The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African

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Title: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African

Author: Olaudah Equiano

Release date: March 17, 2005 [eBook #15399]
Most recently updated: September 28, 2026

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INTERESTING NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF OLAUDAH EQUIANO, OR GUSTAVUS VASSA, THE AFRICAN ***

THE

INTERESTING NARRATIVE

THE LIFE

OLAUDAH EQUIANO,

GUSTAVUS VASSA,

THE AFRICAN.

_WRITTEN BY HIMSELF._

_Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be
afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my
song; he also is become my salvation.
And in that shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his
name, declare his doings among the people. Isaiah xii. 2, 4._

LONDON:

Printed for and sold by the Author, No. 10, Union-Street,
Middlesex Hospital

Sold also by Mr. Johnson, St. Paul's Church-Yard; Mr.
Murray, Fleet-Street; Messrs. Robson and Clark, Bond-Street;
Mr. Davis, opposite Gray's Inn, Holborn; Messrs. Shepperson
and Reynolds, and Mr. Jackson, Oxford Street; Mr.
Lackington, Chiswell-Street; Mr. Mathews, Strand; Mr.
Murray, Prince's-Street, Soho; Mess. Taylor and Co. South
Arch, Royal Exchange; Mr. Button, Newington-Causeway; Mr.
Parsons, Paternoster-Row; and may be had of all the
Booksellers in Town and Country.

[Entered at Stationer's Hall.]

[Illustration: Olaudah Equiano or GUSTAVUS VASSA, _the African_]

To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons of the
Parliament of Great Britain.

_My Lords and Gentlemen_,

Permit me, with the greatest deference and respect, to lay at your
feet the following genuine Narrative; the chief design of which is to
excite in your august assemblies a sense of compassion for the
miseries which the Slave-Trade has entailed on my unfortunate
countrymen. By the horrors of that trade was I first torn away from
all the tender connexions that were naturally dear to my heart; but
these, through the mysterious ways of Providence, I ought to regard as
infinitely more than compensated by the introduction I have thence
obtained to the knowledge of the Christian religion, and of a nation
which, by its liberal sentiments, its humanity, the glorious freedom
of its government, and its proficiency in arts and sciences, has
exalted the dignity of human nature.

I am sensible I ought to entreat your pardon for addressing to you a
work so wholly devoid of literary merit; but, as the production of an
unlettered African, who is actuated by the hope of becoming an
instrument towards the relief of his suffering countrymen, I trust
that _such a man_, pleading in _such a cause_, will be acquitted of
boldness and presumption.

May the God of heaven inspire your hearts with peculiar benevolence on
that important day when the question of Abolition is to be discussed,
when thousands, in consequence of your Determination, are to look for
Happiness or Misery!

I am,
My Lords and Gentlemen,
Your most obedient,
And devoted humble Servant,
Olaudah Equiano,
or
Gustavus Vassa.

Union-Street, Mary-le-bone,
March 24, 1789.

LIST of SUBSCRIBERS.

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.
His Royal Highness the Duke of York.

The Right Hon. the Earl of Ailesbury
Admiral Affleck
Mr. William Abington, 2 copies
Mr. John Abraham
James Adair, Esq.
Reverend Mr. Aldridge
Mr. John Almon
Mrs. Arnot
Mr. Joseph Armitage
Mr. Joseph Ashpinshaw
Mr. Samuel Atkins
Mr. John Atwood
Mr. Thomas Atwood
Mr. Ashwell
J.C. Ashworth, Esq.

His Grace the Duke of Bedford
Her Grace the Duchess of Buccleugh
The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Bangor
The Right Hon. Lord Belgrave
The Rev. Doctor Baker
Mrs. Baker
Matthew Baillie, M.D.
Mrs. Baillie
Miss Baillie
Miss J. Baillie
David Barclay, Esq.
Mr. Robert Barrett
Mr. William Barrett
Mr. John Barnes
Mr. John Basnett
Mr. Bateman
Mrs. Baynes, 2 copies
Mr. Thomas Bellamy
Mr. J. Benjafield
Mr. William Bennett
Mr. Bensley
Mr. Samuel Benson
Mrs. Benton
Reverend Mr. Bentley
Mr. Thomas Bently
Sir John Berney, Bart.
Alexander Blair, Esq.
James Bocock, Esq.
Mrs. Bond
Miss Bond
Mrs. Borckhardt
Mrs. E. Bouverie
---- Brand, Esq.
Mr. Martin Brander
F.J. Brown, Esq. M.P. 2 copies
W. Buttall, Esq.
Mr. Buxton
Mr. R.L.B.
Mr. Thomas Burton, 6 copies
Mr. W. Button

The Right Hon. Lord Cathcart
The Right Hon. H.S. Conway
Lady Almiria Carpenter
James Carr, Esq.
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The Rev. Mr. Thomas Clarkson, 2 copies
Mr. R. Clay
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Miss Calwell
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Mr. James Coxe
Mr. J.C.
Mr. Croucher
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Ottobah Cugoano, or John Stewart

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John Delamain, Esq.
Mrs. Delamain
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Lady Ann Erskine
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Mr. William Eyre

Mr. George Fallowdown
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F.W. Foster, Esq.
The Reverend Mr. Foster
Mr. J. Frith
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The Right Hon. the Earl of Gainsborough
The Right Hon. the Earl of Grosvenor
The Right Hon. Viscount Gallway
The Right Hon. Viscountess Gallway
---- Gardner, Esq.
Mrs. Garrick
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Sir Philip Gibbes, Bart. 6 copies
Miss Gibbes
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W.P. Gilliess, Esq.
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S. Griffiths
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Mrs. Guerin
Reverend Mr. Gwinep

The Right Hon. the Earl of Hopetoun
The Right Hon. Lord Hawke
Right Hon. Dowager Countess of Huntingdon
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Sir Richard Hill, Bart.
Reverend Rowland Hill
Miss Hill
Captain John Hills, Royal Navy
Edmund Hill, Esq.
The Reverend Mr. Edward Hoare
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Reverend Mr. John Holmes, 3 copies
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Mr. Hutson

Mr. T.W.J. Esq.
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Mr. John Jackson
Reverend Mr. James
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Mrs. Johnson
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The Right Hon. Lord Kinnaird
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Reverend Dr. Kippis
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Master Martin, Hayes-Grove, Kent
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T. Mitchell, Esq.
Mrs. Montague, 2 copies
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His Grace the Duke of Northumberland
Captain Nurse

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William, the Son of Ignatius Sancho
Mrs. Mary Ann Sandiford
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Mr. John Wood
J. Wright, Esq.

Mr. Thomas Young
Mr. Samuel Yockney

CONTENTS

CHAP. I.

The author's account of his country, their manners and
customs, &c.

CHAP. II.

The author's birth and parentage--His being kidnapped
with his sister--Horrors of a slave ship

CHAP. III.

The author is carried to Virginia--Arrives in England--His
wonder at a fall of snow

CHAP. IV.

A particular account of the celebrated engagement
between Admiral Boscawen and Monsieur Le Clue

CHAP. V.

Various interesting instances of oppression, cruelty, and
extortion

CHAP. VI.

Favourable change in the author's situation--He
commences merchant with threepence

CHAP. VII.

