke, which, in those days, +was quite as useful on the African coast, as the electric is on +ours, gave notice to the notorious “Volador.” There was joy +in the teeming factories when her signal was descried in the +offing; and, before the following dawn, seven hundred and forty-nine +human beings, packed within her one hundred and sixty-five +tons, were on their way to Cuba.</p> + +<p><i>This was the last cargo of slaves I ever shipped!</i></p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXVI.</h2> + + +<p>When the thought struck me of abandoning the slave-trade, and +I had resolved to follow out the good impulse, I established a +store in the neighborhood of my old <i>barracoons</i> with the design +of trafficking in the produce of industry alone. This concern +was intrusted to the management of a clever young colonist.</p> + +<p>It was about this time that the British brig of war Termagant +held New Sestros in permanent blockade, forbidding even +a friendly boat to communicate with my factory. Early one +morning I was called to witness a sturdy chase between my scolding +foe and a small sail which was evidently running for the shore +in order to save her crew by beaching. The British bull-dog, +however, was not to be deterred by the perils of the surf; and, +holding on with the tenacity of fate, pursued the stranger, till +he discovered that a large reinforcement of armed natives was +arrayed on the strand ready to protect the fugitives. Accordingly, +the Englishmen refrained from assailing the mariners, +and confined their revenge to the destruction of the craft.</p> + +<p>As this affray occurred within gun-shot of my lawful factory, +I hastened to the beach under the belief that some of my <i>employés</i> +had unluckily fallen into a difficulty with the natives. But +on my arrival I was greeted by a well-known emissary from our +headquarters at Gallinas, who bore a missive imparting the Volador’s +arrival in Cuba with six hundred and eleven of her people. +The letter furthermore apprised me that Don Pedro, who +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> +persisted in sending merchandise to my slave factory, still declined +my resignation as his agent, but acknowledged a credit in his +chest of thirteen thousand dollars for my commissions on the +Volador’s slaves. Here, then, were Confidence and Temptation, +both resolutely proffered to lure me back to my ancient habits!</p> + +<p>I was busily engaged on the sands, enforcing from the +negroes a restitution of clothes to the plundered postman, when +the crack of a cannon, higher up the beach, made me fear that an +aggression was being committed against my homestead. Before +I could depart, however, two more shots in the same quarter, +left me no room to doubt that the Termagant was talking most +shrewishly with my factory at New Sestros.</p> + +<p>I reached the establishment with all convenient speed, only +to find it full of natives, who had been brought to the spot from +the interior by the sound of a cannonade. The following letter +from the captain of the man-of-war, it seems, had been landed in +a fishing canoe very soon after my departure in the morning, and +the shots, I suppose, were discharged to awake my attention +to its contents.</p> + +<p class="address1">“<span class="smcap">Her Britannic Majesty’s Ship Termagant</span>,</p> +<p class="address2">“<i>Off</i> <span class="smcap">New Sestros</span>, <i>Nov. 5, 1840</i>.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir:</span></p> + +<p>“The natives or Kroomen of your settlement having +this day fired on the boats of Her B. M. ship under my command, +while in chase of a Spanish boat with seven men going to +New Sestros, I therefore demand the persons who fired on the +boats, to answer for the same; and, should this demand not be +complied with, I shall take such steps as I deem proper to secure +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>“I have addressed you on this occasion, judging by the +interference of those blacks in your behalf, that they are instigated +by you.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 8em;">“I have the honor to be, sir, your obed’t serv’t,</p> + +<p class="sig1">“<span class="smcap">H. F. Seagram</span>,</p> +<p class="sig2">“<i>Lieut. Com.</i></p> + +<p class="receipt1">“<span class="smcap">To Mr. T. Canot</span>,</p> +<p class="receipt2">“<span class="smcap">New Sestros.</span>”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span> +When this cartel fell into my hands it lacked but an hour of +sunset. The beach was alive with angry rollers, while the Termagant +was still under easy sail, hovering up and down the coast +before my factory, evidently meditating the propriety of another +pill to provoke my notice.</p> + +<p>I sat down at once and wrote a sort of model response, promising +to come on board bodily next morning to satisfy the lieutenant +of my innocence; but when I inquired for a Mercury to +bear my message, there was not a Krooman to be found willing to +face either the surf or the British sailor. Accordingly, there was +no alternative but to suffer my bamboo <i>barracoons</i> and factory to +be blown about my ears by the English vixen, or to face the +danger, in person, and become the bearer of my own message.</p> + +<p>The proposal sounded oddly enough in the ears of the Kroomen, +who, in spite of their acquaintance with my hardihood, +could scarcely believe I would thrust my head into the very +jaws of the lion. Still, they had so much confidence in the +judgment displayed by white men on the coast, that I had little +difficulty in engaging the boat and services of a couple of sturdy +chaps; and, stripping to my drawers, so as to be ready to swim +in the last emergency, I committed myself to their care.</p> + +<p>We passed the dangerous surf in safety, and in a quarter of an +hour were alongside the Termagant, whose jolly lieutenant could +not help laughing at the drenched <i>uniform</i> in which I saluted +him at the gangway. Slaver as I was, he did not deny me the +rites of hospitality. Dry raiment and a consoling glass were +speedily supplied; and with the reassured stamina of my improved +condition, it may readily be supposed I was not long in +satisfying the worthy Mr. Seagram that I had no concern in the +encounter betwixt the natives and his boats. To clinch the argument +I assured the lieutenant that I was not only guiltless of +the assault, <i>but had made up my mind irrevocably to abandon +the slave-trade</i>!</p> + +<p>I suppose there was as much rejoicing that night on board +the Termagant over the redeemed slaver, as there is in most +churches over a rescued sinner. It was altogether too late and +too dark for me to repeat the perils of the surf and sharks, so +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> +that I willingly accepted the offer of a bed, and promised to accompany +Seagram in the morning to the prince.</p> + +<p>Loud were the shouts of amazement and fear when the negroes +saw me landing next day, side by side, in pleasant chat, +with an officer, who, eighteen hours before, had been busy about +my destruction. It was beyond their comprehension how an +Englishman could visit my factory under such circumstances, nor +could they divine how I escaped, after my voluntary surrender on +board a cruiser. When the prince saw Seagram seated familiarly +under my verandah, he swore that I must have some powerful +<i>fetiche</i> or <i>juju</i> to compel the confidence of enemies; but his +wonder became unbounded when the officer proposed his entire +abandonment of the slave-trade, <i>and I supported the lieutenant’s +proposal</i>!</p> + +<p>I have hardly ever seen a man of any hue or character, so +sorely perplexed as our African was by this singular suggestion. To +stop the slave-trade, unless by compulsion, was, in his eyes, the +absolute abandonment of a natural appetite or function. At first, +he believed we were joking. It was inconceivable that I, who for +years had carried on the traffic so adroitly, could be serious in the +idea. For half an hour the puzzled negro walked up and down the +verandah, muttering to himself, stopping, looking at both of us, +hesitating, and laughing,—till at last, as he afterwards confessed, +he concluded that I was only “<i>deceiving the Englishman</i>,” +and came forward with an offer to sign a treaty on the spot for +the extinction of the traffic.</p> + +<p>Now the reader must bear in mind that I allowed the prince +to mislead himself through his natural duplicity on this occasion, +as I was thereby enabled to bring him again in contact with Seagram, +and secure the support of British officers for my own +purposes.</p> + +<p>In a few days the deed was done. The slave-trade at New +Sestros was formally and for ever abolished by the prince and +myself. As I was the principal mover in the affair, I voluntarily +surrendered to the British officer on the day of signature, one +hundred slaves; <i>in return for which I was guarantied the safe +removal of my valuable merchandise, and property from the +settlement.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span> +It was a very short time after I had made all snug at New +Sestros that misfortune fell suddenly on our parent nest at Gallinas. +The Hon. Joseph Denman, who was senior officer of the +British squadron on the coast, unexpectedly landed two hundred +men, and burnt or destroyed all the Spanish factories amid the +lagunes and islets. By this uncalculated act of violence, the natives +of the neighborhood were enabled to gorge themselves with +property that was valued, I understand, at a very large sum. +An event like this could not escape general notice along the +African coast, and in a few days I began to hear it rumored and +discussed among the savages in <i>my</i> vicinity.</p> + +<p>For a while it was still a mystery why <i>I</i> escaped while Gallinas +fell; but at length the sluggish mind of Prince Freeman began +to understand my diplomacy, and, of course, to repent the +sudden contract that deprived him of a right to rob me. Vexed +by disappointment, the scoundrel assembled his minor chiefs, +and named a day during which he knew the Termagant would be +absent, to plunder and punish me for my interference with the +welfare and “institutions” of his country. The hostile meeting +took place without my knowledge, though it was disclosed to all +my domestics, whose silence the prince had purchased. Indeed, +I would have been completely surprised and cut off, <i>had it not +been for the friendly warning of the negro whose life I had +saved from the saucy-wood ordeal</i>.</p> + +<p>I still maintained in my service five white men, and four sailors +who were wrecked on the coast and awaited a passage home. +With this party and a few household negroes on whom reliance +might be placed, I resolved at once to defend my quarters. My +cannons were loaded, guards placed, muskets and cartridges distributed, +and even the domestics supplied with weapons; yet, +on the very night after the warning, every slave abandoned my +premises, while even Lunes himself,—the companion of my journey +to London, and pet of the ladies,—decamped with my favorite +fowling-piece.</p> + +<p>When I went my rounds next morning, I was somewhat disheartened +by appearances; but my spirits were quickly restored +by the following letter from Seagram:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span></p> + +<p class="address1">“<span class="smcap">Her B. M. Brig Termagant, off Trade-town</span>,</p> +<p class="address2">“<i>23d January, 1841</i>.</p> + +<p>“Sir,</p> + +<p>“In your letter of yesterday, you request protection for your +property, and inform me that you are in danger from the princes. +I regret, indeed, that such should be the case, more especially as +they have pledged me their words, and signed a ‘<i>book</i>’ to the +effect that they would never again engage in the slave traffic. +But, <i>as I find you have acted in good faith since I commenced +to treat with you on the subject</i>, I shall afford you every assistance +in my power, and will land an armed party of twenty men +before daylight on Monday.</p> + +<p class="sig1">“I am, Sir, your obt. servt.,</p> +<p class="sig2">“<span class="smcap">H. F. Seagram</span>, Lieut. Com’g.”</p> + +<p>The Termagant’s unlooked-for return somewhat dismayed the +prince and his ragamuffins, though he had contrived to assemble +quite two thousand men about my premises. Towards noon, +however, there were evident signs of impatience for the expected +booty; still, a wholesome dread of my cannon and small-arms, +together with the cruiser’s presence, prevented an open attack. +After a while I perceived an attempt to set my stockade on fire, +and as a conflagration would have given a superb opportunity to +rob, I made the concerted signal for our British ally. In a twinkling, +three of the cruiser’s boats landed an officer with twenty-five +musketeers, and before the savages could make the slightest +show of resistance, I was safe under the bayonets of Saint +George!</p> + +<p>It is needless to set forth the details of my rescue. The prince +and his poltroons were panic struck; and in three or four days +my large stock of powder and merchandise was embarked without +loss for Monrovia.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXVII.</h2> + + +<p>My <i>barracoons</i> and trading establishments were now totally destroyed, +and I was once more afloat in the world. It immediately +occurred to me that no opportunity would, perhaps, be +more favorable to carry out my original designs upon Cape +Mount, and when I sounded Seagram on the subject, he was not +only willing to carry me there in his cruiser, but desired to witness +my treaty with the prince for a cession of territory.</p> + +<p>Our adieus to New Sestros were not very painful, and on the +evening of the same day the Termagant hove to off the bold and +beautiful hills of Cape Mount. As the breeze and sun sank together, +leaving a brilliant sky in the west, we descried from deck +a couple of tall, raking masts relieved like cobwebs against the +azure. From aloft, still more of the craft was visible, and +from our lieutenant’s report after a glance through his glass, +there could be no doubt that the stranger was a slaver.</p> + +<p>Light as was the breeze, not a moment elapsed before the +cruiser’s jib was turned towards her natural enemy. For a while +an ebb from the river and the faint night wind off shore, forced +us seaward, yet at daylight we had gained so little on the chase, +that she was still full seven miles distant.</p> + +<p>They who are familiar with naval life will appreciate the annoying +suspense on the Termagant when dawn revealed the calm +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span> +sea, quiet sky, and tempting but unapproachable prize. The +well-known <i>pluck</i> of our British tars was fired by the alluring +vision, and nothing was heard about decks but prayers for a puff +and whistling for a breeze. Meanwhile, Seagram, the surgeon, +and purser were huddled together on the quarter, cursing a calm +which deprived them of prize-money if not of promotion. Our +master’s mate and passed midshipman were absent in some of the +brig’s boats cruising off Gallinas or watching the roadstead of +New Sestros.</p> + +<p>The trance continued till after breakfast, when our officers’ +impatience could no longer withstand the bait, and, though short +of efficient boats, the yawl and lieutenant’s gig were manned for +a hazardous enterprise. The former was crammed with six sailors, +two marines, and a supernumerary mate; while the gig, a +mere fancy craft, was packed with five seamen and four marines +under Seagram himself. Just as this flotilla shoved off, a rough +boatswain begged leave to fit out my nutshell of a native canoe; +and embarking with a couple of Kroomen, he squatted amidships, +armed with a musket and cutlass!</p> + +<p>This expedition exhausted our stock of <i>nautical</i> men so completely, +that as Seagram crossed the gangway he commended the +purser and surgeon to <i>my care, and left Her Majesty’s brig in +charge of the reformed slaver</i>!</p> + +<p>No sooner did the chase perceive our manœuvre, than, running +in her sweeps, she hoisted a Spanish flag and fired a warning +cartridge. A faint hurrah answered the challenge, while our +argonauts kept on their way, till, from deck, they became lost +below the horizon. Presently, however, the boom of another +gun, followed by repeated discharges, rolled through the quiet +air from the Spaniard, and the look-out aloft reported our boats +in retreat. Just at this moment, a light breeze gave headway to +the Termagant, so that I was enabled to steer towards the prize, +but before I could overhaul our warriors, the enemy had received +the freshening gale, and, under every stitch of canvas, stood +rapidly to sea.