The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African
having slightly reprimanded me, ordered me to be taken care of, and
not to be ill-treated.
Soon after this my master's only daughter, and child by his first
wife, sickened and died, which affected him so much that for some time
he was almost frantic, and really would have killed himself, had he
not been watched and prevented. However, in a small time afterwards he
recovered, and I was again sold. I was now carried to the left of the
sun's rising, through many different countries, and a number of large
woods. The people I was sold to used to carry me very often, when I
was tired, either on their shoulders or on their backs. I saw many
convenient well-built sheds along the roads, at proper distances, to
accommodate the merchants and travellers, who lay in those buildings
along with their wives, who often accompany them; and they always go
well armed.
From the time I left my own nation I always found somebody that
understood me till I came to the sea coast. The languages of different
nations did not totally differ, nor were they so copious as those of
the Europeans, particularly the English. They were therefore easily
learned; and, while I was journeying thus through Africa, I acquired
two or three different tongues. In this manner I had been travelling
for a considerable time, when one evening, to my great surprise, whom
should I see brought to the house where I was but my dear sister! As
soon as she saw me she gave a loud shriek, and ran into my arms--I was
quite overpowered: neither of us could speak; but, for a considerable
time, clung to each other in mutual embraces, unable to do any thing
but weep. Our meeting affected all who saw us; and indeed I must
acknowledge, in honour of those sable destroyers of human rights, that
I never met with any ill treatment, or saw any offered to their
slaves, except tying them, when necessary, to keep them from running
away. When these people knew we were brother and sister they indulged
us together; and the man, to whom I supposed we belonged, lay with us,
he in the middle, while she and I held one another by the hands across
his breast all night; and thus for a while we forgot our misfortunes
in the joy of being together: but even this small comfort was soon to
have an end; for scarcely had the fatal morning appeared, when she was
again torn from me for ever! I was now more miserable, if possible,
than before. The small relief which her presence gave me from pain was
gone, and the wretchedness of my situation was redoubled by my anxiety
after her fate, and my apprehensions lest her sufferings should be
greater than mine, when I could not be with her to alleviate them.
Yes, thou dear partner of all my childish sports! thou sharer of my
joys and sorrows! happy should I have ever esteemed myself to
encounter every misery for you, and to procure your freedom by the
sacrifice of my own. Though you were early forced from my arms, your
image has been always rivetted in my heart, from which neither _time
nor fortune_ have been able to remove it; so that, while the thoughts
of your sufferings have damped my prosperity, they have mingled with
adversity and increased its bitterness. To that Heaven which protects
the weak from the strong, I commit the care of your innocence and
virtues, if they have not already received their full reward, and if
your youth and delicacy have not long since fallen victims to the
violence of the African trader, the pestilential stench of a Guinea
ship, the seasoning in the European colonies, or the lash and lust of
a brutal and unrelenting overseer.
I did not long remain after my sister. I was again sold, and carried
through a number of places, till, after travelling a considerable
time, I came to a town called Tinmah, in the most beautiful country I
have yet seen in Africa. It was extremely rich, and there were many
rivulets which flowed through it, and supplied a large pond in the
centre of the town, where the people washed. Here I first saw and
tasted cocoa-nuts, which I thought superior to any nuts I had ever
tasted before; and the trees, which were loaded, were also
interspersed amongst the houses, which had commodious shades
adjoining, and were in the same manner as ours, the insides being
neatly plastered and whitewashed. Here I also saw and tasted for the
first time sugar-cane. Their money consisted of little white shells,
the size of the finger nail. I was sold here for one hundred and
seventy-two of them by a merchant who lived and brought me there. I
had been about two or three days at his house, when a wealthy widow, a
neighbour of his, came there one evening, and brought with her an only
son, a young gentleman about my own age and size. Here they saw me;
and, having taken a fancy to me, I was bought of the merchant, and
went home with them. Her house and premises were situated close to one
of those rivulets I have mentioned, and were the finest I ever saw in
Africa: they were very extensive, and she had a number of slaves to
attend her. The next day I was washed and perfumed, and when meal-time
came I was led into the presence of my mistress, and ate and drank
before her with her son. This filled me with astonishment; and I could
scarce help expressing my surprise that the young gentleman should
suffer me, who was bound, to eat with him who was free; and not only
so, but that he would not at any time either eat or drink till I had
taken first, because I was the eldest, which was agreeable to our
custom. Indeed every thing here, and all their treatment of me, made
me forget that I was a slave. The language of these people resembled
ours so nearly, that we understood each other perfectly. They had also
the very same customs as we. There were likewise slaves daily to
attend us, while my young master and I with other boys sported with
our darts and bows and arrows, as I had been used to do at home. In
this resemblance to my former happy state I passed about two months;
and I now began to think I was to be adopted into the family, and was
beginning to be reconciled to my situation, and to forget by degrees
my misfortunes, when all at once the delusion vanished; for, without
the least previous knowledge, one morning early, while my dear master
and companion was still asleep, I was wakened out of my reverie to
fresh sorrow, and hurried away even amongst the uncircumcised.