The author's disgust at the West Indies--Forms
schemes to obtain his freedom

CHAP. VIII.

Three remarkable dreams--The author is shipwrecked
on the Bahama-bank

CHAP. IX.

The author arrives at Martinico--Meets with new
difficulties, and sails for England

CHAP. X.

Some account of the manner of the author's conversion to
the faith of Jesus Christ

CHAP. XI.

Picking up eleven miserable men at sea in returning to
England

CHAP. XII.

Different transactions of the author's life--Petition to the
Queen--Conclusion

THE LIFE, &c.

CHAPTER I.

_The author's account of his country, and their manners and
customs--Administration of justice--Embrenche--Marriage
ceremony, and public entertainments--Mode of
living--Dress--Manufactures
Buildings--Commerce--Agriculture--War and
religion--Superstition of the natives--Funeral ceremonies of
the priests or magicians--Curious mode of discovering
poison--Some hints concerning the origin of the author's
countrymen, with the opinions of different writers on that
subject._

I believe it is difficult for those who publish their own memoirs to
escape the imputation of vanity; nor is this the only disadvantage
under which they labour: it is also their misfortune, that what is
uncommon is rarely, if ever, believed, and what is obvious we are apt
to turn from with disgust, and to charge the writer with impertinence.
People generally think those memoirs only worthy to be read or
remembered which abound in great or striking events, those, in short,
which in a high degree excite either admiration or pity: all others
they consign to contempt and oblivion. It is therefore, I confess, not
a little hazardous in a private and obscure individual, and a stranger
too, thus to solicit the indulgent attention of the public; especially
when I own I offer here the history of neither a saint, a hero, nor a
tyrant. I believe there are few events in my life, which have not
happened to many: it is true the incidents of it are numerous; and,
did I consider myself an European, I might say my sufferings were
great: but when I compare my lot with that of most of my countrymen, I
regard myself as a _particular favourite of Heaven_, and acknowledge
the mercies of Providence in every occurrence of my life. If then the
following narrative does not appear sufficiently interesting to engage
general attention, let my motive be some excuse for its publication. I
am not so foolishly vain as to expect from it either immortality or
literary reputation. If it affords any satisfaction to my numerous
friends, at whose request it has been written, or in the smallest
degree promotes the interests of humanity, the ends for which it was
undertaken will be fully attained, and every wish of my heart
gratified. Let it therefore be remembered, that, in wishing to avoid
censure, I do not aspire to praise.

That part of Africa, known by the name of Guinea, to which the trade
for slaves is carried on, extends along the coast above 3400 miles,
from the Senegal to Angola, and includes a variety of kingdoms. Of
these the most considerable is the kingdom of Benen, both as to extent
and wealth, the richness and cultivation of the soil, the power of its
king, and the number and warlike disposition of the inhabitants. It is
situated nearly under the line, and extends along the coast about 170
miles, but runs back into the interior part of Africa to a distance
hitherto I believe unexplored by any traveller; and seems only
terminated at length by the empire of Abyssinia, near 1500 miles from
its beginning. This kingdom is divided into many provinces or
districts: in one of the most remote and fertile of which, called
Eboe, I was born, in the year 1745, in a charming fruitful vale, named
Essaka. The distance of this province from the capital of Benin and
the sea coast must be very considerable; for I had never heard of
white men or Europeans, nor of the sea: and our subjection to the king
of Benin was little more than nominal; for every transaction of the
government, as far as my slender observation extended, was conducted
by the chiefs or elders of the place. The manners and government of a
people who have little commerce with other countries are generally
very simple; and the history of what passes in one family or village
may serve as a specimen of a nation. My father was one of those elders
or chiefs I have spoken of, and was styled Embrenche; a term, as I
remember, importing the highest distinction, and signifying in our
language a _mark_ of grandeur. This mark is conferred on the person
entitled to it, by cutting the skin across at the top of the forehead,
and drawing it down to the eye-brows; and while it is in this
situation applying a warm hand, and rubbing it until it shrinks up
into a thick _weal_ across the lower part of the forehead. Most of the
judges and senators were thus marked; my father had long born it: I
had seen it conferred on one of my brothers, and I was also
_destined_ to receive it by my parents. Those Embrence, or chief men,
decided disputes and punished crimes; for which purpose they always
assembled together. The proceedings were generally short; and in most
cases the law of retaliation prevailed. I remember a man was brought
before my father, and the other judges, for kidnapping a boy; and,
although he was the son of a chief or senator, he was condemned to
make recompense by a man or woman slave. Adultery, however, was
sometimes punished with slavery or death; a punishment which I believe
is inflicted on it throughout most of the nations of Africa[A]: so
sacred among them is the honour of the marriage bed, and so jealous
are they of the fidelity of their wives. Of this I recollect an
instance:--a woman was convicted before the judges of adultery, and
delivered over, as the custom was, to her husband to be punished.
Accordingly he determined to put her to death: but it being found,
just before her execution, that she had an infant at her breast; and
no woman being prevailed on to perform the part of a nurse, she was
spared on account of the child. The men, however, do not preserve the
same constancy to their wives, which they expect from them; for they
indulge in a plurality, though seldom in more than two. Their mode of
marriage is thus:--both parties are usually betrothed when young by
their parents, (though I have known the males to betroth themselves).
On this occasion a feast is prepared, and the bride and bridegroom
stand up in the midst of all their friends, who are assembled for the
purpose, while he declares she is thenceforth to be looked upon as his
wife, and that no other person is to pay any addresses to her. This is
also immediately proclaimed in the vicinity, on which the bride
retires from the assembly. Some time after she is brought home to her
husband, and then another feast is made, to which the relations of
both parties are invited: her parents then deliver her to the
bridegroom, accompanied with a number of blessings, and at the same
time they tie round her waist a cotton string of the thickness of a
goose-quill, which none but married women are permitted to wear: she
is now considered as completely his wife; and at this time the dowry
is given to the new married pair, which generally consists of portions
of land, slaves, and cattle, household goods, and implements of
husbandry. These are offered by the friends of both parties; besides
which the parents of the bridegroom present gifts to those of the
bride, whose property she is looked upon before marriage; but after it
she is esteemed the sole property of her husband. The ceremony being
now ended the festival begins, which is celebrated with bonefires, and
loud acclamations of joy, accompanied with music and dancing.

We are almost a nation of dancers, musicians, and poets. Thus every
great event, such as a triumphant return from battle, or other cause
of public rejoicing is celebrated in public dances, which are
accompanied with songs and music suited to the occasion. The assembly
is separated into four divisions, which dance either apart or in
succession, and each with a character peculiar to itself. The first
division contains the married men, who in their dances frequently
exhibit feats of arms, and the representation of a battle. To these
succeed the married women, who dance in the second division. The young
men occupy the third; and the maidens the fourth. Each represents some
interesting scene of real life, such as a great achievement, domestic
employment, a pathetic story, or some rural sport; and as the subject
is generally founded on some recent event, it is therefore ever new.
This gives our dances a spirit and variety which I have scarcely seen
elsewhere[B]. We have many musical instruments, particularly drums of
different kinds, a piece of music which resembles a guitar, and
another much like a stickado. These last are chiefly used by betrothed
virgins, who play on them on all grand festivals.

