The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African
and exactly at half past one o'clock, the following day at noon, while
I was below, just as we had dined in the cabin, the man at the helm
cried out, A boat! which brought my dream that instant into my mind. I
was the first man that jumped on the deck; and, looking from the
shrouds onward, according to my dream, I descried a little boat at
some distance; but, as the waves were high, it was as much as we could
do sometimes to discern her; we however stopped the ship's way, and
the boat, which was extremely small, came alongside with eleven
miserable men, whom we took on board immediately. To all human
appearance, these people must have perished in the course of one hour
or less, the boat being small, it barely contained them. When we took
them up they were half drowned, and had no victuals, compass, water,
or any other necessary whatsoever, and had only one bit of an oar to
steer with, and that right before the wind; so that they were obliged
to trust entirely to the mercy of the waves. As soon as we got them
all on board, they bowed themselves on their knees, and, with hands
and voices lifted up to heaven, thanked God for their deliverance; and
I trust that my prayers were not wanting amongst them at the same
time. This mercy of the Lord quite melted me, and I recollected his
words, which I saw thus verified in the 107th Psalm 'O give thanks
unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever. Hungry
and thirsty, their souls fainted in them. They cried unto Lord in
their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he
led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of
habitation. O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for
his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfieth the
longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
'Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death:
'Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out
of their distresses. They that go down to the sea in ships; that do
business in great waters: these see the works of the Lord, and his
wonders in the deep. Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even
they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord.'
The poor distressed captain said, 'that the Lord is good; for, seeing
that I am not fit to die, he therefore gave me a space of time to
repent.' I was very glad to hear this expression, and took an
opportunity when convenient of talking to him on the providence of
God. They told us they were Portuguese, and were in a brig loaded with
corn, which shifted that morning at five o'clock, owing to which the
vessel sunk that instant with two of the crew; and how these eleven
got into the boat (which was lashed to the deck) not one of them could
tell. We provided them with every necessary, and brought them all safe
to London: and I hope the Lord gave them repentance unto life eternal.
I was happy once more amongst my friends and brethren, till November,
when my old friend, the celebrated Doctor Irving, bought a remarkable
fine sloop, about 150 tons. He had a mind for a new adventure in
cultivating a plantation at Jamaica and the Musquito Shore; asked me
to go with him, and said that he would trust me with his estate in
preference to any one. By the advice, therefore, of my friends, I
accepted of the offer, knowing that the harvest was fully ripe in
those parts, and hoped to be the instrument, under God, of bringing
some poor sinner to my well beloved master, Jesus Christ. Before I
embarked, I found with the Doctor four Musquito Indians, who were
chiefs in their own country, and were brought here by some English
traders for some selfish ends. One of them was the Musquito king's
son; a youth of about eighteen years of age; and whilst he was here he
was baptized by the name of George. They were going back at the
government's expense, after having been in England about twelve
months, during which they learned to speak pretty good English. When I
came to talk to them about eight days before we sailed, I was very
much mortified in finding that they had not frequented any churches
since they were here, to be baptized, nor was any attention paid to
their morals. I was very sorry for this mock Christianity, and had
just an opportunity to take some of them once to church before we
sailed. We embarked in the month of November 1775, on board of the
sloop Morning Star, Captain David Miller, and sailed for Jamaica. In
our passage, I took all the pains that I could to instruct the Indian
prince in the doctrines of Christianity, of which he was entirely
ignorant; and, to my great joy, he was quite attentive, and received
with gladness the truths that the Lord enabled me to set forth to him.
I taught him in the compass of eleven days all the letters, and he
could put even two or three of them together and spell them. I had
Fox's Martyrology with cuts, and he used to be very fond of looking
into it, and would ask many questions about the papal cruelties he saw
depicted there, which I explained to him. I made such progress with
this youth, especially in religion, that when I used to go to bed at
different hours of the night, if he was in his bed, he would get up on
purpose to go to prayer with me, without any other clothes than his
shirt; and before he would eat any of his meals amongst the gentlemen
in the cabin, he would first come to me to pray, as he called it. I
was well pleased at this, and took great delight in him, and used much
supplication to God for his conversion. I was in full hope of seeing
daily every appearance of that change which I could wish; not knowing
the devices of satan, who had many of his emissaries to sow his tares
as fast as I sowed the good seed, and pull down as fast as I built up.
