Captain Canot; Or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver
dipping once more into my ancient trade; yet, 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 _alone_ 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.
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.
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!"
I answered the compliment with a profound _salaam_, and went over the
Penelope's side satisfied that my friendship was at an end with her
Majesty's cruisers.
* * * * *
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.
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.
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 _homestead_
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.
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 _bonne-bouche_.
In Africa a slaughtered elephant is considered public property by the
neighboring villagers, all of whom have a right to 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 _juju_ and _fetiche_ were invoked for good
luck, and he departed under an escort of wives and associates.
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 _pine-apples_,
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.
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 _en masse_ 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.
CHAPTER LXXIII.
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.
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 returned to Monrovia, my New Sestros experience taught
me the value of bondsmen's backing.
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 _for shipment_. 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.
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 _barracoons_ 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.
* * * * *
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 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.
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 _on suspicion_, 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.
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