</p> + +<p>When Seagram regained his deck, he was bleeding profusely +from a wound in the head received from a handspike while +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> +attempting to board. Besides this, two men were missing, while +three had been seriously wounded by a shot that sunk the yawl. +My gallant boatswain, however, returned unharmed, and, if I may +believe the commander of the “Serea,”—whom I encountered +some time after,—this daring sailor did more execution with his +musket than all the marines put together. The <i>Kroo</i> canoe +dashed alongside with the velocity of her class, and, as a petty +officer on the Spaniard bent over to sink the skiff with a ponderous +top-block, our boatswain cleft his skull with a musket ball, +and brought home the block as a trophy! In fact, Seagram confessed +that the Spaniard behaved magnanimously; for the moment +our yawl was sunk, Olivares cut adrift his boat, and bade the +struggling swimmers return in it to their vessel.</p> + +<p>I have described this little affray not so much for its interest, +but because it illustrates the vicissitudes of coast-life and the rapidity +of their occurrence. Here was I, on the deck of a British +man-of-war, in charge of her manœuvres while in chase of a Spaniard, +who, for aught I knew, might have been consigned to me +for slaves! I gave my word to Seagram as he embarked, to +manage his ship, and had I attained a position that would have +enabled me to sink the “Serea,” I would not have shrunk from +my duty. Yet it afforded me infinite satisfaction to see the +chase escape, for my heart smote me at taking arms against men +who had probably broken bread at my board.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXVIII.</h2> + + +<p>Next day we recovered our anchorage opposite Cape Mount, and +wound our way eight or ten miles up the river to the town of +Toso, which was honored with the residence of King Fana-Toro. +It did not require long to satisfy his majesty of the benefits +to be derived from my plan. The news of the destruction +of Gallinas, and of the voluntary surrender of my quarters at +New Sestros, had spread like wildfire along the coast; so that +when the African princes began to understand they were no +longer to profit by unlawful traffic, they were willing enough not +to lose <i>all</i> their ancient avails, by compromising for a <i>legal</i> commerce, +under the sanction of national flags. I explained my projects +to Fana-Toro in the fullest manner, offering him the most +liberal terms. My propositions were forcibly supported by Prince +Gray; and a cession of the Mount and its neighboring territory +was finally made, under a stipulation that the purchase-money +should be paid in presence of the negro’s council, and the surrender +of title witnessed by the Termagant’s officers.<a name="FNanchor_8_15" id="FNanchor_8_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_15" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span> +As soon as the contract was fully signed, sealed, and delivered, +making Mr. Redman and myself proprietors, in fee-simple, +of this beautiful region, I hastened in company with my +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span> +naval friends to explore my little principality for a suitable town-site. +We launched our boat on the waters of the noble lake +Plitzogee at Toso, and after steering north-eastwardly for two hours +under the pilotage of Prince Gray, entered a winding creek and +penetrated its thickets of mangrove and palm, till the savage +landed us on decayed steps and pavement made of <i>English +brick</i>. At a short distance through the underwood, our conductor +pointed out a denuded space which had once served as +the foundation of an <i>English slave factory</i>; and when my companions +hesitated to believe the prince’s dishonorable charge on +their nation, the negro confirmed it by pointing out, deeply carved +in the bark of a neighboring tree, the name of:—</p> + +<p class="center">T. WILLIAMS,<br /> +1804.<br /></p> + +<p>I took the liberty to compliment Seagram and the surgeon on +the result of our exploration; and, after a hearty laugh at the +denouement of the prince’s search for a <i>lawful</i> homestead, we +plunged still deeper in the forest, but returned without finding a +location to my taste. Next day we recommenced our exploration +by land, and, in order to obtain a comprehensive view of my +dominion, as far as the eye would reach, I proposed an ascent of +the promontory of the Cape which lifts its head quite twelve hundred +feet above the sea. A toilsome walk of hours brought us +to the summit, but so dense was the foliage and so lofty the magnificent +trees, that, even by climbing the tallest, my scope of +vision was hardly increased. As we descended the slopes, however, +towards the strait between the sea and lake, I suddenly +came upon a rich, spacious level, flanked by a large brook of +delicious water, and deciding instantly that it was an admirable +spot for intercourse with the ocean as well as interior, I resolved +that it should be the site of my future home. A tar was +at hand to climb the loftiest palm, to strip its bushy head, and +hoist the union-jack. Before sundown, I had taken solemn territorial +possession, and baptized the future town “New Florence,” +in honor of my Italian birthplace.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span> +My next effort was to procure laborers, for whom I invoked +the aid of Fana-Toro and the neighboring chiefs. During two +days, forty negroes, whom I hired for their food and a <i>per diem</i> +of twenty cents, wrought faithfully under my direction; but the +constant task of felling trees, digging roots, and clearing ground, +was so unusual for savages, that the entire gang, with the exception +of a dozen, took their pay in rum and tobacco and quitted me. +A couple of days more, devoted to such endurance, drove off the +remaining twelve, so that on the fifth day of my philanthropic enterprise +I was left in my solitary hut with a single attendant. I +had, alas! undertaken a task altogether unsuited to people whose +idea of earthly happiness and duty is divided between palm-oil, +concubinage, and sunshine!</p> + +<p>I found it idle to remonstrate with the king about the indolence +of his subjects. Fana-Toro entertained very nearly the +same opinion as his slaves. He declared,—and perhaps very +sensibly,—that white men were fools to work from sunrise to sunset +every day of their lives; nor could he comprehend how negroes +were expected to follow their example; nay, it was not the +“fashion of Africa;” and, least of all, could his majesty conceive +how a man possessed of so much merchandise and property, would +voluntarily undergo the toils I was preparing for the future!</p> + +<p>The king’s censure and surprise were not encouraging; yet +I had so long endured the natural indolence of negrodom, that I +hardly expected either a different reply or influential support, from +his majesty. Nevertheless, I was not disheartened. I remembered +the old school-boy maxim, <i>non vi sed sæpe cadendo</i>, +and determined to effect by degrees what I could not achieve at a +bound. For a while I tried the effect of higher wages; but an +increase of rum, tobacco, and coin, could not string the nerves or +cord the muscles of Africa. Four men’s labor was not equivalent +to one day’s work in Europe or America. The negro’s philosophy +was both natural and self-evident:—<i>why should he work +for pay when he could live without it?—labor could not give +him more sunshine, palm-oil, or wives; and, as for grog and +tobacco, they might be had without the infringement of habits +which had almost the sacredness of religious institutions.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span> +With such slender prospects of prosperity at New Florence, I +left a man in charge of my hut, and directing him to get on as well +as he could, I visited Monrovia, to look after the merchandise +that had been saved from the wreck of New Sestros.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_15" id="Footnote_8_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_15"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> As the document granting this beautiful headland and valuable trading +post is of some interest, I have added a copy of the instrument:</p> + +<p>“KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that I, <span class="smcap">Fana-Toro</span>, King +of Cape Mount and its rivers, in the presence, and with the full consent +and approbation of my principal chiefs in council assembled, in consideration +of a mutual friendship existing between <span class="smcap">George Clavering Redman</span>, +<span class="smcap">Theodore Canot & Co.</span>, British subjects, and myself, the particulars whereof +are under-written, do, for myself, my heirs and successors, give and grant +unto the said George Clavering Redman, Theodore Canot & Co., their heirs +and assigns in perpetuity, all land under the name of <span class="smcap">Cape Mount</span>, extending, +on the south and east sides, to <i>Little Cape Mount</i>, and on the north-west +side to <i>Sugarei River</i>, comprised with the islands, lakes, brooks, forests, +trees, waters, mines, minerals, rights, members, and appurtenances +thereto belonging or appertaining, and all wild and tame beasts and +other animals thereon; TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the said cape, rivers, +islands, with both sides of the river and other premises hereby granted +unto the said <span class="smcap">G. Clavering Redman</span>, <span class="smcap">T. Canot & Co.</span>, their heirs and assigns +for ever, subject to the authority and dominion of <span class="smcap">Her Majesty The +Queen of Great Britain</span>, her heirs and successors.</p> + +<p>“And I, also, give and grant unto the said <span class="smcap">G. C. Redman</span>, <span class="smcap">T. Canot & +Co.</span>, the sole and exclusive rights of traffic with my Nation and People, and +with all those tributary to me, and I hereby engage to afford my assistance +and protection to the said party, and to all persons who may settle on the +said cape, rivers, islands, lakes, and both sides of the river, by their consent, +wishing peace and friendship between my nation and all persons belonging +to the said firm.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">“Given under my hand and seal, at the town of <span class="smcap">Fanama</span>, this, +twenty-third day of February, one thousand eight hundred +and forty-one.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Signatories"> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdc">his</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">“King</td> + <td class="tdc">X</td> + <td class="tdl">Fana-Toro.</td> + <td class="tdr">(L. S.)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdc"> mark.</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdc">his</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">“Prince</td> + <td class="tdc">X</td> + <td class="tdl">Gray.</td> + <td class="tdr">(L. S.)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdc"> mark.</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Witnesses"> + <tr> + <td align="left" valign="middle" style="white-space: nowrap"> + “Witnesses,<br /> + “<span class="smcap">Hy. Frowd Seagram</span>, R. N.<br /> + “<span class="smcap">Geo. D. Noble</span>, Clerk in Charge.<br /> + “<span class="smcap">Thos. Crawford</span>, Surgeon.</td> + <td valign="middle" class="tdl" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 40pt"> + }</td> + <td align="right" valign="middle" style="white-space: nowrap"> + <br /> + <i>of Her Majesty’s</i><br /> + <i>brig Termagant.</i>”</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>I paid King Fana-Toro and his chiefs in council the following merchandise +in exchange for his territory: six casks of rum; twenty muskets; +twenty quarter-kegs powder; twenty pounds tobacco; twenty pieces +white cottons; thirty pieces blue cottons; twenty iron bars; twenty cutlasses; +twenty wash-basins; and twenty each of several other articles of +trifling value.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXIX.</h2> + + +<p>I might fairly be accused of ingratitude if I passed without notice +the Colony of Liberia and its capital, whose hospitable doors +were opened widely to receive an exile, when the barbarians of +New Sestros drove me from that settlement.</p> + +<p>It is not my intention to tire the reader with an account of +Liberia, for I presume that few are unacquainted with the thriving +condition of those philanthropic lodgments, which hem the +western coast of Africa for near eight hundred miles.</p> + +<p>In my former visits to Monrovia, I had been regarded as a +dangerous intruder, who was to be kept for ever under the vigilant +eyes of government officials. When my character as an established +slaver was clearly ascertained, the port was interdicted to my +vessels, and my appearance in the town itself prohibited. Now, +however, when I came as a fugitive from violence, and with the +acknowledged relinquishment of my ancient traffic, every hand +was extended in friendship and commiseration. The governor +and council allowed the landing of my rescued slave-goods on +deposit, while the only two servants who continued faithful were +secured to me as apprentices by the court. Scarcely more than +two months ago, the people of this quiet village were disturbed +from sleep by the roll of drums beating for recruits to march +against “<i>the slaver Canot</i>;” to-day I dine with the chief of the +colony and am welcomed as a brother! This is another of those +remarkable vicissitudes that abound in this work, and which the +critics, in all likelihood, may consider too often repeated. To +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span> +my mind, however, it is only another illustration of the probability +of the odd and the strangeness of <i>truth</i>!</p> + +<p>I had no difficulty in finding all sorts of workmen in Monrovia, +for the colonists brought with them all the mechanical ingenuity +and thrift that characterize the American people. In four months, +with the assistance of a few carpenters, sawyers and blacksmiths, +I built a charming little craft of twenty-five tons, which, in honor +of my British protector, I dubbed the “Termagant.” I notice +the construction of this vessel, merely to show that the colony +and its people were long ago capable of producing every thing that +may be required by a commercial state in the tropics. When my +cutter touched the water, she was indebted to foreign countries +for nothing but her copper, chains and sails, every thing else being +the product of Africa and <i>colonial</i> labor. Had nature bestowed +a better harbor on the Mesurado river, and afforded a safer entrance +for large vessels, Monrovia would now be second only to +Sierra Leone. Following the beautiful border of the Saint Paul’s, +a few miles from Monrovia the eye rests on extensive plains teeming +with luxurious vegetation. The amplest proof has been given +of the soil’s fertility in the production of coffee, sugar, cotton and +rice. I have frequently seen cane fourteen feet high, and as thick +as any I ever met with in the Indies. Coffee-trees grow much +larger than on this side of the Atlantic; single trees often yielding +sixteen pounds, which is about seven more than the average +product in the West Indies.<a name="FNanchor_H_16" id="FNanchor_H_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_16" class="fnanchor">[H]</a> Throughout the entire jurisdiction +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span> +between Cape Mount and Cape Palmas, to the St. Andrew’s, the +soil is equally prolific. Oranges, lemons, cocoanuts, pine-apples, +mangoes, plums, granadillas, sour and sweet sop, plantains, bananas, +guyavas, tamarinds, ginger, sweet potatoes, yams, cassava, +and corn, are found in abundance; while the industry of American +settlers has lately added the bread-fruit, rose apple, patanga, +cantelope, water-melon, aguacate and mulberry. Garden culture +produces every thing that may be desired at the most luxurious +table.