Captain Canot; Or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver
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 "_fetiche_" had announced that the
delivery of the bride to her lord might take place "on the tenth day
of the new moon."
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 COOMBA, 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
_sombreros_ 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.
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 lusty _factotum_ was
astonished. The Cockney aspirated his _h's_ 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 COOMBA could not land
unless the etiquette were fulfilled.
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!
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.
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 COOMBA. Inasmuch, however, as he had been disappointed by her
unhappy error, he did not think the blow should fall on _his_
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, _and carry the bride on her back
from the river to her home_!
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 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.
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.
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 COOMBA, he paid the
princely fee of a slave to the matron.
COOMBA 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, COOMBA, the daughter of
Mongo-Yungee, might have passed for a _chef d'oeuvre in black
marble_.
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 _trousseau_ and gifts of a bride 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
_tontongee_ 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.
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.
As soon as the bath and _oiling_ 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!"
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 _salaam_ 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 a slender strip of white cotton, about the size of a
"_tontongee_," was hoisted in token of privacy, and floated from the
staff like a pennant, giving notice that the commodore is aboard.
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 _tom-tom_ beatings, drowned every mortal sound.
Meanwhile, the men of the party--whose merriment around an enormous
_bonfire_ was augmented by abundance of liquor and provisions--amused
themselves in dancing, shouting, yelling, and discharging muskets in
honor of the nuptials.
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.
The marriage _fetes_ 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.
There is hardly a doubt that he considered COOMBA very _dear_, if not
absolutely adorable!
FOOTNOTE:
[2] A _tontongee_ is a strip of white cotton cloth, three inches wide
and four feet long, used as a _virgin African's only dress_. It is
wound round the limbs, and, hanging partly in front and partly behind,
is supported from the maiden's waist by strands of _showee-beads_.
CHAPTER XIV.
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!
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.
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 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 Teodore, the _Spaniard_.
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,