As our manners are simple, our luxuries are few. The dress of both
sexes is nearly the same. It generally consists of a long piece of
callico, or muslin, wrapped loosely round the body, somewhat in the
form of a highland plaid. This is usually dyed blue, which is our
favourite colour. It is extracted from a berry, and is brighter and
richer than any I have seen in Europe. Besides this, our women of
distinction wear golden ornaments; which they dispose with some
profusion on their arms and legs. When our women are not employed with
the men in tillage, their usual occupation is spinning and weaving
cotton, which they afterwards dye, and make it into garments. They
also manufacture earthen vessels, of which we have many kinds. Among
the rest tobacco pipes, made after the same fashion, and used in the
same manner, as those in Turkey[C].

Our manner of living is entirely plain; for as yet the natives are
unacquainted with those refinements in cookery which debauch the
taste: bullocks, goats, and poultry, supply the greatest part of their
food. These constitute likewise the principal wealth of the country,
and the chief articles of its commerce. The flesh is usually stewed in
a pan; to make it savoury we sometimes use also pepper, and other
spices, and we have salt made of wood ashes. Our vegetables are mostly
plantains, eadas, yams, beans, and Indian corn. The head of the family
usually eats alone; his wives and slaves have also their separate
tables. Before we taste food we always wash our hands: indeed our
cleanliness on all occasions is extreme; but on this it is an
indispensable ceremony. After washing, libation is made, by pouring
out a small portion of the food, in a certain place, for the spirits
of departed relations, which the natives suppose to preside over their
conduct, and guard them from evil. They are totally unacquainted with
strong or spirituous liquours; and their principal beverage is palm
wine. This is gotten from a tree of that name by tapping it at the
top, and fastening a large gourd to it; and sometimes one tree will
yield three or four gallons in a night. When just drawn it is of a
most delicious sweetness; but in a few days it acquires a tartish and
more spirituous flavour: though I never saw any one intoxicated by it.
The same tree also produces nuts and oil. Our principal luxury is in
perfumes; one sort of these is an odoriferous wood of delicious
fragrance: the other a kind of earth; a small portion of which thrown
into the fire diffuses a most powerful odour[D]. We beat this wood
into powder, and mix it with palm oil; with which both men and women
perfume themselves.

In our buildings we study convenience rather than ornament. Each
master of a family has a large square piece of ground, surrounded with
a moat or fence, or enclosed with a wall made of red earth tempered;
which, when dry, is as hard as brick. Within this are his houses to
accommodate his family and slaves; which, if numerous, frequently
present the appearance of a village. In the middle stands the
principal building, appropriated to the sole use of the master, and
consisting of two apartments; in one of which he sits in the day with
his family, the other is left apart for the reception of his friends.
He has besides these a distinct apartment in which he sleeps, together
with his male children. On each side are the apartments of his wives,
who have also their separate day and night houses. The habitations of
the slaves and their families are distributed throughout the rest of
the enclosure. These houses never exceed one story in height: they are
always built of wood, or stakes driven into the ground, crossed with
wattles, and neatly plastered within, and without. The roof is
thatched with reeds. Our day-houses are left open at the sides; but
those in which we sleep are always covered, and plastered in the
inside, with a composition mixed with cow-dung, to keep off the
different insects, which annoy us during the night. The walls and
floors also of these are generally covered with mats. Our beds consist
of a platform, raised three or four feet from the ground, on which are
laid skins, and different parts of a spungy tree called plaintain. Our
covering is calico or muslin, the same as our dress. The usual seats
are a few logs of wood; but we have benches, which are generally
perfumed, to accommodate strangers: these compose the greater part of
our household furniture. Houses so constructed and furnished require
but little skill to erect them. Every man is a sufficient architect
for the purpose. The whole neighbourhood afford their unanimous
assistance in building them and in return receive, and expect no other
recompense than a feast.

As we live in a country where nature is prodigal of her favours, our
wants are few and easily supplied; of course we have few manufactures.
They consist for the most part of calicoes, earthern ware, ornaments,
and instruments of war and husbandry. But these make no part of our
commerce, the principal articles of which, as I have observed, are
provisions. In such a state money is of little use; however we have
some small pieces of coin, if I may call them such. They are made
something like an anchor; but I do not remember either their value or
denomination. We have also markets, at which I have been frequently
with my mother. These are sometimes visited by stout mahogany-coloured
men from the south west of us: we call them Oye-Eboe, which term
signifies red men living at a distance. They generally bring us
fire-arms, gunpowder, hats, beads, and dried fish. The last we
esteemed a great rarity, as our waters were only brooks and springs.
These articles they barter with us for odoriferous woods and earth,
and our salt of wood ashes. They always carry slaves through our land;
but the strictest account is exacted of their manner of procuring them
before they are suffered to pass. Sometimes indeed we sold slaves to
them, but they were only prisoners of war, or such among us as had
been convicted of kidnapping, or adultery, and some other crimes,
which we esteemed heinous. This practice of kidnapping induces me to
think, that, notwithstanding all our strictness, their principal
business among us was to trepan our people. I remember too they
carried great sacks along with them, which not long after I had an
opportunity of fatally seeing applied to that infamous purpose.

Our land is uncommonly rich and fruitful, and produces all kinds of
vegetables in great abundance. We have plenty of Indian corn, and vast
quantities of cotton and tobacco. Our pine apples grow without
culture; they are about the size of the largest sugar-loaf, and finely
flavoured. We have also spices of different kinds, particularly
pepper; and a variety of delicious fruits which I have never seen in
Europe; together with gums of various kinds, and honey in abundance.
All our industry is exerted to improve those blessings of nature.
Agriculture is our chief employment; and every one, even the children
and women, are engaged in it. Thus we are all habituated to labour
from our earliest years. Every one contributes something to the common
stock; and as we are unacquainted with idleness, we have no beggars.
The benefits of such a mode of living are obvious. The West India
planters prefer the slaves of Benin or Eboe to those of any other part
of Guinea, for their hardiness, intelligence, integrity, and zeal.
Those benefits are felt by us in the general healthiness of the
people, and in their vigour and activity; I might have added too in
their comeliness. Deformity is indeed unknown amongst us, I mean that
of shape. Numbers of the natives of Eboe now in London might be
brought in support of this assertion: for, in regard to complexion,
ideas of beauty are wholly relative. I remember while in Africa to
have seen three negro children, who were tawny, and another quite
white, who were universally regarded by myself, and the natives in
general, as far as related to their complexions, as deformed. Our
women too were in my eyes at least uncommonly graceful, alert, and
modest to a degree of bashfulness; nor do I remember to have ever
heard of an instance of incontinence amongst them before marriage.
They are also remarkably cheerful. Indeed cheerfulness and affability
are two of the leading characteristics of our nation.