</p> + +<p>Much has been said of the “pestilential climate of Africa,” +and the certain doom of those who venture within the spell of its +miasma. I dare not deny that the coast is scourged by dangerous +maladies, and that nearly all who take up their abode in the +colonies are obliged to undergo the ordeal of a fever which assails +them with more or less virulence, according to the health, constitution, +or condition of the patient. Yet I think, if the colonization +records are read with a candid spirit, they will satisfy unprejudiced +persons that the mortality of emigrants has diminished nearly +one half, in consequence of the sanitary care exercised by the colonial +authorities during the period of acclimation. The colonies +are now amply supplied with lodgings for new comers, where every +thing demanded for comfort, cure, or alleviation, is at hand in +abundance. Colored physicians, who studied their art in America, +have acquainted themselves with the local distempers, and proved +their skill by successful practice. Nor is there now the difficulty +or expense which, twelve years ago, before the destruction of the +neighboring slave marts, made it almost impossible to furnish +convalescents with that delicate nourishment which was needed +to re-establish their vigor.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>It may not be amiss if I venture to hope that these colonial +experiments, which have been fostered for the civilization of Africa +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span> +as well as for the amelioration of the American negro’s lot, will +continue to receive the support of all good men. Some persons +assert that the race is incapable of self-government beyond the +tribal state, and <i>then</i> only through fear; while others allege, that +no matter what care may be bestowed on African intellect, it is +unable to produce or sustain the highest results of modern civilization. +It would not be proper for any one to speak oracularly +on this mooted point; yet, in justice to the negroes who never left +their forests, as well as to those who have imbibed, for more than +a generation, the civilization of Europe or America, I may unhesitatingly +say, that the colonial trial has thus far been highly promising. +I have often been present at difficult councils and “<i>palavers</i>” +among the <i>wild</i> tribes, when questions arose which demanded +a calm and skilful judgment, and in almost every instance, the +decision was characterized by remarkable good sense and equity. +In most of the <i>colonies</i> the men who are intrusted with local control, +a few years since were either slaves in America, or employed +in menial tasks which it was almost hopeless they could escape. +Liberia, at present, may boast of several individuals, who, but for +their caste, might adorn society; while they who have personally +known Roberts, Lewis, Benedict, J. B. McGill, Teage, Benson of +Grand Bassa, and Dr. McGill of Cape Palmas, can bear testimony +that nature has endowed numbers of the colored race with the best +qualities of humanity.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the prosperity, endurance and influence of the +colonies, are still problems. I am anxious to see the second generation +of the colonists in Africa. I wish to know what will be +the force and development of the negro mind on its native soil,—civilized, +but cut off from all instruction, influence, or association +with the white mind. I desire to understand, precisely, whether +the negro’s faculties are original or imitative, and consequently, +whether he can stand alone in absolute independence, or is only +respectable when reflecting a civilization that is cast on him by +others.</p> + +<p>If the descendants of the present colonists, increased by an +immense immigration <i>of all classes and qualities</i> during the next +twenty-five years, shall sustain the young nation with that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span> +industrial energy and political dignity that mark its population in +our day, we shall hail the realized fact with infinite delight. +We will rejoice, not only because the emancipated negro may +thenceforth possess a realm wherein his rights shall be sacred, +but because the civilization with which the colonies must border +the African continent, will, year by year, sink deeper and deeper +into the heart of the interior, till barbarism and Islamism will +fade before the light of Christianity.</p> + +<p>But the test and trial have yet to come. The colonist of our +time is an exotic under glass,—full, as yet, of sap and stamina +drawn from his native America, but nursed with care and exhibited +as the efflorescence of modern philanthropy. Let us hope +that this wholesome guardianship will not be too soon or suddenly +withdrawn by the parent societies; but that, while the state of +pupilage shall not be continued till the immigrants and their +children are emasculated by lengthened dependence, it will be +upheld until the republic shall exhibit such signs of manhood as +cannot deceive the least hopeful.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_16" id="Footnote_H_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_16"><span class="label">[H]</span></a> I wish to confirm and fortify this statement in regard to the value of +coffee culture in the colonies, by the observation of Dr. J. W. Lugenbeel, +late colonial physician and United States agent in Liberia. The Doctor +gave “particular attention to observations and investigations respecting +coffee culture in Liberia.” “I have frequently seen,” he says, “isolated +trees growing in different parts of Liberia, which yielded from ten to twenty +pounds of clean dry coffee at one picking; and, however incredible it +may appear, it is a fact that one tree in Monrovia yielded four and a half +bushels of coffee in the hull, at one time, which, when dried and shelled, +weighed thirty-one pounds. This is the largest quantity I ever heard of, +and the largest tree I ever saw, being upwards of twenty feet high and of +proportionate dimensions.”</p> + +<p>The Doctor is of opinion, however, that as the coffee-tree begins to bear +at the end of its fourth year, an <i>average</i> yield at the end of the sixth year +may be calculated on of at least four pounds. Three hundred trees may +be planted on an acre, giving each twelve feet, and in six years the culture +will become profitable as well as easy.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXX.</h2> + + +<p>I returned to Cape Mount from the colony with several American +mechanics and a fresh assortment of merchandise for traffic +with the natives. During my absence, the agent I left in charge +had contrived, with great labor, to clear a large space in the +forest for my projected establishment, so that with the aid of my +Americans, I was soon enabled to give the finishing touch to +New Florence. While the buildings were erecting, I induced a +number of natives, by force of double pay and the authority of +their chiefs, to form and cultivate a garden, comprising the +luxuries of Europe and America as well as of the tropics, which, +in after days, secured the admiration of many a naval commander.</p> + +<p>As soon as my dwelling was nicely completed, I removed my +furniture from the colony; and, still continuing to drum through +the country for business with the Africans, I despatched my +Kroomen and pilots on board of every cruiser that appeared in the +offing, to supply them with provisions and refreshments.</p> + +<p>An event took place about this time which may illustrate the +manner in which a branch of the slave-trade is carried on along +the coast. Her Britannic Majesty’s sloop of war L—— was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span> +in the neighborhood, and landed three of her officers at my +quarters to spend a day or two in hunting the wild boars with +which the adjacent country was stocked. But the rain poured +down in such torrents, that, instead of a hunt, I proposed a +dinner to my jovial visitors. Soon after our soup had been despatched +on the piazza, there was a rush of natives into the yard, +and I was informed that one of our Bush chiefs had brought in a +noted gambler, whom he threatened either to sell or kill.</p> + +<p>It struck me instantly that this would be a good opportunity +to give my British friends a sight of native character, at the +same time that they might be enabled, if so disposed, to do a +generous action. Accordingly, I directed my servant to bring +the Bushman and gambler before us; and as the naked victim, +with a rope round his neck, was dragged by the savage to our +table, I perceived that it was Soma, who had formerly been in +my service on the coast. The vagabond was an excellent interpreter +and connected with the king, but I had been obliged to discharge +him in consequence of his dissipated habits, and especially +for having gambled away his youngest sister, whose release from +Gallinas I had been instrumental in securing.</p> + +<p>“I have brought Soma to your store-keeper,” said the Bushman, +“and I want him to buy the varlet. Soma has been half +the day gambling with me. First of all he lost his gun, then his +cap, then his cloth, then his right leg, then his left, then his arms, +and, last of all, his head. I have given his friends a chance to +redeem the dog, but as they had bought him half a dozen times +already, there’s not a man in the town that will touch him. +Soma <i>never</i> pays his debts; and now, Don Téodore, I have +brought him here, and if <i>you</i> don’t buy him, I’ll take him to the +water-side and <i>cut his throat</i>!”</p> + +<p>There,—with an imploring countenance, bare as he came into +the world, a choking cord round his throat, and with pinioned +arms,—stood the trembling gambler, as I glanced in vain from +the Bushman to the officers, in expectation of his release by those +philanthropists! As Soma spoke English, I told him in our +language, that I had no pity for his fate, and that he must take +the chances he had invoked. Twenty dollars would have saved +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span> +his life, and yet the British did not melt! “Take him off,” +said I sternly, to the Bushman, “and use him as you choose!”—but +at the same moment, a wink to my interpreter sufficed, and +the Bushman returned to the forest with tobacco and rum, while +Soma was saved from slaughter. It is by no means improbable +that the gambler is now playing <i>monte</i> on some plantation in +Cuba.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>I continued my labors at New Florence without intermission +for several months, but when I cast up my account, I found the +wages and cost of building so enormous, that my finances would +soon be exhausted. Accordingly, by the advice of my friend +Seagram, as well as of Captain Tucker, who commanded on the +station, I petitioned Lord Stanley to grant me one hundred recaptured +Africans to till my grounds and learn the rudiments of +agricultural industry. Some time elapsed before an answer was +sent, but when it came, my prospects were dashed to the earth.</p> + +<p class="address1">“<span class="smcap">Government House, Sierra Leone</span>,</p> +<p class="address2">“<i>28th October, 1843</i>.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir:</span></p> + +<p>“I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated +August last, inclosing the copy of a petition, the original of +which you had transmitted to the acting Lieutenant Governor +Ferguson, for the purpose of having it forwarded to her Majesty’s +Government.</p> + +<p>“In reply, I have to acquaint you, that by the receipt of a +despatch from the Rt. Hon. Lord Stanley, Secretary of State for +the Colonies, bearing date 8th April 1842, his Lordship states +that he cannot sanction a compliance with your request to have a +number of liberated Africans, as apprentices, in tilling your +grounds; and further, that he could not recognize the purchase +of Cape Mount, as placing that district under the protection and +sovereignty of the British crown.</p> + +<p>“I beg to add, that I am glad to be informed by Captain +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span> +Oake that the vessel, alluded to in your letter, which you had +been unable to despatch for want of a license, had obtained one for +that purpose from the governor of Monrovia.</p> + +<p class="sig1">“I am, sir, your obedient servant,</p> +<p class="sig2">“<span class="smcap">G. Mac Donald</span>,</p> +<p class="sig3">“<i>Governor</i>.</p> + +<p class="receipt1">“<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Mr. Theodore Canot</span>.”</p> + +<p>The picture that had been painted by my imagination with so +many bright scenes and philanthropic hopes, fell as I finished this +epistle. It not only clouded my future prospects of lawful commerce, +but broke off, at once, the correspondence with my generous +friend Redman in London. As I dropped the missive on the +table, I ordered the palm-tree on which I had first unfurled the +British flag to be cut down; and next day, on a tall pole, in full +view of the harbor, I hoisted a tri-colored banner, adorned by a +central star, which I caused to be baptized, in presence of +Fana-Toro, with a salvo of twenty guns.</p> + +<p>I am not naturally of a mischievous or revengeful temper, but +I can scarcely find language to express the mortification I experienced +when Lord Stanley thwarted my honest intentions, by +his refusal to protect the purchase whereon I had firmly resolved +to be an ally and friend, in concentrating a lawful commerce. I +was especially disgusted by this mistrust, or mistake, after the +flattering assurances with which my design had, from the first, +been cherished by the British officers on the station. I may confess +that, for a moment, I almost repented the confidence I had +reposed in the British lion, and was at a loss whether to abandon +Cape Mount and return to my former traffic, or to till the ground +and play waterman to the fleet.</p> + +<p>After proper deliberation, however, I resolved to take the +plough for my device; and before Christmas, I had already +ordered from England a large supply of agricultural implements +and of every thing requisite for elaborate husbandry. After this, +I purchased forty youths to be employed on a coffee plantation, +and to drag my ploughs till I obtained animals to replace them. +In a short time I had abundance of land cleared, and an over-seer’s +house erected for an old barracoonier, who, I am grieved +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span> +to say, turned out but a sorry farmer. He had no idea of systematic +labor or discipline save by the lash, so that in a month, four +of his gang were on the sick list, and five had deserted. I replaced +the Spaniard by an American colored man, who, in turn, +made too free with my people and neglected the plantations. +My own knowledge of agriculture was so limited, that unless I +fortified every enterprise by constant reference to books, I was +unable to direct my hands with skill; and, accordingly, with all +these mishaps to my commerce and tillage, I became satisfied +that it was easier to plough the ocean than the land.</p> + +<p>Still I was not disheartened. My trade, on a large scale, +with the interior, and my agriculture had both failed; yet I resolved +to try the effect of traffic in a humble way, combined with +such <i>mechanical</i> pursuits as would be profitable on the coast. +Accordingly, I divided a gang of forty well-drilled negroes into +two sections, retaining the least intelligent on the farm, while the +brighter youths were brought to the landing. Here I laid out +a ship-yard, blacksmith’s shop, and sawpit, placing at the head of +each, a Monrovian colonist to instruct my slaves. In the mean +time the neighboring natives, as well as the people some distance +in the interior, were apprised by my runners of the new factory +I was forming at Cape Mount.</p> + +<p>By the return of the dry season our establishment gave signs +of renewed vitality. Within the fences of New Florence there +were already twenty-five buildings and a population of one hundred, +and nothing was wanting but a stock of cattle, which I soon +procured from the Kroo country.</p> + +<p>Thus, for a long time all things went on satisfactorily, not only +with the natives, but with foreign traders and cruisers, till a native +war embarrassed my enterprise, and brought me in contact +with the enemies of King Fana-Toro, of whose realm and deportment +I must give some account.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXXI.</h2> + + +<p>The Africans who cluster about the bold headland of Cape +Mount,—which, in fair weather, greets the mariner full thirty +miles at sea,—belong to the Vey tribe, and are in no way inferior +to the best classes of natives along the coast. Forty or fifty +families constitute “a town,” the government of which is generally +in the hands of the oldest man, who administers justice by +a “palaver” held in public, wherein the seniors of the settlement +are alone consulted. These villages subject themselves voluntarily +to the protectorate of larger towns, whose chief arbitrates +as sovereign without appeal in all disputes among towns +under his wardship; yet, as his judgments are not always pleasing, +the dissatisfied desert their huts, and, emigrating to another +jurisdiction, build their village anew within its limits.