Captain Canot; Or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver
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 369
CHAP. LX.--The confession of a dying sailor--SANCHEZ--The story
of the murder of Don Miguel, and destruction of his factory by
THOMPSON--A piratical revenge--An _auto-da-fe_ at sea 377
CHAP. LXI.--My establishment at Digby--The rival kinsmen,
and their quarrel--JEN-KEN, THE BUSHMAN--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 382
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 387
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 GIL BLAS; she is run 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
LUNES in Great Britain--He leaves voluntarily for Africa--A queer
chat and scene with the ladies--His opinion of negro dress and
negro bliss 391
CHAP. LXIV.--I make arrangements for future trade and business
with MR. REDMAN--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 396
CHAP. LXV.--I find my establishment in danger, from the colonists
and others--A correspondence with LIEUT. BELL, U. S. N.--Harmless
termination of GOVERNOR BUCHANAN's onslaught--Threatened with
famine; my relief--The VOLADOR takes 749 slaves;--THE LAST CARGO
I EVER SHIPPED 399
CHAP. LXVI.--I am attacked by the British cruiser TERMAGANT,
Lieut. SEAGRAM--Correspondence and diplomacy--I go on board the
cruiser in a _damp uniform_--My reception and jollification--I
CONFESS MY INTENTION TO ABANDON THE SLAVE-TRADE--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 DENMAN'S DESTRUCTION OF GALLINAS--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 405
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 411
CHAP. LXVIII.--We land at Cape Mount, and obtain a cession of
territory, by deed, from KING FANA-TORO and PRINCE GRAY--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. 414
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 419
CHAP. LXX.--I remove, and settle permanently at New Florence--I
open communications with cruisers to supply them with provisions,
&c.--Anecdote of SOMA, 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 424
CHAP. LXXI.--Account of the character of the VEY negroes--The
GREE-GREE 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--_Smoking the
corpse_--I am offered the choice of his widows 429
CHAP. LXXII.--My workshops, gardens, and plantations at the Cape
Mount settlement--I do not prosper as a farmer or trader with
_the interior_--I decide to send a _coaster_ 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 _Ourang-outang_--How we killed leopards, and saved our
castle--Mode of hunting elephants--Elephant law 437
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. JOHN SEYS to
me--My desire to aid the missionaries--CAIN and CURTIS 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 442
THEODORE CANOT.
CHAPTER I.
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.
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.
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 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 _mole_ of that noble seaport,
comfortably equipped, with a liberal outfit, ready to embark, as an
apprentice, upon the American ship Galatea, of Boston.
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 _first_
African my eye ever fell on, and I must confess that he was the only
friend I possessed during my early adventures.
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.
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 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.
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