Our tillage is exercised in a large plain or common, some hours walk
from our dwellings, and all the neighbours resort thither in a body.
They use no beasts of husbandry; and their only instruments are hoes,
axes, shovels, and beaks, or pointed iron to dig with. Sometimes we
are visited by locusts, which come in large clouds, so as to darken
the air, and destroy our harvest. This however happens rarely, but
when it does, a famine is produced by it. I remember an instance or
two wherein this happened. This common is often the theatre of war;
and therefore when our people go out to till their land, they not only
go in a body, but generally take their arms with them for fear of a
surprise; and when they apprehend an invasion they guard the avenues
to their dwellings, by driving sticks into the ground, which are so
sharp at one end as to pierce the foot, and are generally dipt in
poison. From what I can recollect of these battles, they appear to
have been irruptions of one little state or district on the other, to
obtain prisoners or booty. Perhaps they were incited to this by those
traders who brought the European goods I mentioned amongst us. Such a
mode of obtaining slaves in Africa is common; and I believe more are
procured this way, and by kidnapping, than any other[E]. When a trader
wants slaves, he applies to a chief for them, and tempts him with his
wares. It is not extraordinary, if on this occasion he yields to the
temptation with as little firmness, and accepts the price of his
fellow creatures liberty with as little reluctance as the enlightened
merchant. Accordingly he falls on his neighbours, and a desperate
battle ensues. If he prevails and takes prisoners, he gratifies his
avarice by selling them; but, if his party be vanquished, and he falls
into the hands of the enemy, he is put to death: for, as he has been
known to foment their quarrels, it is thought dangerous to let him
survive, and no ransom can save him, though all other prisoners may be
redeemed. We have fire-arms, bows and arrows, broad two-edged swords
and javelins: we have shields also which cover a man from head to
foot. All are taught the use of these weapons; even our women are
warriors, and march boldly out to fight along with the men. Our whole
district is a kind of militia: on a certain signal given, such as the
firing of a gun at night, they all rise in arms and rush upon their
enemy. It is perhaps something remarkable, that when our people march
to the field a red flag or banner is borne before them. I was once a
witness to a battle in our common. We had been all at work in it one
day as usual, when our people were suddenly attacked. I climbed a tree
at some distance, from which I beheld the fight. There were many women
as well as men on both sides; among others my mother was there, and
armed with a broad sword. After fighting for a considerable time with
great fury, and after many had been killed our people obtained the
victory, and took their enemy's Chief prisoner. He was carried off in
great triumph, and, though he offered a large ransom for his life, he
was put to death. A virgin of note among our enemies had been slain in
the battle, and her arm was exposed in our market-place, where our
trophies were always exhibited. The spoils were divided according to
the merit of the warriors. Those prisoners which were not sold or
redeemed we kept as slaves: but how different was their condition from
that of the slaves in the West Indies! With us they do no more work
than other members of the community, even their masters; their food,
clothing and lodging were nearly the same as theirs, (except that they
were not permitted to eat with those who were free-born); and there
was scarce any other difference between them, than a superior degree
of importance which the head of a family possesses in our state, and
that authority which, as such, he exercises over every part of his
household. Some of these slaves have even slaves under them as their
own property, and for their own use.

As to religion, the natives believe that there is one Creator of all
things, and that he lives in the sun, and is girted round with a belt
that he may never eat or drink; but, according to some, he smokes a
pipe, which is our own favourite luxury. They believe he governs
events, especially our deaths or captivity; but, as for the doctrine
of eternity, I do not remember to have ever heard of it: some however
believe in the transmigration of souls in a certain degree. Those
spirits, which are not transmigrated, such as our dear friends or
relations, they believe always attend them, and guard them from the
bad spirits or their foes. For this reason they always before eating,
as I have observed, put some small portion of the meat, and pour some
of their drink, on the ground for them; and they often make oblations
of the blood of beasts or fowls at their graves. I was very fond of my
mother, and almost constantly with her. When she went to make these
oblations at her mother's tomb, which was a kind of small solitary
thatched house, I sometimes attended her. There she made her
libations, and spent most of the night in cries and lamentations. I
have been often extremely terrified on these occasions. The loneliness
of the place, the darkness of the night, and the ceremony of libation,
naturally awful and gloomy, were heightened by my mother's
lamentations; and these, concuring with the cries of doleful birds, by
which these places were frequented, gave an inexpressible terror to
the scene.

We compute the year from the day on which the sun crosses the line,
and on its setting that evening there is a general shout throughout
the land; at least I can speak from my own knowledge throughout our
vicinity. The people at the same time make a great noise with rattles,
not unlike the basket rattles used by children here, though much
larger, and hold up their hands to heaven for a blessing. It is then
the greatest offerings are made; and those children whom our wise men
foretel will be fortunate are then presented to different people. I
remember many used to come to see me, and I was carried about to
others for that purpose. They have many offerings, particularly at
full moons; generally two at harvest before the fruits are taken out
of the ground: and when any young animals are killed, sometimes they
offer up part of them as a sacrifice. These offerings, when made by
one of the heads of a family, serve for the whole. I remember we often
had them at my father's and my uncle's, and their families have been
present. Some of our offerings are eaten with bitter herbs. We had a
saying among us to any one of a cross temper, 'That if they were to be
eaten, they should be eaten with bitter herbs.'

We practised circumcision like the Jews, and made offerings and feasts
on that occasion in the same manner as they did. Like them also, our
children were named from some event, some circumstance, or fancied
foreboding at the time of their birth. I was named _Olaudah_, which,
in our language, signifies vicissitude or fortune also, one favoured,
and having a loud voice and well spoken. I remember we never polluted
the name of the object of our adoration; on the contrary, it was
always mentioned with the greatest reverence; and we were totally
unacquainted with swearing, and all those terms of abuse and reproach
which find their way so readily and copiously into the languages of
more civilized people. The only expressions of that kind I remember
were 'May you rot, or may you swell, or may a beast take you.'

I have before remarked that the natives of this part of Africa are
extremely cleanly. This necessary habit of decency was with us a part
of religion, and therefore we had many purifications and washings;
indeed almost as many, and used on the same occasions, if my
recollection does not fail me, as the Jews. Those that touched the
dead at any time were obliged to wash and purify themselves before
they could enter a dwelling-house. Every woman too, at certain times,
was forbidden to come into a dwelling-house, or touch any person, or
any thing we ate. I was so fond of my mother I could not keep from
her, or avoid touching her at some of those periods, in consequence of
which I was obliged to be kept out with her, in a little house made
for that purpose, till offering was made, and then we were purified.

Though we had no places of public worship, we had priests and
magicians, or wise men. I do not remember whether they had different
offices, or whether they were united in the same persons, but they
were held in great reverence by the people. They calculated our time,
and foretold events, as their name imported, for we called them
Ah-affoe-way-cah, which signifies calculators or yearly men, our year
being called Ah-affoe. They wore their beards, and when they died they
were succeeded by their sons. Most of their implements and things of
value were interred along with them. Pipes and tobacco were also put
into the grave with the corpse, which was always perfumed and
ornamented, and animals were offered in sacrifice to them. None
accompanied their funerals but those of the same profession or tribe.
These buried them after sunset, and always returned from the grave by
a different way from that which they went.