</p> + +<p>The Veys of both sexes are well-built, erect, and somewhat +stately. Their faith differs but little from that prevalent among +the Soosoos of the Rio Pongo. They believe in a superior power +that may be successfully invoked through <i>gree-grees</i> and <i>fetiches</i>, +but which is generally obstinate or mischievous. It is their idea +that the good are rewarded after death by transformation into +some favorite animal; yet their entire creed is not subject to any +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span> +definite description, for they blend the absurdities of Mahometanism +with those of paganism, and mellow the whole by an acknowledgment +of a supreme deity.</p> + +<p>The Vey, like other <i>uncontaminated</i> Ethiopians, is brought +up in savage neglect by his parents, crawling in perfect nakedness +about the villages, till imitation teaches him the use of raiment, +which, in all likelihood, he first of all obtains by theft. +There is no difference between the sexes during their early +years. A sense of shame or modesty seems altogether unknown +or disregarded; nor is it unusual to find ten or a dozen +of both genders huddled promiscuously beneath a roof whose +walls are not more than fifteen feet square.</p> + +<p>True to his nature, a Vey bushman rises in the morning to +swallow his rice and cassava, and crawls back to his mat which is +invariably placed in the sunshine, where he <i>simmers</i> till noontide, +when another wife serves him with a second meal. The remainder +of daylight is passed either in gossip or a second <i>siesta</i>, +till, at sundown, his other wives wash his body, furnish a third +meal, and stretch his wearied limbs before a blazing fire to refresh +for the toils of the succeeding day. In fact, the slaves of a +household, together with its females, form the entire working +class of Africa, and in order to indoctrinate the gentler sex in its +future toils and duties, there seems to be a sort of national seminary +which is known as the Gree-gree-bush.</p> + +<p>The Gree-gree-bush is a secluded spot or grove of considerable +extent in the forest, apart from dwellings and cultivated land +though adjacent to villages, which is considered as consecrated +ground and forbidden to the approach of men. The establishment +within this precinct consists of a few houses, with an extensive +area for exercise. It is governed chiefly by an old woman of +superior skill and knowledge, to whose charge the girls of a village +are intrusted as soon as they reach the age of ten or twelve. +There are various opinions of the use and value of this institution +in the primitive polity of Africa. By some writers it is +treated as a religious cloister for the protection of female chastity, +while by others it is regarded as a school of licentiousness. +From my own examination of the establishment, I am quite +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span> +satisfied that a line drawn between these extremes will, most probably, +characterize the “bush” with accuracy, and that what was +originally a conservative seclusion, has degenerated greatly under +the lust of tropical passions.</p> + +<p>As the procession of novices who are about to enter the +grove approaches the sanctuary, music and dancing are heard +and seen on every side. As soon as the maidens are received, +they are taken by the <i>gree-gree</i> women to a neighboring stream, +where they are washed, and undergo an operation which is regarded +as a sort of circumcision. Anointed from head to foot +with palm-oil, they are next reconducted to their home in the +gree-gree bush. Here, under strict watch, they are maintained +by their relatives or those who are in treaty for them as wives, +until they reach the age of puberty. At this epoch the important +fact is announced by the gree-gree woman to the purchaser +or future husband, who, it is expected, will soon prepare to +take her from the retreat. Whenever his <i>new</i> house is ready for +the bride’s reception, it is proclaimed by the ringing of bells and +vociferous cries during night. Next day search is made by females +through the woods, to ascertain whether intruders are lurking +about, but when the path is ascertained to be clear, the girl +is forthwith borne to a rivulet, where she is washed, anointed, +and clad in her best attire. From thence she is borne, amid +singing, drumming, shouting, and firing, in the arms of her female +attendants, till her unsoiled feet are deposited on the husband’s +floor.<a name="FNanchor_9_17" id="FNanchor_9_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_17" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>I believe this institution exists throughout a large portion of +Africa, and such is the desire to place females within the bush, +that poor parents who cannot pay the initiatory fee, raise subscriptions +among their friends to obtain the requisite slave whose +gift entitles their child to admission. Sometimes, it is said, that +this <i>human ticket is stolen</i> to effect the desired purpose, and +that no native power can recover the lost slave when once within +the sacred precincts.</p> + +<p>The gree-gree-bush is not only a resort of the virgin, but of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span> +the wife, in those seasons when approaching maternity indicates +need of repose and care. In a few hours, the robust mother +issues with her new-born child, and after a plunge into the nearest +brook, returns to the domestic drudgery which I have +already described.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>In the time of Fana-Toro, Toso was the royal residence where +his majesty played sovereign and protector over six towns and +fifteen villages. His government was generally considered patriarchal. +When I bought Cape Mount, the king numbered +“seventy-seven rains,” equivalent to so many years;—he was +small, wiry, meagre, erect, and proud of the respect he universally +commanded. His youth was notorious among the tribes for intrepidity, +and I found that he retained towards enemies a bitter +resentment that often led to the commission of atrocious cruelties.</p> + +<p>It was not long after my instalment at the Cape, that I accidentally +witnessed the ferocity of this chief. Some trifling +“country affair” caused me to visit the king; but upon landing at +Toso I was told he was abroad. The manner of my informant, +however, satisfied me that the message was untrue; and accordingly, +with the usual confidence of a “white man” in Africa, I +searched his premises till I encountered him in the “palaver-house.” +The large inclosure was crammed with a mob of savages, +all in perfect silence around the king, who, in an infuriate +manner, with a bloody, knife in his hand, and a foot on the dead +body of a negro, was addressing the carcass. By his side stood +a pot of hissing oil, in which the heart of his enemy was frying!</p> + +<p>My sudden and, perhaps, improper entrance, seemed to exasperate +the infidel, who, calling me to his side, knelt on the +corpse, and digging it repeatedly with his knife, exclaimed with +trembling passion, that it was his bitterest and oldest foe’s! For +twenty years he had butchered his people, sold his subjects, violated +his daughters, slain his sons, and burnt his towns;—and +with each charge, the savage enforced his assertion by a stab.</p> + +<p>I learned that the slaughtered captive was too brave and +wary to be taken alive in open conflict. He had been kidnapped +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span> +by treachery, and as he could not be forced to walk to Toso, the +king’s trappers had cooped him in a huge basket, which they +bore on their shoulders to the Cape. No sooner was the brute in +his captor’s presence, than he broke a silence of three days by +imprecations on Fana-Toro. In a short space, his fate was decided +in the scene I had witnessed, while his body was immediately +burnt to prevent it from taking the form of some ferocious +beast which might vex the remaining years of his royal executioner!</p> + +<p>This was the only instance of Fana-Toro’s barbarity that +came under my notice, and in its perpetration he merely followed +the example of his ancestors in obedience to African ferocity. +Yet, of his intrepidity and nobler endurance, I will relate an +anecdote which was told me by reliable persons. Some twenty +years before my arrival at the Cape, large bands of mercenary +bushmen had joined his enemies along the beach, and after desolating +his territory, sat down to beleaguer the stockade of Toso. +For many a day thirst and hunger were quietly suffered under +the resolute command of the king, but at length, when their +pangs became unendurable, and the people demanded a surrender, +Fana-Toro strode into the “palaver-house,” commanding a +<i>sortie</i> with his famished madmen. The warriors protested +against the idea, for their ammunition was exhausted. Then +arose a wild shout for the king’s deposition and the election of a +chief to succeed him. A candidate was instantly found and installed; +but no sooner had he been chosen, than Fana-Toro,—daring +the new prince to prove a power of <i>endurance</i> equal to +his own,—plunged his finger in a bowl of boiling oil, and held it +over the fire, without moving a muscle, till the flesh was crisped +to the bone.</p> + +<p>It is hardly necessary to say that the sovereign was at once +restored to his rights, or that, availing himself of the fresh enthusiasm, +he rushed upon his besiegers, broke their lines, routed the +mercenaries, and compelled his rival to sue for peace. Until +the day of his death, that mutilated hand was the boast of his +people.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span> +The Vey people mark with some ceremony the extremes of +human existence—birth and death. Both events are honored +with feasting, drinking, dancing, and firing; and the descendants +of the dead sometimes impoverish, and even ruin themselves, to +inter a venerable parent with pomp.</p> + +<p>Prince Gray, the son of Fana-Toro, whom I have already +mentioned, died during my occupation of Cape Mount. I was at +Mesurado when the event happened, but, as soon as I heard it, +I resolved to unite with his relations in the last rites to his +memory. Gray was not only a good negro and kind neighbor, +but, as my fast friend in “country matters,” his death was a +personal calamity.</p> + +<p>The breath was hardly out of the prince’s body, when his +sons, who owned but little property and had no slaves for sale, +hastened to my agent, and pledged their town of Panama for +means to defray his funeral. In the mean time, the corpse, +swathed in twenty large country sheets, and wrapped in twenty +pieces of variegated calico, was laid out in a hut, where it +was constantly watched and <i>smoked</i> by three of the favorite +widows.</p> + +<p>After two months devotion to moaning and <i>seasoning</i>, notice +was sent forty miles round the country, summoning the tribes +to the final ceremony. On the appointed day the corpse was +brought from the hut, <i>a perfect mass of bacon</i>. As the procession +moved towards the palaver-house, the prince’s twenty +wives—almost entirely denuded, their heads shaved, and their +bodies smeared with dust—were seen following his remains. +The eldest spouse appeared covered with self-inflicted bruises, +burns, and gashes—all indications of sorrow and future uselessness.</p> + +<p>The crowd reached the apartment, singing the praises of the +defunct in chorus, when the body was laid on a new mat, covered +with his war shirt, while the parched lump that indicated his +head was crowned with the remains of a fur hat. All the amulets, +charms, gree-grees, fetiches and flummery of the prince were +duly bestowed at his sides. While these arrangements were +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span> +making within, his sons stood beneath an adjoining verandah, +to receive the condolences of the invited guests, who, according +to custom, made their bows and deposited a tribute of rice, +palm-oil, palm-wine, or other luxuries, to help out the merry-making.</p> + +<p>When I heard of the prince’s death at Monrovia, I resolved +not to return without a testimonial of respect for my ally, and +ordered an enormous coffin to be prepared without delay. In +due time the huge chest was made ready, covered with blue cotton, +studded with brass nails, and adorned with all the gilded +ornaments I could find in Monrovia. Besides this splendid +sarcophagus, my craft from the colony was ballasted with four +bullocks and several barrels of rum, as a contribution to the +funeral.</p> + +<p>I had timed my arrival at Fanama, so as to reach the landing +about ten o’clock on the morning of burial; and, after a salute +from my brazen guns, I landed the bullocks, liquor, and coffin, +and marched toward the princely gates.</p> + +<p>The unexpected appearance of the white friend of their +father, lord, and husband, was greeted by the family with a loud +wail, and, as a mark of respect, I was instantly lifted in the arms +of the weeping women, and deposited on the mat beside the +corpse. Here I rested, amid cries and lamentations, till near +noon, when the bullocks were slaughtered, and their blood offered +in wash-bowls to the dead. As soon as this was over, the shapeless +mass was stowed in the coffin without regard to position, and +borne by six carriers to the beach, where it was buried in a cluster +of cotton-woods.</p> + +<p>On our return to Fanama from the grave, the eldest son of +the deceased was instantly saluted as prince. From this moment +the festivities began, and, at sundown, the twenty widows reappeared +upon the ground, clad in their choicest raiment, their +shaven skulls anointed with oil, and their limbs loaded with every +bead and bracelet they could muster. Then began the partition +of these disconsolate relicts among the royal family. Six were +selected by the new prince, who divided thirteen among his +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span> +brothers and kinsmen, but gave his mother to his father-in-law. +As soon as the allotment was over, his highness very courteously +offered me the choice of his <i>six</i>, in return for my gifts; but as I +never formed a family tie with natives, I declined the honor, as +altogether too overwhelming!</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_17" id="Footnote_9_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_17"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> See Maryland Colonization Journal, vol. i., n. s., p. 212.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXXII.</h2> + + +<p>When I was once comfortably installed at my motley establishment, +and, under the management of Colonists, had initiated the +native workmen into tolerable skill with the adze, saw, sledgehammer +and forge, I undertook to build a brig of one hundred +tons. In six months, people came from far and near to behold +the mechanical marvels of Cape Mount. Meanwhile, my +plantation went on slowly, while my <i>garden</i> became a matter of +curiosity to all the intelligent coasters and cruisers, though I +could never enlighten the natives as to the value of the “foreign +grass” which I cultivated so diligently. They admired the symmetry +of my beds, the richness of my pine-apples, the luxurious +splendor of my sugar-cane, the abundance of my coffee, and the +cool fragrance of the arbors with which I adorned the lawn; but +they would never admit the use of my exotic vegetables. In +order to water my premises, I turned the channel of a brook, +surrounding the garden with a perfect canal; and, as its sides +were completely laced with an elaborate wicker-work of willows, +the aged king and crowds of his followers came to look upon the +Samsonian task as one of the wonders of Africa. “What is it,” +exclaimed Fana-Toro, as he beheld the deflected water-course, +“that a white man cannot do!” After this, his majesty +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span> +inspected all my plants, and shouted again with surprise at the toil +we underwent to satisfy our appetites. The use or worth of +<i>flowers</i>, of which I had a rare and beautiful supply, he could +never divine; but his chief amazement was still devoted to our +daily expenditure of time, strength, and systematic toil, when +rice and palm-oil would grow wild while we were sleeping!