Captain Canot; Or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver
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.
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.
Joseph proved a good Samaritan. As soon as he dared 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.
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.
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.
In these great outlying colonies and lodgments of European nations in
the East Indies and Africa, a stranger is commonly 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.
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.
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.
CHAPTER XI.
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.
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 _to me_!
"LA FORTUNA," 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.
Having no factory, or _barracoon_ 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 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.
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.
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.
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 that their sale yielded
a clear profit on the voyage of forty-one thousand four hundred and
thirty-eight dollars.[B]
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.
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
_brand_ 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.
On the appointed day, the _barracoon_ 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--_naked_. 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
_tarpaulin_ in foul.
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 "_Viva la Habana_," or "hurrah
for Havana," accompanied by a clapping of hands.
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
_kidd_,--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.
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