These magicians were also our doctors or physicians. They practised
bleeding by cupping; and were very successful in healing wounds and
expelling poisons. They had likewise some extraordinary method of
discovering jealousy, theft, and poisoning; the success of which no
doubt they derived from their unbounded influence over the credulity
and superstition of the people. I do not remember what those methods
were, except that as to poisoning: I recollect an instance or two,
which I hope it will not be deemed impertinent here to insert, as it
may serve as a kind of specimen of the rest, and is still used by the
negroes in the West Indies. A virgin had been poisoned, but it was not
known by whom: the doctors ordered the corpse to be taken up by some
persons, and carried to the grave. As soon as the bearers had raised
it on their shoulders, they seemed seized with some[F] sudden
impulse, and ran to and fro unable to stop themselves. At last, after
having passed through a number of thorns and prickly bushes unhurt,
the corpse fell from them close to a house, and defaced it in the
fall; and, the owner being taken up, he immediately confessed the
poisoning[G].

The natives are extremely cautious about poison. When they buy any
eatable the seller kisses it all round before the buyer, to shew him
it is not poisoned; and the same is done when any meat or drink is
presented, particularly to a stranger. We have serpents of different
kinds, some of which are esteemed ominous when they appear in our
houses, and these we never molest. I remember two of those ominous
snakes, each of which was as thick as the calf of a man's leg, and in
colour resembling a dolphin in the water, crept at different times
into my mother's night-house, where I always lay with her, and coiled
themselves into folds, and each time they crowed like a cock. I was
desired by some of our wise men to touch these, that I might be
interested in the good omens, which I did, for they were quite
harmless, and would tamely suffer themselves to be handled; and then
they were put into a large open earthen pan, and set on one side of
the highway. Some of our snakes, however, were poisonous: one of them
crossed the road one day when I was standing on it, and passed between
my feet without offering to touch me, to the great surprise of many
who saw it; and these incidents were accounted by the wise men, and
therefore by my mother and the rest of the people, as remarkable omens
in my favour.

Such is the imperfect sketch my memory has furnished me with of the
manners and customs of a people among whom I first drew my breath. And
here I cannot forbear suggesting what has long struck me very
forcibly, namely, the strong analogy which even by this sketch,
imperfect as it is, appears to prevail in the manners and customs of
my countrymen and those of the Jews, before they reached the Land of
Promise, and particularly the patriarchs while they were yet in that
pastoral state which is described in Genesis--an analogy, which alone
would induce me to think that the one people had sprung from the
other. Indeed this is the opinion of Dr. Gill, who, in his commentary
on Genesis, very ably deduces the pedigree of the Africans from Afer
and Afra, the descendants of Abraham by Keturah his wife and concubine
(for both these titles are applied to her). It is also conformable to
the sentiments of Dr. John Clarke, formerly Dean of Sarum, in his
Truth of the Christian Religion: both these authors concur in
ascribing to us this original. The reasonings of these gentlemen are
still further confirmed by the scripture chronology; and if any
further corroboration were required, this resemblance in so many
respects is a strong evidence in support of the opinion. Like the
Israelites in their primitive state, our government was conducted by
our chiefs or judges, our wise men and elders; and the head of a
family with us enjoyed a similar authority over his household with
that which is ascribed to Abraham and the other patriarchs. The law of
retaliation obtained almost universally with us as with them: and even
their religion appeared to have shed upon us a ray of its glory,
though broken and spent in its passage, or eclipsed by the cloud with
which time, tradition, and ignorance might have enveloped it; for we
had our circumcision (a rule I believe peculiar to that people:) we
had also our sacrifices and burnt-offerings, our washings and
purifications, on the same occasions as they had.

As to the difference of colour between the Eboan Africans and the
modern Jews, I shall not presume to account for it. It is a subject
which has engaged the pens of men of both genius and learning, and is
far above my strength. The most able and Reverend Mr. T. Clarkson,
however, in his much admired Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the
Human Species, has ascertained the cause, in a manner that at once
solves every objection on that account, and, on my mind at least, has
produced the fullest conviction. I shall therefore refer to that
performance for the theory[H], contenting myself with extracting a
fact as related by Dr. Mitchel[I]. "The Spaniards, who have inhabited
America, under the torrid zone, for any time, are become as dark
coloured as our native Indians of Virginia; of which _I myself have
been a witness_." There is also another instance[J] of a Portuguese
settlement at Mitomba, a river in Sierra Leona; where the inhabitants
are bred from a mixture of the first Portuguese discoverers with the
natives, and are now become in their complexion, and in the woolly
quality of their hair, _perfect negroes_, retaining however a
smattering of the Portuguese language.

These instances, and a great many more which might be adduced, while
they shew how the complexions of the same persons vary in different
climates, it is hoped may tend also to remove the prejudice that some
conceive against the natives of Africa on account of their colour.
Surely the minds of the Spaniards did not change with their
complexions! Are there not causes enough to which the apparent
inferiority of an African may be ascribed, without limiting the
goodness of God, and supposing he forbore to stamp understanding on
certainly his own image, because "carved in ebony." Might it not
naturally be ascribed to their situation? When they come among
Europeans, they are ignorant of their language, religion, manners, and
customs. Are any pains taken to teach them these? Are they treated as
men? Does not slavery itself depress the mind, and extinguish all its
fire and every noble sentiment? But, above all, what advantages do not
a refined people possess over those who are rude and uncultivated. Let
the polished and haughty European recollect that his ancestors were
once, like the Africans, uncivilized, and even barbarous. Did Nature
make _them_ inferior to their sons? and should _they too_ have been
made slaves? Every rational mind answers, No. Let such reflections as
these melt the pride of their superiority into sympathy for the wants
and miseries of their sable brethren, and compel them to acknowledge,
that understanding is not confined to feature or colour. If, when they
look round the world, they feel exultation, let it be tempered with
benevolence to others, and gratitude to God, "who hath made of one
blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth[K];
and whose wisdom is not our wisdom, neither are our ways his ways."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote A: See Benezet's "Account of Guinea" throughout.]

[Footnote B: When I was in Smyrna I have frequently seen the Greeks
dance after this manner.]

[Footnote C: The bowl is earthen, curiously figured, to which a long
reed is fixed as a tube. This tube is sometimes so long as to be born
by one, and frequently out of grandeur by two boys.]

[Footnote D: When I was in Smyrna I saw the same kind of earth, and
brought some of it with me to England; it resembles musk in strength,
but is more delicious in scent, and is not unlike the smell of a
rose.]

[Footnote E: See Benezet's Account of Africa throughout.]

[Footnote F: See also Leut. Matthew's Voyage, p. 123.]

[Footnote G: An instance of this kind happened at Montserrat in the
West Indies in the year 1763. I then belonged to the Charming Sally,
Capt. Doran.--The chief mate, Mr. Mansfield, and some of the crew
being one day on shore, were present at the burying of a poisoned
negro girl. Though they had often heard of the circumstance of the
running in such cases, and had even seen it, they imagined it to be a
trick of the corpse-bearers. The mate therefore desired two of the
sailors to take up the coffin, and carry it to the grave. The sailors,
who were all of the same opinion, readily obeyed; but they had
scarcely raised it to their shoulders, before they began to run
furiously about, quite unable to direct themselves, till, at last,
without intention, they came to the hut of him who had poisoned the
girl. The coffin then immediately fell from their shoulders against
the hut, and damaged part of the wall. The owner of the hut was taken
into custody on this, and confessed the poisoning.--I give this story
as it was related by the mate and crew on their return to the ship.
The credit which is due to it I leave with the reader.]