</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>It will be seen from this sketch of my domestic comforts and +employment, that New Florence prospered in every thing but +<i>farming</i> and <i>trade</i>. At first it was my hope, that two or three +years of perseverance would enable me to open a lawful traffic +with the interior; but I soon discovered that the slave-trade was +alone thought of by the natives, who only bring the neighboring +produce to the beach, when their captives are ready for +a market. I came, moreover, to the conclusion that the interior +negroes about Cape Mount had no commerce with Eastern tribes +except for slaves, and consequently that its small river will +never create marts like those which have direct communications +by water with the heart of a rich region, and absorb its gold, +ivory, wax, and hides. To meet these difficulties, I hastened the +building of my vessel <i>as a coaster</i>.</p> + +<p>About this time, an American craft called the A——, arrived +in my neighborhood. She was loaded with tobacco, calicoes, +rum, and powder. Her captain who was unskilled in coast-trade, +and ignorant of Spanish, engaged me to act as supercargo for him +to Gallinas. In a very short period I disposed of his entire +investment. The trim and saucy rig of this Yankee clipper bewitched +the heart of a Spanish trader who happened to be among +the <i>lagunes</i>, and an offer was forthwith made, through me, for +her purchase. The bid was accepted at once, and the day before +Christmas fixed as the period of her delivery, after a trip to the +Gaboon.</p> + +<p>In contracting to furnish this slaver with a craft and the +necessary apparatus for his cargo, it would be folly for me to +deny that I was dipping once more into my ancient trade; yet, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span> +on reflection, I concluded that in covering the vessel for a moment +with my name, I was no more amenable to rebuke, than the +respectable merchants of Sierra Leone and elsewhere who passed +hardly a day without selling, to notorious slavers, such merchandise +as could be used <i>alone</i> in slave-wars or slave-trade. It is +probable that the sophism soothed my conscience at the moment, +though I could never escape the promise that sealed my agreement +with Lieutenant Seagram.</p> + +<p>The appointed day arrived, and my smoking semaphores +announced the brigantine’s approach to Sugarei, three miles from +Cape Mount. The same evening the vessel was surrendered to +me by the American captain, who landed his crew and handed +over his flag and papers. As soon as I was in charge, no delay +was made to prepare for the reception of freight; and by sunrise +I resigned her to the Spaniard, who immediately embarked seven +hundred negroes, and landed them in Cuba in twenty-seven days.</p> + +<p>Till now the British cruisers had made Cape Mount their +friendly rendezvous, but the noise of this shipment in my neighborhood, +and my refusal to explain or converse on the subject, gave +umbrage to officers who had never failed to supply themselves +from my grounds and larder. In fact I was soon marked as an +enemy of the squadron, while our intercourse dwindled to the +merest shadow. In the course of a week, the Commander on the +African station, himself, hove to off the Cape, and summoning me +on board, concluded a petulant conversation by remarking that “a +couple of men like Monsieur Canot would make work enough in +Africa for the whole British squadron!”</p> + +<p>I answered the compliment with a profound <i>salaam</i>, and went +over the Penelope’s side satisfied that my friendship was at an +end with her Majesty’s cruisers.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>The portion of Cape Mount whereon I pitched my tent, had +been so long depopulated by the early wars against Fana-Toro, +that the wild beasts reasserted their original dominion over the +territory. The forest was full of leopards, wild cats, cavallis or +wild boars, and ourang-outangs.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span> +Very soon after my arrival, a native youth in my employ had +been severely chastised for misconduct, and in fear of repetition, +fled to the mount after supplying himself with a basket of cassava. +As his food was sufficient for a couple of days, we thought he +might linger in the wood till the roots were exhausted, and then +return to duty. But three days elapsed without tidings from +the truant. On the fourth, a diligent search disclosed his corpse +in the forest, every limb dislocated and covered with bites apparently +made by human teeth. It was the opinion of the natives +that the child had been killed by ourang-outangs, nor can I doubt +their correctness, for when I visited the scene of the murder, +the earth for a large space around, was covered with the footprints +of the beast and scattered with the skins of its favorite +esculent.</p> + +<p>I was more annoyed, however, at first, by leopards than +any other animal. My cattle could not stray beyond the fences, +nor could my laborers venture abroad at any time without +weapons. I made use of spring-traps, pit-fall, and various expedients +to purify the forest; but such was the cunning or agility +of our nimble foes that they all escaped. The only mode by +which I succeeded in freeing the <i>homestead</i> of their ravages, was +by arming the muzzle of a musket with a slice of meat which +was attached by a string to the trigger, so that the load and the +food were discharged into the leopard’s mouth at the same moment. +Thus, by degrees as my settlement grew, the beasts receded from +the promontory and its adjacent grounds; and in a couple of +years, the herds were able to roam where they pleased without +danger.</p> + +<p>Cape Mount had long been deserted by elephants, but about +forty miles from my dwelling, on the upper forests of the lake, +the noble animal might still be hunted; and whenever the natives +were fortunate enough to “bag” a specimen, I was sure to be +remembered in its division. If the prize proved a male, I received +the feet and trunk, but if it turned out of the gentler +gender, I was honored with the udder, as a royal <i>bonne-bouche</i>.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/canot05.png" width="700" height="522" alt="" /> +<span class="caption">AN ELEPHANT HUNT.</span> +</div> + +<p>In Africa a slaughtered elephant is considered public property +by the neighboring villagers, all of whom have a right to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span> +carve the giant till his bones are bare. A genuine sportsman +claims nothing but the ivory and tail, the latter being universally +a perquisite of the king. Yet I frequently found that associations +were made among the natives to capture this colossal beast +and his valuable tusks. Upon these occasions, a club was formed +on the basis of a whaling cruise, while a single but well-known +hunter was chosen to do execution. One man furnished the +muskets, another supplied the powder, a third gave the iron bolts +for balls, a fourth made ready the provender, while a fifth despatched +a bearer with the armament. As soon as the outfit was +completed, the huntsman’s <i>juju</i> and <i>fetiche</i> were invoked for +good luck, and he departed under an escort of wives and associates.</p> + +<p>An African elephant is smaller, as well as more cunning and +wild, than the Asiatic. Accordingly, the sportsman is often +obliged to circumvent his game during several days, for it is said +that in populous districts, its instincts are so keen as to afford +warning of the neighborhood of fire-arms, even at extraordinary +distances. The common and most effectual mode of enticing an +elephant within reach of a ball, is to strew the forest for several +miles with <i>pine-apples</i>, whose flavor and fragrance infallibly bewitch +him. By degrees, he tracks and nibbles the fruit from +slice to slice, till, lured within the hunter’s retreat, he is despatched +from the branches of a lofty tree by repeated shots at +his capacious forehead.</p> + +<p>Sometimes it happens that four or five discharges with the +wretched powder used in Africa fail to slay the beast, who escapes +from the jungle and dies afar from the encounter. When this +occurs, an attendant is despatched for a reinforcement, and I have +seen a whole settlement go forth <i>en masse</i> to search for the +monster that will furnish food for many a day. Sometimes the +crowd is disappointed, for the wounds have been slight and the +animal is seen no more. Occasionally, a dying elephant will +linger a long time, and is only discovered by the buzzards hovering +above his body. Then it is that the bushmen, guided by +the vultures, haste to the forest, and fall upon the putrid flesh with +more avidity than birds of prey. Battles have been fought on +the carcass of an elephant, and many a slave, captured in the +conflict, has been marched from the body to the beach.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER LXXIII.</h2> + + +<p>The war, whose rupture I mentioned at the end of the seventieth +chapter, spread rapidly throughout our borders; and absorbing +the entire attention of the tribe, gave an impulse to slavery +which had been unwitnessed since my advent to the Cape. +The reader may readily appreciate the difficulty of my position +in a country, hemmed in by war which could only be terminated +by slaughter or slavery. Nor could I remain neutral in New +Florence, which was situated on the same side of the river as +Toso, while the enemies of Fana-Toro were in complete possession +of the opposite bank.</p> + +<p>When I felt that the rupture between the British and myself +was not only complete but irreparable, I had less difficulty in +deciding my policy as to the natives; and, chiefly under the impulse +of self-protection, I resolved to serve the cause of my +ancient ally. I made whatever fortifications could be easily defended +in case of attack, and, by way of show, mounted some +cannon on a boat which was paraded about the waters in a formidable +way. My judgment taught me from the outset that it was +folly to think of joining actively in the conflict; for, while I had +but three white men in my quarters, and the colonists had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span> +returned to Monrovia, my New Sestros experience taught me the +value of bondsmen’s backing.</p> + +<p>Numerous engagements and captures took place by both +parties, so that my doors were daily besieged by a crowd of +wretches sent by Fana-Toro to be purchased <i>for shipment</i>. I +declined the contract with firmness and constancy, but so importunate +was the chief that I could not resist his desire that a +Spanish factor might come within my limits with merchandise +from Gallinas to purchase his prisoners. “He could do nothing +with his foes,” he said, “when in his grasp, but slay or sell them.” +The king’s enemy, on the opposite shore, disposed of his captives to +Gallinas, and obtained supplies of powder and ball, while Fana-Toro, +who had no vent for his prisoners, would have been destroyed +without my assistance.</p> + +<p>Matters continued in this way for nearly two years, during +which the British kept up so vigilant a blockade at Cape Mount +and Gallinas, that the slavers had rarely a chance to enter a vessel +or run a cargo. In time, the <i>barracoons</i> became so gorged, +that the slavers began to build their own schooners. When the +A—— was sold, I managed to retain her long-boat in my service, +but such was now the value of every egg-shell on the coast, +that her owner despatched a carpenter from Gallinas, who, in a +few days, decked, rigged, and equipped her for sea. She was +twenty-three feet long, four feet deep, and five feet beam, so that, +when afloat, her measurement could not have exceeded four tons. +Yet, on a dark and stormy night, she dropped down the river, +and floated out to sea through the besieging lines, with thirty-three +black boys, two sailors, and a navigator. In less than +forty days she transported the whole of her living freight across +the Atlantic to Bahia. The negroes almost perished from thirst, +but the daring example was successfully followed during the succeeding +year, by skiffs of similar dimensions.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> + +<p>I can hardly hope that a narrative of my dull routine, while +I lingered on the coast, entirely aloof from the slave-trade, would +either interest or instruct the general reader. The checkered +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[Pg 444]</a></span> +career I have already exposed, has portrayed almost every phase +of African life. If I am conscious of any thing during my domicile +at Cape Mount, it is of a sincere desire to prosper by lawful +and honorable thrift. But, between the native wars, the turmoil +of intruding slavers, and the suspicions of the English, every +thing went wrong. The friendship of the colonists at Cape +Palmas and Monrovia was still unabated; appeals were made +by missionaries for my influence with the tribes; coasters called +on me as usual for supplies; yet, with all these encouragements +for exertion, I must confess that my experiment was unsuccessful.</p> + +<p>Nor was this all. I lost my cutter, laden with stores and +merchandise for my factory. A vessel, filled with rice and lumber +for my ship-yard, was captured <i>on suspicion</i>, and, though +sent across the Atlantic for adjudication, was dismissed uncondemned. +The sudden death of a British captain from Sierra +Leone, deprived me of three thousand dollars. Fana-Toro made +numerous assaults on his foes, all of which failed; and, to cap +the climax of my ills, on returning after a brief absence, I found +that a colonist, whom I had rescued from misery and employed +in my forge, had fled to the enemy, carrying with him a number +of my most useful servants.</p> + +<p>It was about this time that circumstances obliged me to make +a rapid voyage to New York and back to Africa, where the blind +goddess had another surprise in store for me. During my absence, +our ancient king was compelled to make a treaty with his +rival, who, under the name of George Cain, dwelt formerly among +the American colonists and acquired our language. It was by +treachery alone that Fana-Toro had been dragooned into an +arrangement, by which my <i>quondam</i> blacksmith, who married a +sister of Cain, was elevated to the dignity of prince George’s +<i>premier</i>!</p> + +<p>Both these scamps, with a troop of their followers, planted +themselves on my premises near the beach, and immediately let +me understand that they were my sworn enemies. Cain could +not pardon the aid I gave to Fana-Toro in his earlier conflicts, +nor would the renegade colonist forsake his kinsman or the +African barbarism, into which he had relapsed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[Pg 445]</a></span> +By degrees, these varlets, whom I was unable, in my crippled +condition, to dislodge, obtained the ears of the British commanders, +and poured into them every falsehood that could kindle +their ire. The Spanish factory of Fana-Toro’s agent was reported +to be <i>mine</i>. The shipment in the A—— and the adventure +of her boat, were said to be <i>mine</i>. Another suspected clipper +was declared to be <i>mine</i>. These, and a hundred lies of equal +baseness, were adroitly purveyed to the squadron by the outlaws, +and, in less than a month, my fame was as black as the skin of +my traducers. Still, even at this distant day, I may challenge +my worst enemy on the coast to prove that I participated, after +1839, in the purchase of a single slave for transportation beyond +the sea!</p> + +<p>From the moment that the first dwelling was erected at New +Florence, I carefully enforced the most rigid decorum between +the sexes throughout my jurisdiction. It was the boast of our +friends at Cape Palmas and Monrovia, that my grounds were +free from the debauchery, which, elsewhere in Africa, was unhappily +too common. I have had the honor to entertain at my +table at Cape Mount, not only the ordinary traders of the coast, +but commodores of French squadrons, commanders of British +and American cruisers, governors of colonies, white and colored +missionaries, as well as innumerable merchants of the first respectability, +and I have yet to meet the first of them, in any part +of the world, who can redden my cheek with a blush.</p> + +<p>But such was not the case at the Cape after Cain and Curtis +became the pets of the cruisers, and converted the beach into a +brothel.