Thus, at the very moment I dreamed of the greatest happiness, I found
myself most miserable; and it seemed as if fortune wished to give me
this taste of joy, only to render the reverse more poignant. The
change I now experienced was as painful as it was sudden and
unexpected. It was a change indeed from a state of bliss to a scene
which is inexpressible by me, as it discovered to me an element I had
never before beheld, and till then had no idea of, and wherein such
instances of hardship and cruelty continually occurred as I can never
reflect on but with horror.
All the nations and people I had hitherto passed through resembled our
own in their manners, customs, and language: but I came at length to a
country, the inhabitants of which differed from us in all those
particulars. I was very much struck with this difference, especially
when I came among a people who did not circumcise, and ate without
washing their hands. They cooked also in iron pots, and had European
cutlasses and cross bows, which were unknown to us, and fought with
their fists amongst themselves. Their women were not so modest as
ours, for they ate, and drank, and slept, with their men. But, above
all, I was amazed to see no sacrifices or offerings among them. In
some of those places the people ornamented themselves with scars, and
likewise filed their teeth very sharp. They wanted sometimes to
ornament me in the same manner, but I would not suffer them; hoping
that I might some time be among a people who did not thus disfigure
themselves, as I thought they did. At last I came to the banks of a
large river, which was covered with canoes, in which the people
appeared to live with their household utensils and provisions of all
kinds. I was beyond measure astonished at this, as I had never before
seen any water larger than a pond or a rivulet: and my surprise was
mingled with no small fear when I was put into one of these canoes,
and we began to paddle and move along the river. We continued going on
thus till night; and when we came to land, and made fires on the
banks, each family by themselves, some dragged their canoes on shore,
others stayed and cooked in theirs, and laid in them all night. Those
on the land had mats, of which they made tents, some in the shape of
little houses: in these we slept; and after the morning meal we
embarked again and proceeded as before. I was often very much
astonished to see some of the women, as well as the men, jump into the
water, dive to the bottom, come up again, and swim about. Thus I
continued to travel, sometimes by land, sometimes by water, through
different countries and various nations, till, at the end of six or
seven months after I had been kidnapped, I arrived at the sea coast.
It would be tedious and uninteresting to relate all the incidents
which befell me during this journey, and which I have not yet
forgotten; of the various hands I passed through, and the manners and
customs of all the different people among whom I lived: I shall
therefore only observe, that in all the places where I was the soil
was exceedingly rich; the pomkins, eadas, plantains, yams, &c. &c.
were in great abundance, and of incredible size. There were also vast
quantities of different gums, though not used for any purpose; and
every where a great deal of tobacco. The cotton even grew quite wild;
and there was plenty of redwood. I saw no mechanics whatever in all
the way, except such as I have mentioned. The chief employment in all
these countries was agriculture, and both the males and females, as
with us, were brought up to it, and trained in the arts of war.
The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast was
the sea, and a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and
waiting for its cargo. These filled me with astonishment, which was
soon converted into terror when I was carried on board. I was
immediately handled and tossed up to see if I were sound by some of
the crew; and I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of
bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me. Their complexions
too differing so much from ours, their long hair, and the language
they spoke, (which was very different from any I had ever heard)
united to confirm me in this belief. Indeed such were the horrors of
my views and fears at the moment, that, if ten thousand worlds had
been my own, I would have freely parted with them all to have
exchanged my condition with that of the meanest slave in my own
country. When I looked round the ship too and saw a large furnace or
copper boiling, and a multitude of black people of every description
chained together, every one of their countenances expressing dejection
and sorrow, I no longer doubted of my fate; and, quite overpowered
with horror and anguish, I fell motionless on the deck and fainted.
When I recovered a little I found some black people about me, who I
believed were some of those who brought me on board, and had been
receiving their pay; they talked to me in order to cheer me, but all
in vain. I asked them if we were not to be eaten by those white men
with horrible looks, red faces, and loose hair. They told me I was
not; and one of the crew brought me a small portion of spirituous
liquor in a wine glass; but, being afraid of him, I would not take it
out of his hand. One of the blacks therefore took it from him and gave
it to me, and I took a little down my palate, which, instead of