Captain Canot; Or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver
Cuba--Fisherman-wreckers--Offer to land cargo--Make a bargain
with our salvors--A sad _denouement_--A night bath and escape 19
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--"MY UNCLE" RAFAEL
suddenly appears on the scene--Magic change effected by
my relationship--Clothed, and fed, and comforted--I find an
uncle, and am protected--MESCLET--Made cook's mate--Gallego,
the cook--His appearance and character--DON RAFAEL'S
story--"Circumstances"--His counsel for my conduct on the
island 31
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 41
CHAP. VI.--I am sent from the key--Consigned to a grocer at
Regla--CIBO--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! 57
CHAP. VII.--Reflections on my conduct and character--Morning
after the mutiny--Burial of the dead--My wounds--JACK ORMOND
or the "MONGO JOHN"--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 _pack_ the
human cargo of the Areostatico--Farewell to my English
cabin-boy--His story 68
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--ESTHER, 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 _for love_!--Scene of passionate jealousy
among the women 76
CHAP. IX.--Pains and dreariness of the "wet season"--African
rain!--A CARAVAN announced as coming to the Coast--Forest
paths and trails in Africa--How we arrange to catch a
caravan--"Barkers," who they are--AHMAH-DE-BELLAH, son of
the ALI-MAMI of FOOTHA-YALLON--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--(_Note:_ Account of
the produce, its value and results)--Mode of purchasing
the produce--Sale over--Gift of an ostrich--Its value in
guns--_Bungee_ or "_dash_"--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, _minus_ 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 84
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--MR. EDWARD JOSEPH--My
union with him--I quit the Mongo, and take up my quarters with
the Londoner 94
CHAP. XI.--An epoch in my life in 1827--A vessel arrives
consigned to me for slaves--LA FORTUNA--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) 99
CHAP. XII.--How a cargo of slaves is landed in Cuba--Detection
avoided--"_Gratificaciones_." Clothes distributed--Vessel burnt
or sent in as a coaster, or in distress--A 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 _postilion_--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 107
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--COOMBA 110
CHAP. XIV.--JOSEPH, my partner, has to fly from Africa--How
I save our property--My visit to the BAGERS--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 KROOMEN 118
CHAP. XV.--I study the institution of SLAVERY IN AFRICA--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 _home_ slaves--Jockeys and brokers--Five
sixths of Africa in domestic bondage 126
CHAP. XVI.--Caravan announced--MAMI-DE-YONG, from Footha-Yallon,
uncle of Ahmah-de-Bellah--My ceremonious reception--My
preparations for the chief--Coffee--his school and
teaching--NARRATIVE OF HIS TRIP TO TIMBUCTOO--Queer
black-board map--prolix story teller--Timbuctoo and its
trade--Slavery 129
CHAP. XVII.--I set forth on my journey to TIMBO, to see
the father of Ahmah-de-Bellah--My caravan and its mode of
travel--My Mussulman passport--Forest roads--Arrive at KYA
among the MANDINGOES--My lodgings--IBRAHIM ALI--Our supper
and "bitters"--A scene of piety, love and liquor--Next morning's
headache--ALI-NINPHA begs leave to halt for a day--I manage our
Fullah guide--My fever--Homoeopathic dose of Islamism from the
Koran--My cure--Afternoon 136
CHAP. XVIII.--A ride on horseback--Its exhilaration in the
forest--Visit to the DEVIL'S FOUNTAIN--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 143
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 147
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
ALI-MAMI'S PROTECTION, 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 _morning_,
over the lowlands--An African noon 153
CHAP. XXI.--We approach TAMISSO--Our halt at a brook--bathing,
beautifying, and adornment of the women--Message and welcome
from MOHAMEDOO, 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
PALACE OF MOHAMEDOO--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 157
CHAP. XXII.--Improved character of country and population as
we advance to the interior--We approach JALLICA--Notice to
SUPHIANA--A halt for refreshment and ablutions--Ali-Ninpha's
early home here--A great man in SOOLIMANA--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--MADOO, the _ayah_--I reward her
dancing and singing 162
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 TIMBO before day--A house has been specially
built and furnished for me--Minute care for my taste and
comforts--Ahmah-de-Bellah _a trump_--A fancy dressing-gown
and ruffled shirt--I bathe, dress, and am presented to
the ALI-MAMI--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
SULIMANI-ALI--The ceremonial--Ahmah's speech as to my
purposes--Promise of hospitality--My gifts--I design purchasing
slaves--scrutiny of the presents--_Cantharides_--ABDULMOMEN-ALI,
a prince and book-man--His edifying discourse on Islamism--My
submission 167
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,