<a name="FNanchor_10_18" id="FNanchor_10_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_18" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[Pg 446]</a></span> +After a brief sojourn at my quarters to repair “The Chancellor,” +in which I had come with a cargo from the United +States, I hastened towards Gallinas to dispose of our merchandise. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[Pg 447]</a></span> +We had been already boarded by an American officer, +who reported us to his superior as a regular merchantman; yet, +such were the malicious representations on the beach against the +vessel and myself, that the Dolphin tarried a month at the anchorage +to watch our proceedings. When I went to the old mart +of Don Pedro, a cruiser dogged us; when I sailed to leeward +of Cape Palmas for oil and ivory, another took charge of our +movements,—anchoring where we anchored, getting under way +when we did, and following us into every nook and corner. At +Grand Buttoa, I took “The Chancellor” within a reef of rocks, +and here I was left to proceed as I pleased, while the British +cruiser returned to Cape Mount.</p> + +<p>The fifteenth of March, eighteen hundred and forty-seven, is +scored in my calendar with black. It was on the morning of +that day that the commander who escorted me so warily as far +as Buttoa, landed a lieutenant and sailors at New Florence, and +unceremoniously proceeded to search my premises for slaves. +As none were found, the valiant captors seized a couple of handcuffs, +like those in use every where to secure refractory seamen, +and carried them on board to their commander. Next day, several +boats, with marines and sailors, led by a British captain +and lieutenant, landed about noon, and, without notice, provocation, +or even allowing my clerk to save his raiment, set fire to my +brigantine, store-houses, and dwelling.</p> + +<p>As I was absent, I cannot vouch for every incident of this +transaction, but I have the utmost confidence in the circumstantial +narrative which my agent, Mr. Horace Smith, soon after +prepared under oath at Monrovia. The marines and Kroomen +were permitted to plunder at will. Cain and Curtis revelled +in the task of philanthropic destruction. While the sailors +burnt my houses, these miscreants and their adherents devoted +themselves to the ruin of my garden, fruit trees, plantations, and +waterworks. My cattle, even, were stolen, to be sold to the +squadron; and, ere night, New Florence was a smouldering heap!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[Pg 448]</a></span> +I would gladly have turned the last leaf of this book without +a murmur, had not this wanton outrage been perpetrated, not +only while I was abroad, but without a shadow of justice. To +this hour, I am ignorant of any lawful cause, or of any thing but +suspicion, that may be alleged in palliation of the high-handed +wrong. Not a line or word was left, whereby I could trace a +pretext for my ruin.</p> + +<p>Three days after the catastrophe, my ancient ally of Toso +paid the debt of nature. In a month, his tribes awoke from +their stupor with one of those fiery spasms that are not uncommon +in Africa, and, missing their “white man” and his merchandise, +rose in a mass, and, without a word of warning, sacrificed +the twin varlets of the beach and restored their lawful +prince.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_18" id="Footnote_10_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_18"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> I have spoken of visits and appeals from missionaries, and will here insert +a letter of introduction which I received by the hands of the Reverend +Mr. Williams, whilst I inhabited Cape Mount. Mr. Williams had been a former +governor of Liberia, and was deputed to Cape Mount by the Methodist +Episcopal Mission, in Liberia.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Dear Sir:</span><br /></p> + +<p>“This will be handed you by the Rev. A. D. Williams, a +minister of the M. E. Church, with whom you are so well acquainted that I +hardly need introduce him. It is a matter of regret that I am so situated +as to be unable to accompany Mr. Williams to Cape Mount. It would have +afforded me pleasure to visit your establishment, and it might have facilitated +our mission operations, could I have done so. Allow me, however to bespeak +for Mr. Williams your attention and patronage, both of which you +have, in conversation, so kindly promised.</p> + +<p>“Our object is to elevate the natives of Cape Mount; to establish a +school for children; to have divine service regularly performed on the Sabbath; +and thus to endeavor to introduce among the people a knowledge of +the only wise and true God and the blessings of Christianity. Such is the +immense influence you have over the Cape Mount people, in consequence +of your large territorial possessions, that a great deal of the success of our +efforts will depend on you.</p> + +<p>“To your endeavors, then, for our prosperity, we look very anxiously. +In the course of a few months, should circumstances warrant the expense, +I intend to erect suitable buildings for divine service, and for the occupation +of the missionary and his family. In this case, we shall have to intrude +on your land for building room. I shall endeavor to visit Cape Mount as +soon as possible.</p> + +<p class="sig1">“I remain, my dear sir,</p> +<p class="sig2">“Yours truly,</p> +<p class="sig3">“<span class="smcap">John Seys</span>.</p> + +<p class="receipt1">“<span class="smcap">To Theodore Canot, Esq.</span>,</p> +<p class="receipt2">“<i>Cape Mount</i>.”</p> + +<p>It would have afforded me sincere pleasure to gratify Messrs. Williams +and Seys but, unluckily, they had chosen the worst time imaginable for the +establishment of a mission and school. The country was ravaged by war, +and the towns were depopulated. The passions of the tribes were at their +height. Still, as I had promised my co-operation, I introduced the Rev. +Mr. Williams to the king, who courteously told the missionary all the dangers +and difficulties of his position, but promised, should the conflict speedily +end, to send him notice, when a “book-man” would be received with +pleasure.</p> + +<p>To give my reverend friend a proof of the scarcity of people <i>in the towns</i>, +I sent messages to Toso, Fanama and Sugarei, for the inhabitants to assemble +at New Florence on the next Sunday, to hear “God’s palabra,” (as they +call sacred instruction;) but when the Sabbath came, the Rev. Mr. Williams +held forth to my clerk, mechanics and servants, alone!</p> + +<p>I reported the mortifying failure to the Rev. Mr. Seys, and Mr. W. +returned to Monrovia.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<h3 style="padding-top: 5em;">THE END.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><i>D. Appleton & Company’s Publications.</i></h2> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<h3>GRACE AGUILAR’S WORKS.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class="center">I.</p> + +<h3>HOME SCENES AND HEART STUDIES.</h3> + +<p class="center">One vol. 12mo. Paper cover, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.</p> + +<p>“With this volume, which completes the series in which the delineation of the character +of woman has been the chief design, the public now have the Works of Grace +Aguilar, the intrinsic interest and value of which have won for them an enviable reputation. +This last of the series consists of a variety of tales and sketches well calculated +to awaken sentiments of purse affection, and inspire the heart with nobler and holier +sensibilities, by its impressive illustrations of the delights of Home.”—<i>Tribune.</i></p> + +<p>“Her books all bear the impress of genius, consecrated to the noblest purposes. They +may be put into the hands of all classes, without the least hesitation; and no better service +could be rendered to the age, than to inspire it with a love for these productions. +We recommend this series of books to our readers, and especially to our female readers. +Let them get and read the writings of this champion of their sex.”—<i>Observer.</i></p> + +<p class="center">II.</p> + +<h3>THE MOTHER’S RECOMPENSE.</h3> + +<p class="center">12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.</p> + +<p>“It is a fragrant offering to the cause of domestic virtue and happiness.”—<i>Albany +Atlas.</i></p> + +<p>“In this domestic circle, and by all our fair readers, this excellent story will meet +with a cordial welcome.”—<i>Home Journal.</i></p> + +<p class="center">III.</p> + +<h3>WOMAN’S FRIENDSHIP.</h3> + +<p class="center">A Story of Domestic Life. 12mo. Cloth, 75 cents; paper, 50 cents.</p> + +<p>“This work should find a welcome in every family circle, where it is so well calculated +to do good.”—<i>Commercial Advertiser.</i></p> + +<p>“The style of this production closely resembles that of Miss Edgeworth. It is one +of those vivid pictures of every day life that never fails to please.”—<i>N. O. True Delta.</i></p> + +<p class="center">IV.</p> + +<h3>THE VALE OF CEDARS; OR, THE MARTYR.</h3> + +<p class="center">A Story of Spain in the Fifteenth Century. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; +cloth, 75 cents.</p> + +<p>“The grace and vigor of the style, the masterly manner in which the details of the +story are managed, and its thrilling interest, render the book one of the most absorbing +that we have read for some time.”—<i>Newark Daily Advertiser.</i></p> + +<p class="center">V.</p> + +<h3>THE WOMEN OF ISRAEL.</h3> + +<p class="center">Two vols. 12mo. Paper, $1; cloth, $1.50.</p> + +<p>“By no writer have the characters of the celebrated Women of Israel been so correctly +appreciated, or eloquently delineated. Those high attainments of piety, those +graces of spirit, which have placed them in the rank of examples for all subsequent +generations, are spread before us with a geniality of spirit and a beauty of style which +will secure the warmest admiration; at the same time their weaknesses and errors are +not overlooked or excused.”—<i>Courier and Enquirer.</i></p> + +<p class="center">VI.</p> + +<h3>THE DAYS OF BRUCE.</h3> + +<p class="center">A Story from Scottish History. 2 vols. 16mo. Paper, $1; cloth, $1.60</p> + +<p>“This truly delightful work takes a higher position than that of a novel. It is full +of sound instruction, close and logical reasoning, and is fill with practical lessons of every +day character, which renders it desirable book for the young.”—<i>Albany Register.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>Dumas’s last and best Book.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class="center">D. APPLETON & COMPANY,</p> + +<p class="center">HAVE JUST READY THE FIFTH THOUSAND OF</p> + +<h3>THE FORESTERS.</h3> + +<p class="center">BY ALEX. DUMAS.</p> + +<p class="center">TRANSLATED FROM THE AUTHOR’S ORIGINAL MSS.</p> + +<p class="center">1 neat vol. 12mo. in paper, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p>CONTENTS.—To my Daughter.—The New House on the Road to Soissons.—Mathieu +Goguelue.—A Bird of Evil Omen.—Catherine Blum.—The +Parisian.—Jealousy.—Father and Mother.—The Return.—Mademoiselle +Euphrosine Raisin.—Love’s Young Dream.—The Abbé Gregoire.—Father +and Son.—The Village Fête.—A Snake in the Grass.—Temptation +and Crime.—The Ranger’s Home.—Apprehension.—The Book of +the Innocent.—Mathieu’s Trial.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class="center"><b>Notices of the Press.</b></p> + +<p>“A lively story of love, jealousy, and intrigue.”—<i>N. Y. Com. Advertiser.</i></p> + +<p>“Another proof of Dumas’s unrivalled talent.”—<i>Middletown Sentinel.</i></p> + +<p>“The tale is a simple one, but exciting and interesting. The scene is laid in Villers-Cotterêts +in France. The reputation of the author is so firmly established, that in our +stating that the translation is a faithful one, our readers who are novel readers will have +heard sufficient.”—<i>Phila. Register.</i></p> + +<p>“A capital story. The reader will find the interest increase to the end.”—<i>Phila. Gaz.</i></p> + +<p>“The present volume fully sustains the high reputation of its author; it shows a very +high order of genius. The translation is such perfectly good English, that we easily forget +that we are not reading the work in the language in which it was originally written.”—<i>Albany +Argus.</i></p> + +<p>“A short, but stirring romance.”—<i>Boston Atlas.</i></p> + +<p>“This work of Dumas’s is an interesting one. The plot is well laid, and the incidents +hurry on, one after another, so rapidly that the interest is kept up to the close.”—<i>Hartford +Courant.</i></p> + +<p>“It is a capital story, and an unmistakable Dumas’s work. To say this, is to bestow upon +it sufficient praise.”—<i>Troy Times.</i></p> + +<p>“This new story of Dumas will afford a delightful resource for a leisure hour.”—<i>The +Bizarre.</i></p> + +<p>“This very entertaining novel is indubitably one of Dumas’s best efforts; it cannot fail to +become widely popular.”—<i>N. Y. Courier.</i></p> + +<p>“A pleasing, romantic love story, written with the author’s usual vigor.”—<i>Newark Adv.</i></p> + +<p>“A quiet domestic tale that must charm all readers.”—<i>Syracuse Daily.</i></p> + +<p>“This is a lively story of love, jealously and intrigue, in a French village.”—<i>Phila. Daily +Times.</i></p> + +<p>“The fame of the author will alone secure a wide circulation for this book. He is one +of the best novel writers living. ‘The Foresters’ fully sustains his great reputation.”—<i>Troy +Daily Times.</i></p> + +<p>“This exceedingly entertaining novel is from the pen of one of the most eminent and +celebrated of Modern French novelists—Alexander Dumas.”—<i>Binghampton Republican.</i></p> + +<p>“This production of the celebrated author, is written in the same masterly style for +which all his works are noted.”—<i>Hartford Times.</i></p> + +<p>“The Foresters, as a work by itself, is one of many charms. That the book will be +eagerly sought after, there can be no doubt. That every reader will admire it is none the +less certain.”—<i>Buffalo Morning Express.</i></p> + +<p>“It will be found an interesting story.”—<i>Arthur’s Home Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>“The plot is extremely pleasing, and the book must meet with a ready and extensive +sale.”—<i>Syracuse Daily.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center"><b>A Choice New England Tale.</b></p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<h3>FARMINGDALE,</h3> + +<p class="center">A TALE</p> + +<p class="center">BY CAROLINE THOMAS.</p> + +<p class="center">Two volumes, 12mo., paper covers, 75 cents, or 2 volumes in 1, cloth, $1.</p> + +<p>“It is a story of New England life, skilfully told, full of tender interest, healthy in its +sentiments and remarkably graphic in its sketches of character. ‘Aunt Betsy’ is drawn +to the life.”—<i>Home Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>“Farmingdale is the best novel of the season.”—<i>Eve. Post.</i></p> + +<p>“It will compare favorably with the ‘Lamplighter,’ by Miss Cummings, and the +‘Wide, Wide World,’ by Miss Warner, and in interest it is quite equal to either.”—<i>Boston +Transcript.</i></p> + +<p>“‘Farmingdale,’ the work to which we allude, in every page and paragraph, is redolent +of its native sky. It is a tale of New England domestic life, in its incidents and manners +so true to nature and so free from exaggeration, and in its impulses and motives throughout +so throbbing with the real American heart, that we shall not be surprised to hear of as +many New England villages claiming to be the scene of its story, as were the cities of +Greece that claimed to be the birth place of Homer.”—<i>Philadelphia Courier.</i></p> + +<p>“The story abounds in scenes of absorbing interest. The narration is every where delightfully +clear and straightforward, flowing forth towards its conclusion, like a gentle and +limpid stream, between graceful hillsides and verdant meadows.”—<i>Home Journal.</i></p> + +<p>“This is a story of country life, written by a hand whose guiding power was a living +soul. The pictures of life are speaking and effective. The story is interestingly told and its +high moral aim well sustained.”—<i>Syracuse Chronicle.</i></p> + +<p>“‘Farmingdale,’ while it has many points in common with some recent works of fiction, +is yet highly original. The author has had the boldness to attempt a novel, the main +interest of which does not hinge either upon love or matrimony, nor upon complicated and +entangled machinery, but upon a simple and apparently artless narrative of a friendless +girl.”—<i>Philadelphia Eve. Mail.</i></p> + +<p>“The author studiously avoids all forced and unnatural incidents, and the equally +fashionable affectation of extravagant language. Her style and diction are remarkable for +their purity and ease. In the conception and delineation of character she has shown herself +possessed of the true creative power.”