[Footnote H: Page 178 to 216.]

[Footnote I: Philos. Trans. Nº 476, Sect. 4, cited by Mr. Clarkson, p.
205.]

[Footnote J: Same page.]

[Footnote K: Acts, c. xvii. v. 26.]

CHAP. II.

_The author's birth and parentage--His being kidnapped with
his sister--Their separation--Surprise at meeting again--Are
finally separated--Account of the different places and
incidents the author met with till his arrival on the
coast--The effect the sight of a slave ship had on him--He
sails for the West Indies--Horrors of a slave ship--Arrives
at Barbadoes, where the cargo is sold and dispersed._

I hope the reader will not think I have trespassed on his
patience in introducing myself to him with some account of the manners
and customs of my country. They had been implanted in me with great
care, and made an impression on my mind, which time could not erase,
and which all the adversity and variety of fortune I have since
experienced served only to rivet and record; for, whether the love of
one's country be real or imaginary, or a lesson of reason, or an
instinct of nature, I still look back with pleasure on the first
scenes of my life, though that pleasure has been for the most part
mingled with sorrow.

I have already acquainted the reader with the time and place of my
birth. My father, besides many slaves, had a numerous family, of which
seven lived to grow up, including myself and a sister, who was the
only daughter. As I was the youngest of the sons, I became, of course,
the greatest favourite with my mother, and was always with her; and
she used to take particular pains to form my mind. I was trained up
from my earliest years in the art of war; my daily exercise was
shooting and throwing javelins; and my mother adorned me with emblems,
after the manner of our greatest warriors. In this way I grew up till
I was turned the age of eleven, when an end was put to my happiness in
the following manner:--Generally when the grown people in the
neighbourhood were gone far in the fields to labour, the children
assembled together in some of the neighbours' premises to play; and
commonly some of us used to get up a tree to look out for any
assailant, or kidnapper, that might come upon us; for they sometimes
took those opportunities of our parents' absence to attack and carry
off as many as they could seize. One day, as I was watching at the top
of a tree in our yard, I saw one of those people come into the yard of
our next neighbour but one, to kidnap, there being many stout young
people in it. Immediately on this I gave the alarm of the rogue, and
he was surrounded by the stoutest of them, who entangled him with
cords, so that he could not escape till some of the grown people came
and secured him. But alas! ere long it was my fate to be thus
attacked, and to be carried off, when none of the grown people were
nigh. One day, when all our people were gone out to their works as
usual, and only I and my dear sister were left to mind the house, two
men and a woman got over our walls, and in a moment seized us both,
and, without giving us time to cry out, or make resistance, they
stopped our mouths, and ran off with us into the nearest wood. Here
they tied our hands, and continued to carry us as far as they could,
till night came on, when we reached a small house, where the robbers
halted for refreshment, and spent the night. We were then unbound, but
were unable to take any food; and, being quite overpowered by fatigue
and grief, our only relief was some sleep, which allayed our
misfortune for a short time. The next morning we left the house, and
continued travelling all the day. For a long time we had kept the
woods, but at last we came into a road which I believed I knew. I had
now some hopes of being delivered; for we had advanced but a little
way before I discovered some people at a distance, on which I began to
cry out for their assistance: but my cries had no other effect than to
make them tie me faster and stop my mouth, and then they put me into a
large sack. They also stopped my sister's mouth, and tied her hands;
and in this manner we proceeded till we were out of the sight of these
people. When we went to rest the following night they offered us some
victuals; but we refused it; and the only comfort we had was in being
in one another's arms all that night, and bathing each other with our
tears. But alas! we were soon deprived of even the small comfort of
weeping together. The next day proved a day of greater sorrow than I
had yet experienced; for my sister and I were then separated, while we
lay clasped in each other's arms. It was in vain that we besought them
not to part us; she was torn from me, and immediately carried away,
while I was left in a state of distraction not to be described. I
cried and grieved continually; and for several days I did not eat any
thing but what they forced into my mouth. At length, after many days
travelling, during which I had often changed masters, I got into the
hands of a chieftain, in a very pleasant country. This man had two
wives and some children, and they all used me extremely well, and did
all they could to comfort me; particularly the first wife, who was
something like my mother. Although I was a great many days journey
from my father's house, yet these people spoke exactly the same
language with us. This first master of mine, as I may call him, was a
smith, and my principal employment was working his bellows, which were
the same kind as I had seen in my vicinity. They were in some respects
not unlike the stoves here in gentlemen's kitchens; and were covered
over with leather; and in the middle of that leather a stick was
fixed, and a person stood up, and worked it, in the same manner as is
done to pump water out of a cask with a hand pump. I believe it was
gold he worked, for it was of a lovely bright yellow colour, and was
worn by the women on their wrists and ancles. I was there I suppose
about a month, and they at last used to trust me some little distance
from the house. This liberty I used in embracing every opportunity to
inquire the way to my own home: and I also sometimes, for the same
purpose, went with the maidens, in the cool of the evenings, to bring
pitchers of water from the springs for the use of the house. I had
also remarked where the sun rose in the morning, and set in the
evening, as I had travelled along; and I had observed that my father's
house was towards the rising of the sun. I therefore determined to
seize the first opportunity of making my escape, and to shape my
course for that quarter; for I was quite oppressed and weighed down by
grief after my mother and friends; and my love of liberty, ever great,
was strengthened by the mortifying circumstance of not daring to eat
with the free-born children, although I was mostly their companion.
While I was projecting my escape, one day an unlucky event happened,
which quite disconcerted my plan, and put an end to my hopes. I used
to be sometimes employed in assisting an elderly woman slave to cook
and take care of the poultry; and one morning, while I was feeding
some chickens, I happened to toss a small pebble at one of them,
which hit it on the middle and directly killed it. The old slave,
having soon after missed the chicken, inquired after it; and on my
relating the accident (for I told her the truth, because my mother
would never suffer me to tell a lie) she flew into a violent passion,
threatened that I should suffer for it; and, my master being out, she
immediately went and told her mistress what I had done. This alarmed
me very much, and I expected an instant flogging, which to me was
uncommonly dreadful; for I had seldom been beaten at home. I therefore
resolved to fly; and accordingly I ran into a thicket that was hard
by, and hid myself in the bushes. Soon afterwards my mistress and the
slave returned, and, not seeing me, they searched all the house, but
not finding me, and I not making answer when they called to me, they
thought I had run away, and the whole neighbourhood was raised in the
pursuit of me. In that part of the country (as in ours) the houses and
villages were skirted with woods, or shrubberies, and the bushes were
so thick that a man could readily conceal himself in them, so as to
elude the strictest search. The neighbours continued the whole day
looking for me, and several times many of them came within a few yards
of the place where I lay hid. I then gave myself up for lost entirely,
and expected every moment, when I heard a rustling among the trees, to
be found out, and punished by my master: but they never discovered me,
though they were often so near that I even heard their conjectures as
they were looking about for me; and I now learned from them, that any
attempt to return home would be hopeless. Most of them supposed I had
fled towards home; but the distance was so great, and the way so
intricate, that they thought I could never reach it, and that I should
be lost in the woods. When I heard this I was seized with a violent
panic, and abandoned myself to despair. Night too began to approach,
and aggravated all my fears. I had before entertained hopes of getting
home, and I had determined when it should be dark to make the attempt;
but I was now convinced it was fruitless, and I began to consider
that, if possibly I could escape all other animals, I could not those
of the human kind; and that, not knowing the way, I must perish in the
woods. Thus was I like the hunted deer:

--"Ev'ry leaf and ev'ry whisp'ring breath
Convey'd a foe, and ev'ry foe a death."