Thus we went on nearly four fifths of our passage, when satan at last
got the upper hand. Some of his messengers, seeing this poor heathen
much advanced in piety, began to ask him whether I had converted him
to Christianity, laughed, and made their jest at him, for which I
rebuked them as much as I could; but this treatment caused the prince
to halt between two opinions. Some of the true sons of Belial, who did
not believe that there was any hereafter, told him never to fear the
devil, for there was none existing; and if ever he came to the prince,
they desired he might be sent to them. Thus they teazed the poor
innocent youth, so that he would not learn his book any more! He would
not drink nor carouse with these ungodly actors, nor would he be with
me, even at prayers. This grieved me very much. I endeavoured to
persuade him as well as I could, but he would not come; and entreated
him very much to tell me his reasons for acting thus. At last he asked
me, 'How comes it that all the white men on board who can read and
write, and observe the sun, and know all things, yet swear, lie, and
get drunk, only excepting yourself?' I answered him, the reason was,
that they did not fear God; and that if any one of them died so they
could not go to, or be happy with God. He replied, that if these
persons went to hell he would go to hell too. I was sorry to hear
this; and, as he sometimes had the toothach, and also some other
persons in the ship at the same time, I asked him if their toothach
made his easy: he said, No. Then I told him if he and these people
went to hell together, their pains would not make his any lighter.
This answer had great weight with him: it depressed his spirits much;
and he became ever after, during the passage, fond of being alone.
When we were in the latitude of Martinico, and near making the land,
one morning we had a brisk gale of wind, and, carrying too much sail,
the main-mast went over the side. Many people were then all about the
deck, and the yards, masts, and rigging, came tumbling all about us,
yet there was not one of us in the least hurt, although some were
within a hair's breadth of being killed: and, particularly, I saw two
men then, by the providential hand of God, most miraculously preserved
from being smashed to pieces. On the fifth of January we made Antigua
and Montserrat, and ran along the rest of the islands: and on the
fourteenth we arrived at Jamaica. One Sunday while we were there I
took the Musquito Prince George to church, where he saw the sacrament
administered. When we came out we saw all kinds of people, almost from
the church door for the space of half a mile down to the waterside,
buying and selling all kinds of commodities: and these acts afforded
me great matter of exhortation to this youth, who was much astonished.
Our vessel being ready to sail for the Musquito shore, I went with the
Doctor on board a Guinea-man, to purchase some slaves to carry with
us, and cultivate a plantation; and I chose them all my own
countrymen. On the twelfth of February we sailed from Jamaica, and on
the eighteenth arrived at the Musquito shore, at a place called
Dupeupy. All our Indian guests now, after I had admonished them and a
few cases of liquor given them by the Doctor, took an affectionate
leave of us, and went ashore, where they were met by the Musquito
king, and we never saw one of them afterwards. We then sailed to the
southward of the shore, to a place called Cape Gracias a Dios, where
there was a large lagoon or lake, which received the emptying of two
or three very fine large rivers, and abounded much in fish and land
tortoise. Some of the native Indians came on board of us here; and we
used them well, and told them we were come to dwell amongst them,
which they seemed pleased at. So the Doctor and I, with some others,
went with them ashore; and they took us to different places to view
the land, in order to choose a place to make a plantation of. We fixed
on a spot near a river's bank, in a rich soil; and, having got our
necessaries out of the sloop, we began to clear away the woods, and
plant different kinds of vegetables, which had a quick growth. While
we were employed in this manner, our vessel went northward to Black
River to trade. While she was there, a Spanish guarda costa met with
and took her. This proved very hurtful, and a great embarrassment to
us. However, we went on with the culture of the land. We used to make
fires every night all around us, to keep off wild beasts, which, as
soon as it was dark, set up a most hideous roaring. Our habitation
being far up in the woods, we frequently saw different kinds of
animals; but none of them ever hurt us, except poisonous snakes, the
bite of which the Doctor used to cure by giving to the patient, as
soon as possible, about half a tumbler of strong rum, with a good deal
of Cayenne pepper in it. In this manner he cured two natives and one
of his own slaves. The Indians were exceedingly fond of the Doctor,
and they had good reason for it; for I believe they never had such an
useful man amongst them. They came from all quarters to our dwelling;
and some _woolwow_, or flat-headed Indians, who lived fifty or sixty
miles above our river, and this side of the South Sea, brought us a
good deal of silver in exchange for our goods. The principal articles
we could get from our neighbouring Indians, were turtle oil, and
shells, little silk grass, and some provisions; but they would not
work at any thing for us, except fishing; and a few times they
assisted to cut some trees down, in order to build us houses; which
they did exactly like the Africans, by the joint labour of men, women,
and children. I do not recollect any of them to have had more than two
wives. These always accompanied their husbands when they came to our
dwelling; and then they generally carried whatever they brought to us,
and always squatted down behind their husbands. Whenever we gave them
any thing to eat, the men and their wives ate it separate. I never