—<i>Com. Adv.</i></p> + +<p>“A simple yet beautiful story, told in a simple and beautiful manner. The object is to +show the devoted affection of a sister to a young brother, and the sacrifices which she made +for him from childhood. There is touching simplicity in the character of this interesting +female that will please all readers, and benefit many of her sex.”—<i>Hartford Courant.</i></p> + +<p>“The tale is prettily written, and breathes throughout an excellent moral tone.”—<i>Boston +Daily Journal.</i></p> + +<p>“We have read this book; it is lively, spirited, and in some parts pathetic. Its sketches +of life seem to us at once graceful and vivid.”—<i>Albany Argus.</i></p> + +<p>“The book is well written, in a simple, unpretending style, and the dialogue is natural +and easy. It is destined to great popularity among all classes of readers. Parents who +object placing ‘love tales’ in the hands of their children, may purchase this volume without +fear. The oldest and the youngest will become interested in its fascinating pages, and +close it with the impression that it is a good book, and deserving of the greatest popularity.”—<i>Worcester +Palladium.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>Choice New English Works of Fiction.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class="center">I.</p> + +<h3>THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE.</h3> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">A Tale.</span> 2 vols. 12mo. Paper, $1.00; cloth, $1.50.</p> + +<p>“A novel of really high merit. The characters are most skilfully drawn out in the +course of the story. The death of Guy is one of the most touching things we ever +read. * * * The work is one of absorbing interest, and what is still better, the moral +taught in its pages is eminently healthy and elevating. We commend the book most +cordially.”—<i>Com. Adv.</i></p> + +<p>“The whole tone and feeling of this book is good and true. The reader does not +require to be told that the author is religious; the right principles, the high sense of +duty and honor, softened by the influence of a reverent faith, can be explained on no +other hypothesis. It is eminently a book to send the reader away from the perusal better +and wiser for the lessons hidden under its deeply interesting narrative.”—<i>London +Guardian.</i></p> + +<p>“A well written, spirited and interesting work. It is full of character, sparkling +with conversation and picturesque with paintings of nature. The plot is well conceived +and handsomely wrought out. There is a freshness of feeling and tone of healthy +sentiment about such novels, that recommend them to public favor.”—<i>Albany Spectator.</i></p> + +<p class="center">II.</p> + +<h3>LIGHT AND SHADE;</h3> + +<p class="center">OR, THE YOUNG ARTIST</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">A Tale. By Anna Harriet Drury</span>, author of “Friends and Fortune,” +“Eastbury,” &c. 12mo. Paper cover, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.</p> + +<p>“It is a beautiful and ably written story.”—<i>Churchman.</i></p> + +<p>“The story is well written, and will be read with much pleasure as well as profit.”—<i>Lansingburgh +Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>“A novel with a deep religious tone, bearing and aim—a most attractive style.”—<i>Springfield +Republican.</i></p> + +<p>“We recommend her books to the young, as among those from which they have +nothing to fear.”—<i>New Haven Courier.</i></p> + +<p>“A very well told tale, mingling the grave and gay, the tender and severe, in fair +proportions. It displays a genius and skill in the writer of no ordinary measure.”—<i>Trib.</i></p> + +<p class="center">III.</p> + +<h3>THE DEAN’S DAUGHTER;</h3> + +<p class="center">Or, THE DAYS WE LIVE IN.</p> + +<p class="center">By Mrs. <span class="smcap">Gore</span>. 1 vol. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.</p> + +<p>“The ‘Dean’s Daughter’ will doubtless be one of the most successful books of the +season. It abounds in all those beauties which have hitherto distinguished Mrs. Gore’s +novels. The management of the incidents of the story is as clever, the style is as brilliant, +the satire as keen, and the conversation as flowing, as in the best of her works.”—<i>Daily +News.</i></p> + +<p>“It will be read with pleasure by thousands.”—<i>Herald.</i></p> + +<p>“Mrs. Gore is perhaps the wittiest of modern novelists. Of all the ladies who in +later times have taken in hand the weapon of satire, her blade is certainly the most +trenchant. A vapid lord or a purse-proud citizen, a money-hunting woman of fashion +or a toad-eater, a <i>humbug</i> in short, male or female, and of whatsoever cast or quality he +may be, will find his pretensions well castigated in some one or other of her brilliant +pages; while scattered about in many places are passages and scenes of infinite tenderness +showing that our authoress is not insensible to the gentler qualities of our nature +and is mistress of pathos in no common degree.”—<i>Examiner.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center">“A WORK WHICH BEARS THE IMPRESS OF GENIUS.”</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<h3>KATHARINE ASHTON.</h3> + +<p class="center">By the author of “Amy Herbert,” “Gertrude,” &c.</p> + +<p class="center">2 vols. 12mo. Paper covers, $1; cloth, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Opinions of the Press.</b></p> + +<p>We know not where we will find purer morals, or more valuable “life-philosophy,” +than in the pages of Miss Sewell.—<i>Savannah Georgian.</i></p> + +<p>The style and character of Miss Sewell’s writings are too well-known to the reading +public to need commendation. The present volume will only add to her reputation as +an authoress.—<i>Albany Transcript.</i></p> + +<p>This novel is admirably calculated to inculcate refined moral and religious sentiments.—<i>Boston +Herald.</i></p> + +<p>The interest of the story is well sustained throughout, and it is altogether one of the +pleasantest books of the season.—<i>Syracuse Standard.</i></p> + +<p>Those who have read the former works of this writer, will welcome the appearance +of this; it is equal to the best of her preceding novels.—<i>Savannah Republican.</i></p> + +<p>Noble, beautiful, selfish, hard, and ugly characters appear in it, and each is so drawn +as to be felt and estimated as it deserves.—<i>Commonwealth.</i></p> + +<p>A re-publication of a good English novel. It teaches self-control, charity, and a +true estimation of life, by the interesting history of a young girl.—<i>Hartford Courant.</i></p> + +<p>Katharine Ashton will enhance the reputation already attained, the story and the +moral being equally commendable.—<i>Buffalo Courier.</i></p> + +<p>Like all its predecessors, Katharine Ashton bears the impress of genius, consecrated +to the noblest purposes, and should find a welcome in every family circle.—<i>Banner +of the Cross.</i></p> + +<p>No one can be injured by books like this; a great many must be benefited. Few +authors have sent so many faultless writings to the press as she has done.—<i>Worcester +Palladium.</i></p> + +<p>The <i>self-denial</i> of the Christian life, in its application to common scenes and circumstances, +is happily illustrated in the example of Katharine Ashton, in which there +is much to admire and imitate.—<i>Southern Churchman.</i></p> + +<p>Her present work is an interesting tale of English country life, is written with her +usual ability, and is quite free from any offensive parade of her own theological tenets.—<i>Boston +Traveller.</i></p> + +<p>The field in which Miss Sewell labors, seems to be exhaustless, and to yield always +a beautiful and a valuable harvest.—<i>Troy Daily Budget.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class="center">D. APPLETON & COMPANY</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Have recently published the following interesting works by the same author.</i></p> + +<p> +THE EXPERIENCE OF LIFE. 1 vol. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.<br /> +THE EARL’S DAUGHTER. 1 vol. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.<br /> +GERTRUDE: a Tale. 1 vol. 12mo. Paper, 50 cts.; cloth, 75 cts.<br /> +AMY HERBERT: A Tale. 1 vol. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.<br /> +LANETON PARSONAGE. 3 vols. 12mo. Paper, $1.50; cloth, $2.25.<br /> +MARGARET PERCIVAL. 2 vols. Paper, $1; cloth, $1.50.<br /> +READING FOR A MONTH. 12mo. cloth, 75 cents.<br /> +A JOURNAL KEPT DURING A SUMMER TOUR. 1 vol. cloth, $1.00.<br /> +WALTER LORIMER AND OTHER TALES. Cloth, 75 cents.<br /> +THE CHILD’S FIRST HISTORY OF ROME. 50 cents.<br /> +THE CHILD’S FIRST HISTORY OF GREECE. 63 cents.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center">MRS. COWDEN CLARKE’S NEW ENGLISH NOVEL.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<h3>The Iron Cousin, or Mutual Influence.</h3> + +<p class="center">BY MARY COWDEN CLARKE,</p> + +<p class="center">Author of “<span class="smcap">The Girlhood of Shakespeare’s Heroines</span>;” the “<span class="smcap">Complete +Concordance To Shakespeare</span>,” &c.</p> + +<p class="center">One handsomely printed volume, large 12mo. over 500 pages. Price $1.25—cloth.</p> + +<p>“Mrs. Clarke has given us one of the most delightful novels we have read for many +a day, and one which is destined, we doubt not, to be much longer lived than the majority +of the books of its class. Its chief beauties are a certain freshness in the style in which the incidents +are presented to us—a healthful tone pervading it—a completeness in most of the +characters—and a truthful power in the descriptions.”—<i>London Times.</i></p> + +<p>“We have found the volume deeply interesting—its characters are well drawn, while +its tone and sentiments are well calculated to exert a purifying and ennobling influence +upon all who read it.”—<i>Savannah Republican.</i></p> + +<p>“The scene of the book is village life amongst the upper class, with village episodes, +which seem to have been sketched from the life—there is a primitive simplicity and greatness +of heart about some of the characters which keep up the sympathy and interest to +the end.”—<i>London Globe.</i></p> + +<p>“The reader cannot fail of being both charmed and instructed by the book, and of +hoping that a pen so able will not lie idle.”—<i>Pennsylvanian.</i></p> + +<p>“We fearlessly recommend it as a work of more than ordinary merit.”—<i>Binghampton +Daily Republic.</i></p> + +<p>“The great moral lesson indicated by the title-page of this book runs, as a golden thread, +through every part of it, while the reader is constantly kept in contact with the workings +of an inventive and brilliant mind.”—<i>Albany Argus.</i></p> + +<p>“We have read this fascinating story with a good deal of interest. Human nature is +well and faithfully portrayed, and we see the counterpart of our story in character and +disposition, in every village and district. The book cannot fail of popular reception.”—<i>Albany +and Rochester Courier.</i></p> + +<p>“A work of deep and powerful influence.”—<i>Herald.</i></p> + +<p>“Mrs. Cowden Clarke, with the delicacy and artistic taste of refine womanhood, has in +this work shown great versatility of talent.”</p> + +<p>“The story is too deeply interesting to allow the reader to lay it down till he has read +it to the end.”</p> + +<p>“The work is skilful in plan, graphic in style, diversified in incident and true to nature.”</p> + +<p>“The tale is charmingly imagined. The incidents never exceed probability but seem +perfectly natural. In the style there is much quaintness, in the sentiment much tenderness.”</p> + +<p>“It is a spirited, charming story, full of adventure, friendship and love, with characters +nicely drawn and carefully discriminated. The clear style and spirit with which the story +is presented and the characters developed, will attract a large constituency to the perusal.”</p> + +<p>“Mrs. Cowden Clarke’s story has one of the highest qualities of fiction—it is no flickering +shadow, but seems of real growth. It is full of lively truth, and show nice perception of +the early elements of character with which we become acquainted in its wholeness, and in +the ripeness of years. The incident is well woven; the color is blood-warm; and there is +the presence of a sweet grace and gentle power.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>WORKS BY MISS SEWELL,</h3> + +<p class="center">PUBLISHED BY D. APPLETON & COMPANY.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class="center">I.</p> + +<h3><i>THE EXPERIENCE OF LIFE: A TALE.</i></h3> + +<p class="center">One vol. 12mo. Paper cover, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents. (<i>Just ready.</i>)</p> + +<p class="center">II.</p> + +<h3><i>A JOURNAL KEPT DURING A SUMMER TOUR</i></h3> + +<p class="center">FOR THE CHILDREN OF A VILLAGE SCHOOL</p> + +<p class="center">Three parts in one vol. 12mo. Cloth, $1.</p> + +<p>“A very simple and sweetly written work. There is the same natural and graceful +detail that mark Miss Sewell’s novels. It will find a great many admirers among the +young people, who will be almost as happy as the fair traveller in wandering over the +ground on which she has looked with a discriminating eye, and received, and communicated +suggestions which, from her enlarged sphere of observation, can hardly fail to +enlarge the heart as well as to enrich the intellect.”—<i>Commercial Advertiser.</i></p> + +<p class="center">III.</p> + +<h3><i>THE EARL’S DAUGHTER: A TALE.</i></h3> + +<p class="center">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">Wm. Sewell</span>, B. A. One vol. 12mo. Paper cover, 50 +cents; cloth, 75 cents.</p> + +<p class="center">IV.</p> + +<h3><i>MARGARET PERCIVAL: A TALE.</i></h3> + +<p class="center">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">Wm. Sewell</span>, B. A. Two vols. 12mo. Paper cover, $1; +cloth, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="center">V.</p> + +<h3><i>GERTRUDE: A TALE.</i></h3> + +<p class="center">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">Wm. Sewell</span>, B. A. 12mo. Cloth, 75 cents; paper +cover, 50 cents.</p> + +<p class="center">VI.</p> + +<h3><i>AMY HERBERT: A TALE.</i></h3> + +<p class="center">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">Wm. Sewell</span>, B. A. One vol. 12mo. Cloth, 75 cents; +paper cover, 50 cents.</p> + +<p class="center">VII.</p> + +<h3><i>LANETON PARSONAGE: A TALE.</i></h3> + +<p class="center">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">Wm. Sewell</span>, B. A. Three vols. 12mo. Cloth, $2.25; +paper cover, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="center">VIII.</p> + +<h3><i>WALTER LORIMER, AND OTHER TALES.</i></h3> + +<p class="center">12mo. Cloth, 75 cents.</p> + +<p class="center">IX.</p> + +<h3><i>THE CHILD’S FIRST HISTORY OF ROME.</i></h3> + +<p class="center">One vol. 16mo. 50 cents.</p> + +<p class="center">X.</p> + +<h3><i>THE CHILD’S FIRST HISTORY OF GREECE.</i></h3> + +<p class="center">One vol. 16mo.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center">A BOOK FOR EVERY CHRISTIAN FAMILY.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<h3>The Hearth-Stone;</h3> + +<p class="center">THOUGHTS UPON HOME LIFE IN OUR CITIES</p> + +<p class="center">BY</p> + +<p class="center">SAMUEL OSGOOD,</p> + +<p class="center">Author of “Studies in Christian Biography,” “God with Men,” etc.</p> + +<p class="center">1 vol. 12mo. cloth. Price $1.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class="center"><b>CRITICISMS OF THE PRESS.</b></p> + +<p>“This is a volume of eloquent and impressive essays on the domestic relations and the +religious duties of the household. Mr. Osgood writes on those interesting themes in the +most charming and animated style, winning the reader’s judgment rather than coercing +it to the author’s conclusions. The predominant sentiments in the book are purity, sincerity, +and love. A more delightful volume has rarely been published, and we trust it will +have a wide circulation, for its influence must be salutary upon both old and young.”—<i>Commercial +Advertiser.</i></p> + +<p>“The ‘Hearth-Stone’ is the symbol of all those delightful truths which Mr. Osgood +here connects with it. In a free and graceful style, varying form deep solemnity to the most +genial and lively tone, as befits his range of subjects, he gives attention to wise thoughts on +holy things, and homely truths. His volume will find many warm hearts to which it will +address itself.”—<i>Christian Examiner.