I heard frequent rustlings among the leaves; and being pretty sure
they were snakes I expected every instant to be stung by them. This
increased my anguish, and the horror of my situation became now quite
insupportable. I at length quitted the thicket, very faint and hungry,
for I had not eaten or drank any thing all the day; and crept to my
master's kitchen, from whence I set out at first, and which was an
open shed, and laid myself down in the ashes with an anxious wish for
death to relieve me from all my pains. I was scarcely awake in the
morning when the old woman slave, who was the first up, came to light
the fire, and saw me in the fire place. She was very much surprised to
see me, and could scarcely believe her own eyes. She now promised to
intercede for me, and went for her master, who soon after came, and,
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
reviving me, as they thought it would, threw me into the greatest
consternation at the strange feeling it produced, having never tasted
any such liquor before. Soon after this the blacks who brought me on
board went off, and left me abandoned to despair. I now saw myself
deprived of all chance of returning to my native country, or even the
least glimpse of hope of gaining the shore, which I now considered as
friendly; and I even wished for my former slavery in preference to my
present situation, which was filled with horrors of every kind, still
heightened by my ignorance of what I was to undergo. I was not long
suffered to indulge my grief; I was soon put down under the decks, and
there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never
experienced in my life: so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench,
and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to
eat, nor had I the least desire to taste any thing. I now wished for
the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of
the white men offered me eatables; and, on my refusing to eat, one of
them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across I think the
windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely. I had
never experienced any thing of this kind before; and although, not
being used to the water, I naturally feared that element the first
time I saw it, yet nevertheless, could I have got over the nettings,
I would have jumped over the side, but I could not; and, besides, the
crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained down to the
decks, lest we should leap into the water: and I have seen some of
these poor African prisoners most severely cut for attempting to do
so, and hourly whipped for not eating. This indeed was often the case
with myself. In a little time after, amongst the poor chained men, I
found some of my own nation, which in a small degree gave ease to my
mind. I inquired of these what was to be done with us; they gave me to
understand we were to be carried to these white people's country to
work for them. I then was a little revived, and thought, if it were no
worse than working, my situation was not so desperate: but still I
feared I should be put to death, the white people looked and acted, as
I thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen among any
people such instances of brutal cruelty; and this not only shewn
towards us blacks, but also to some of the whites themselves. One
white man in particular I saw, when we were permitted to be on deck,
flogged so unmercifully with a large rope near the foremast, that he
died in consequence of it; and they tossed him over the side as they
would have done a brute. This made me fear these people the more; and
I expected nothing less than to be treated in the same manner. I could
not help expressing my fears and apprehensions to some of my
countrymen: I asked them if these people had no country, but lived in
this hollow place (the ship): they told me they did not, but came from
a distant one. 'Then,' said I, 'how comes it in all our country we
never heard of them?' They told me because they lived so very far off.
I then asked where were their women? had they any like themselves? I
was told they had: 'and why,' said I, 'do we not see them?' they
answered, because they were left behind. I asked how the vessel could
go? they told me they could not tell; but that there were cloths put
upon the masts by the help of the ropes I saw, and then the vessel
went on; and the white men had some spell or magic they put in the
water when they liked in order to stop the vessel. I was exceedingly
amazed at this account, and really thought they were spirits. I
therefore wished much to be from amongst them, for I expected they
would sacrifice me: but my wishes were vain; for we were so quartered
that it was impossible for any of us to make our escape. While we
stayed on the coast I was mostly on deck; and one day, to my great
astonishment, I saw one of these vessels coming in with the sails up.
As soon as the whites saw it, they gave a great shout, at which we
were amazed; and the more so as the vessel appeared larger by
approaching nearer. At last she came to an anchor in my sight, and
when the anchor was let go I and my countrymen who saw it were lost in
astonishment to observe the vessel stop; and were not convinced it was
done by magic. Soon after this the other ship got her boats out, and
they came on board of us, and the people of both ships seemed very
glad to see each other. Several of the strangers also shook hands with
us black people, and made motions with their hands, signifying I
suppose we were to go to their country; but we did not understand
them. At last, when the ship we were in had got in all her cargo, they
made ready with many fearful noises, and we were all put under deck,
so that we could not see how they managed the vessel. But this
disappointment was the least of my sorrow. The stench of the hold
while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome, that it was
dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us had been
permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the
whole ship's cargo were confined together, it became absolutely
pestilential. The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate,
added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had
scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced
copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for
respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a
sickness among the slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims to
the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. This
wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains,
now become insupportable; and the filth of the necessary tubs, into
which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks
of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene
of horror almost inconceivable. Happily perhaps for myself I was soon
reduced so low here that it was thought necessary to keep me almost
always on deck; and from my extreme youth I was not put in fetters. In
this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my
companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the
point of death, which I began to hope would soon put an end to my
miseries. Often did I think many of the inhabitants of the deep much
more happy than myself. I envied them the freedom they enjoyed, and as
often wished I could change my condition for theirs. Every
circumstance I met with served only to render my state more painful,
and heighten my apprehensions, and my opinion of the cruelty of the
whites. One day they had taken a number of fishes; and when they had
killed and satisfied themselves with as many as they thought fit, to
our astonishment who were on the deck, rather than give any of them to
us to eat as we expected, they tossed the remaining fish into the sea
again, although we begged and prayed for some as well as we could, but
in vain; and some of my countrymen, being pressed by hunger, took an
opportunity, when they thought no one saw them, of trying to get a
little privately; but they were discovered, and the attempt procured
them some very severe floggings. One day, when we had a smooth sea and
moderate wind, two of my wearied countrymen who were chained together
(I was near them at the time), preferring death to such a life of
misery, somehow made through the nettings and jumped into the sea:
immediately another quite dejected fellow, who, on account of his
illness, was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their example;
and I believe many more would very soon have done the same if they had
not been prevented by the ship's crew, who were instantly alarmed.
Those of us that were the most active were in a moment put down under
the deck, and there was such a noise and confusion amongst the people
of the ship as I never heard before, to stop her, and get the boat out
to go after the slaves. However two of the wretches were drowned, but
they got the other, and afterwards flogged him unmercifully for thus
attempting to prefer death to slavery. In this manner we continued to
undergo more hardships than I can now relate, hardships which are
inseparable from this accursed trade. Many a time we were near
suffocation from the want of fresh air, which we were often without
for whole days together. This, and the stench of the necessary tubs,
carried off many. During our passage I first saw flying fishes, which
surprised me very much: they used frequently to fly across the ship,
and many of them fell on the deck. I also now first saw the use of the
quadrant; I had often with astonishment seen the mariners make
observations with it, and I could not think what it meant. They at
last took notice of my surprise; and one of them, willing to increase
it, as well as to gratify my curiosity, made me one day look through
it. The clouds appeared to me to be land, which disappeared as they
passed along. This heightened my wonder; and I was now more persuaded
than ever that I was in another world, and that every thing about me
was magic. At last we came in sight of the island of Barbadoes, at
which the whites on board gave a great shout, and made many signs of
joy to us. We did not know what to think of this; but as the vessel
drew nearer we plainly saw the harbour, and other ships of different
kinds and sizes; and we soon anchored amongst them off Bridge Town.
Many merchants and planters now came on board, though it was in the
evening. They put us in separate parcels, and examined us attentively.
They also made us jump, and pointed to the land, signifying we were to
go there. We thought by this we should be eaten by these ugly men, as
they appeared to us; and, when soon after we were all put down under
the deck again, there was much dread and trembling among us, and
nothing but bitter cries to be heard all the night from these
apprehensions, insomuch that at last the white people got some old
slaves from the land to pacify us. They told us we were not to be
eaten, but to work, and were soon to go on land, where we should see
many of our country people. This report eased us much; and sure
enough, soon after we were landed, there came to us Africans of all
languages. We were conducted immediately to the merchant's yard, where
we were all pent up together like so many sheep in a fold, without
regard to sex or age. As every object was new to me every thing I saw
filled me with surprise. What struck me first was that the houses were
built with stories, and in every other respect different from those in
Africa: but I was still more astonished on seeing people on horseback.
I did not know what this could mean; and indeed I thought these people
were full of nothing but magical arts. While I was in this
astonishment one of my fellow prisoners spoke to a countryman of his
about the horses, who said they were the same kind they had in their
country. I understood them, though they were from a distant part of
Africa, and I thought it odd I had not seen any horses there; but
afterwards, when I came to converse with different Africans, I found
they had many horses amongst them, and much larger than those I then
saw. We were not many days in the merchant's custody before we were
sold after their usual manner, which is this:--On a signal given,(as
the beat of a drum) the buyers rush at once into the yard where the
slaves are confined, and make choice of that parcel they like best.
The noise and clamour with which this is attended, and the eagerness
visible in the countenances of the buyers, serve not a little to
increase the apprehensions of the terrified Africans, who may well be
supposed to consider them as the ministers of that destruction to
which they think themselves devoted. In this manner, without scruple,
are relations and friends separated, most of them never to see each
other again. I remember in the vessel in which I was brought over, in
the men's apartment, there were several brothers, who, in the sale,
were sold in different lots; and it was very moving on this occasion
to see and hear their cries at parting. O, ye nominal Christians!
might not an African ask you, learned you this from your God, who says
unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you? Is it
not enough that we are torn from our country and friends to toil for
your luxury and lust of gain? Must every tender feeling be likewise
sacrificed to your avarice? Are the dearest friends and relations, now
rendered more dear by their separation from their kindred, still to be
parted from each other, and thus prevented from cheering the gloom of
slavery with the small comfort of being together and mingling their
sufferings and sorrows? Why are parents to lose their children,
brothers their sisters, or husbands their wives? Surely this is a new
refinement in cruelty, which, while it has no advantage to atone for
it, thus aggravates distress, and adds fresh horrors even to the
wretchedness of slavery.