</i></p> + +<p>“The author of his volume passes through a large circle of subjects, all of them connected +with domestic life as it exists in large towns. The ties of relationship—the female +character as developed in the true province and empire of woman, domestic life, the education +of children, and the training them to habits of reverence—the treatment of those +of our households whose lot in life is humbler than ours—the cultivation of a contented +mind—the habitual practice of devotion—these and various kindred topics furnish ample +matter for touching reflections and wholesome counsels. The spirit of the book is fervently +religious, and though no special pains are taken to avoid topics on which religious men +differ, it ‘breathes a kindly spirit above the reach of sect or party.’ The author is now +numbered among the popular preachers of the metropolis, and those who have listened +to his spoken, will not be disappointed with his written, eloquence.”—<i>Evening Post.</i></p> + +<p>“A household book, treating of the domestic relations, the deportment, affections, and +duties which belong to the well ordered Christian family. Manly advice and good sense +are exhibited in an earnest and affectionate tone, and not without tenderness and truthful +sentiment; while withal a Christian view is taken of the serious responsibility which attends +the performance of the duties of husband and wife, parent and child, sister and brother. +We are particularly pleased with the real practical wisdom, combined with the knowledge +of human nature, which renders this volume deserving of careful study by those who desire +to make their homes happy.”—<i>New York Churchman.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>JULIA KAVANAGH’S WORKS.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class="center">I.</p> + +<h3>DAISY BURNS.</h3> + +<p class="center">12mo. Two parts. Paper Cover, 75 cents; or in 1 Vol. cloth, $1.</p> + +<p>“The clear conception, the forcible delineation, the style, at once elegant and powerful, +of Miss Kavanagh’s former works, are exhibited in this, as well as deep thought and +sound moral reflection. Every thing presented to the reader, whether thought or image, +is elaborated with the finish of a Flemish painting without its grossness; the persons +are nicely conceived and consistently sustained, and the principal narrative is relieved +by very truthful pictures of every day life and character.”—<i>London Spectator.</i></p> + +<p>“A very delightful tale. * * * The charm of the story is in its naturalness. It +is perfectly quiet, domestic, and truthful. In the calm force and homely realities of its +scenes it reminds us of Miss Austen.”—<i>Times.</i></p> + +<p>“All her books are written with talent and a woman’s true feeling.”—<i>U. S. Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>“It is full of deep feeling, tenderness, pure feminine sentiment and moral truth.”—<i>Albany +Knickerbocker.</i></p> + +<p class="center">II.</p> + +<h3>NATHALIE.</h3> + +<p class="center">Two Parts. 12mo. Paper Covers, 75 cents; cloth, $1.</p> + +<p>“A work of extraordinary merit, with a far deeper design than merely to arouse, it +attempts to solve some of the subtle problems of human nature. Some of the wisest +lessons in life are taught in the work, while the artistic skill with which the narrative +is managed imparts a vivid interest. The author might be, with a stronger infusion of +the poetic element, another Joanna Baillie; and no one will read the work without a +high estimate of her dramatic powers and her deep insight.”—<i>Evangelist.</i></p> + +<p class="center">III.</p> + +<h3>MADELEINE.</h3> + +<p class="center">One Volume. 12mo. Paper Covers, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.</p> + +<p>“A charming story, gracefully told. Its intrinsic interest as a narrative, and the +tenderness of its pathos will win for it many readers.”—<i>Boston Traveller.</i></p> + +<p>“The character of Madeleine, the heroine, is beautifully drawn and powerfully portrayed. +Miss Kavanagh is most known by her excellent novel of ‘Nathalie.’ This book +possesses no less interest, though of a very different kind.”—<i>Courier and Enq.</i></p> + +<p class="center">IV.</p> + +<h3>WOMEN OF CHRISTIANITY.</h3> + +<p class="center">One Volume. 12mo. Cloth, 75 cents.</p> + +<p>“The design and spirit of this volume are alike admirable. Miss Kavanagh divides +her work into four periods; the first relates the deeds of holy women under the Roman +empire; the second tells us of the fruits of faith in the middle ages; the third is devoted +to the women of the seventeenth century; and the fourth to those of the eighteenth and +present centuries. We have read many of these records of other days, as told by Miss +Kavanagh, and we are sure that the influence upon every Christian-minded person +cannot but be for good, if he will meditate upon what our holy religion is every day doing. +The volume is well worthy a place in every Christian family.”—<i>Ban. of the Cross.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center">THE GREAT KENTUCKY NOVEL.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class="center">D. APPLETON & COMPANY</p> + +<p class="center">HAVE JUST PUBLISHED</p> + +<h3>Tempest and Sunshine; or, Life in Kentucky.</h3> + +<p class="center">BY MRS. MARY J. HOLMES.</p> + +<p class="center">One Volume, 12mo. Paper covers, 75 cents; cloth, $1.</p> + +<p>These are the most striking and original sketches of American +character in the South-western States which have ever been published. +The character of Tempest is drawn with all that spirit and +energy which characterize the high toned female spirit of the +South, while Sunshine possesses the loveliness and gentleness of +the sweetest of her sex. The Planter is sketched to the life, and +in his strongly marked, passionate, and generous nature, the reader +will recognize one of the truest sons of the south-west.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class="center"><b>OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.</b></p> + +<p>“The book is well written, and its fame will be more than ephemeral.”—<i>Buffalo +Express.</i></p> + +<p>“The story is interesting and finely developed.”—<i>Daily Times.</i></p> + +<p>“A lively romance of western life—the style of the writer is smart, intelligent, and +winning, and her story is told with spirit and skill.”—<i>U. S. Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>“An excellent work, and its sale must be extensive.”—<i>Stamford Advocate.</i></p> + +<p>“The whole is relieved by a generous introduction of incident as well as by an amplitude +of love and mystery.”—<i>Express.</i></p> + +<p>“A delightful, well written book, portraying western life to the letter. The book +abounds in an easy humor, with touching sentences of tenderness and pathos scattered +through it, and from first to last keeps up a humane interest that very many authors +strive in vain to achieve. ‘Tempest’ and ‘Sunshine,’ two sisters, are an exemplification +of the good that to some comes by nature, and to others is found only through +trials, temptation, and tribulation. Mr. Middleton, the father of ‘Tempest’ and ‘Sunshine’ +is the very soul and spirit of ‘Old Kaintuck,’ abridged into one man. The book +is worth reading. There is a healthy tone of morality pervading it that will make it a +suitable work to be placed in the hands of our daughters and sisters.”—<i>New York Day +Book.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center">The Great Work on Russia.</p> + +<p class="center">Fifth Edition now ready.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<h3>RUSSIA AS IT IS.</h3> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By Count A. de Gurowski.</span></p> + +<p class="center">One neat volume 12mo., pp. 328, well printed. Price $1, cloth.</p> + +<p>CONTENTS.—Preface.—Introduction.—Czarism: its historical origin.—The +Czar Nicholas.—The Organization of the +Government.—The Army and +Navy.—The Nobility.—The Clergy.—The +Bourgeoisie.—The Cossacks.—The +Real People, the Peasantry.—The Rights of Aliens and Strangers.—The +Commoner.—Emancipation.—Manifest +Destiny.—Appendix.—The +Amazons.—The Fourteen Classes of the Russian Public Service; or, +the Tschins.—The Political Testament of Peter the Great.—Extract +from an Old Chronicle.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class="center"><b>Notices of the Press.</b></p> + +<p>“The author takes no superficial, empirical view of his subject, but collecting a rich +variety of facts, brings the lights of a profound philosophy to their explanation. His work, +indeed, neglects no essential detail—it is minute and accurate in its statistics—it abounds +in lively pictures of society, manners and character. * * * Whoever wishes to obtain an +accurate notion of the internal condition of Russia, the nature and extent of her resources, +and the practical influence of her institutions, will here find better materials for his purpose +than in any single volume now extant.”—<i>N. Y. Tribune.</i></p> + +<p>“This is a powerfully-written book, and will prove of vast service to every one who +desires to comprehend the real nature and bearings of the great contest in which Russia is +now engaged.”—<i>N. Y. Courier.</i></p> + +<p>“It is original in its conclusions; it is striking in its revelations. Numerous as are the +volumes that have been written about Russia, we really hitherto have known little of that +immense territory—of that numerous people. Count Gurowski’s work sheds a light which +at this time is most welcome and satisfactory.”—<i>N. Y. Times.</i></p> + +<p>“The book is well written, and as might be expected in a work by a writer so unusually +conversant with all sides of Russian affairs, it contains so much important information +respecting the Russian people, their government and religion.”—<i>Com. Advertiser.</i></p> + +<p>“This is a valuable work, explaining in a very satisfactory manner the internal conditions +of the Russian people, and the construction of their political society. The institutions of +Russia are presented as they exist in reality, and as they are determined by existing and +obligatory laws.”—<i>N. Y. Herald.</i></p> + +<p>“A hasty glance over this handsome volume has satisfied us that it is one worthy of +general perusal. * * * It is full of valuable historical information, with very interesting +accounts of the various classes among the Russian people, their condition and +aspirations.”—<i>N. Y. Sun.</i></p> + +<p>“This is a volume that can hardly fail to attract very general attention, and command a +wide sale in view of the present juncture of European affairs, and the prominent part +therein which Russia is to play.”—<i>Utica Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>“A timely book. It will be found all that it professes to be, though some may be startled +at some of its conclusions.”—<i>Boston Atlas.</i></p> + +<p>“This is one of the best of all the books caused by the present excitement in relation to +Russia. It is a very able publication—one that will do much to destroy the general belief +in the infallibility of Russia. The writer shows himself master of his subject, and treats of +the internal condition of Russia, her institutions and customs, society, laws, &c., in an +enlightened and scholarly manner.”—<i>City Item.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>MARIA J. M<sup>c</sup>INTOSH’S WORKS.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class="center">I.</p> + +<h3>THE LOFTY AND THE LOWLY,</h3> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Or</span>, GOOD IN ALL AND NONE ALL GOOD.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Two vols. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50; paper covers, $1.</i></p> + +<p>“Life, in its varied relations at the North and the South, is the theme of this +work. In its graphic delineations of character, truthfulness of representation, and stirring +realities of life, it will hardly give place to ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin.’ The authoress +is well-known to the public by her many charming works of fiction, and her life has +been passed at the North of South. The nobleness of her sentiments, her elevated and +candid views, her genuine feelings of humanity, and the elegance and eloquence of her +pen, are brought out in these pages with their full brilliancy and effect.”</p> + +<p class="center">II.</p> + +<h3>EVENINGS AT DONALDSON MANOR;</h3> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Or</span>, THE CHRISTMAS GUEST.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>One vol. 12mo. Cloth, 75 cents; paper covers, 50 cents; or, a finer +Edition, Illustrated with Ten Steel Engravings, 8vo., cloth, $2; gilt +edges, $2.50; morocco, $3.50.</i></p> + +<p>“It is a book that parents may buy for their children, brothers for their sisters, or +husbands for their wives, with the assurance that the book will not only give pleasure, +but convey lessons of love and charity that can hardly fail to leave durable impressions +of moral and social duty upon the mind and heart of the reader.”—<i>Evening Mirror.</i></p> + +<p class="center">III.</p> + +<h3>WOMAN IN AMERICA;</h3> + +<p class="center">HER WORK AND HER REWARD.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>One vol. 12mo. Paper covers, 50 cents; cloth, 63 cents.</i></p> + +<p>“We like this work exceedingly, and our fair country women will admire it still more +than we do. It is written in the true spirit, and evinces extensive observation of society, +a clear insight into the evils surrounding and pressing down her sex, and a glorious determination +to expose and remove them. Read her work. She will win a willing way +to the heart and home of woman, and her mission will be found to be one of beneficence +and love. Truly, woman has her work and her reward.”—<i>American Spectator.</i></p> + +<p class="center">IV.</p> + +<h3>CHARMS AND COUNTER-CHARMS.</h3> + +<p class="center"><i>One vol. 12mo. Cloth, $1; or, in Two Parts, paper, 75 cents.</i></p> + +<p>“This is one of those healthful, truthful works of fiction, which improve the heart +and enlighten the judgment, whilst they furnish amusement to the passing hour. The +style is clear, easy and simple, and the construction of the story artistic in a high degree. +We commend most cordially the book.”—<i>Tribune.</i></p> + +<p class="center">V.</p> + +<h3>TWO LIVES; OR TO SEEM AND TO BE.</h3> + +<p class="center"><i>One vol. 12mo. Paper covers, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.</i></p> + +<p>“The previous works of Miss McIntosh, although issued anonymously, have been +popular in the best sense of the word. The simple beauty of her narratives, combining +pure sentiment with high principle, and noble views of life and its duties, ought to win +for them a hearing at every fireside in our land. We have rarely perused a tale more +interesting and instructive than the one before us, and we commend it most cordially to +the attention of all our readers.”—<i>Protestant Churchman.</i></p> + +<p class="center">VI.</p> + +<h3>AUNT KITTY’S TALES.</h3> + +<p class="center"><i>A new edition, complete in one vol. 12mo. Cloth, 75 cts.; paper, 50 cts.</i></p> + +<p>“This volume contains the following delightfully interesting stories: ‘Blind Alice,’ +‘Jessie Graham,’ ‘Florence Arnott,’ ‘Grace and Clara,’ ‘Ellen Leslie: or the Reward +of Self-Control.’”</p> + +<p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</p> + + + +<div class="bbox"> +<p><b>Transcriber's Note</b></p> + +<p>Minor typographic errors (mismatched quotes, omitted or transposed characters, etc.) have +been corrected without note. Hyphenation, capitalisation and spelling of proper names, +and use of accents has been made consistent without note. One exception is Canot's +forename, which appears as Téodor, Téodore and Theodore throughout the text. This has been +left as printed, as has the author's use of some archaic and variable spellings.</p> + +<p> Incorrect page number references in the table of contents were amended +as follows: 119 to 118; 127 to 126; 215 to 214; 394 to 349.</p> + +<p>The footnotes in the original book are sometimes numbered, sometimes lettered. This convention +has been retained in this version.</p> + +<p>The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the title page.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Captain Canot, by Brantz Mayer and Theodore Canot + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN CANOT *** + +***** This file should be named 23034-h.htm or 23034-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/0/3/23034/ + +Produced by David Garcia, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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