CHAP. III.

_The author is carried to Virginia--His distress--Surprise
at seeing a picture and a watch--Is bought by Captain
Pascal, and sets out for England--His terror during the
voyage--Arrives in England--His wonder at a fall of snow--Is
sent to Guernsey, and in some time goes on board a ship of
war with his master--Some account of the expedition against
Louisbourg under the command of Admiral Boscawen, in 1758._

I now totally lost the small remains of comfort I had enjoyed in
conversing with my countrymen; the women too, who used to wash and
take care of me, were all gone different ways, and I never saw one of
them afterwards.

I stayed in this island for a few days; I believe it could not be
above a fortnight; when I and some few more slaves, that were not
saleable amongst the rest, from very much fretting, were shipped off
in a sloop for North America. On the passage we were better treated
than when we were coming from Africa, and we had plenty of rice and
fat pork. We were landed up a river a good way from the sea, about
Virginia county, where we saw few or none of our native Africans, and
not one soul who could talk to me. I was a few weeks weeding grass,
and gathering stones in a plantation; and at last all my companions
were distributed different ways, and only myself was left. I was now
exceedingly miserable, and thought myself worse off than any of the
rest of my companions; for they could talk to each other, but I had no
person to speak to that I could understand. In this state I was
constantly grieving and pining, and wishing for death rather than any
thing else. While I was in this plantation the gentleman, to whom I
suppose the estate belonged, being unwell, I was one day sent for to
his dwelling house to fan him; when I came into the room where he was
I was very much affrighted at some things I saw, and the more so as I
had seen a black woman slave as I came through the house, who was
cooking the dinner, and the poor creature was cruelly loaded with
various kinds of iron machines; she had one particularly on her head,
which locked her mouth so fast that she could scarcely speak; and
could not eat nor drink. I was much astonished and shocked at this
contrivance, which I afterwards learned was called the iron muzzle.
Soon after I had a fan put into my hand, to fan the gentleman while he
slept; and so I did indeed with great fear. While he was fast asleep I
indulged myself a great deal in looking about the room, which to me
appeared very fine and curious. The first object that engaged my
attention was a watch which hung on the chimney, and was going. I was
quite surprised at the noise it made, and was afraid it would tell the
gentleman any thing I might do amiss: and when I immediately after
observed a picture hanging in the room, which appeared constantly to
look at me, I was still more affrighted, having never seen such things
as these before. At one time I thought it was something relative to
magic; and not seeing it move I thought it might be some way the
whites had to keep their great men when they died, and offer them
libation as we used to do to our friendly spirits. In this state of
anxiety I remained till my master awoke, when I was dismissed out of
the room, to my no small satisfaction and relief; for I thought that
these people were all made up of wonders. In this place I was called
Jacob; but on board the African snow I was called Michael. I had been
some time in this miserable, forlorn, and much dejected state, without
having any one to talk to, which made my life a burden, when the kind
and unknown hand of the Creator (who in very deed leads the blind in a
way they know not) now began to appear, to my comfort; for one day the
captain of a merchant ship, called the Industrious Bee, came on some
business to my master's house. This gentleman, whose name was Michael
Henry Pascal, was a lieutenant in the royal navy, but now commanded
this trading ship, which was somewhere in the confines of the county
many miles off. While he was at my master's house it happened that he
saw me, and liked me so well that he made a purchase of me. I think I
have often heard him say he gave thirty or forty pounds sterling for
me; but I do not now remember which. However, he meant me for a
present to some of his friends in England: and I was sent accordingly
from the house of my then master, one Mr. Campbell, to the place where
the ship lay; I was conducted on horseback by an elderly black man, (a
mode of travelling which appeared very odd to me). When I arrived I
was carried on board a fine large ship, loaded with tobacco, &c. and
just ready to sail for England. I now thought my condition much
mended; I had sails to lie on, and plenty of good victuals to eat; and
every body on board used me very kindly, quite contrary to what I had
seen of any white people before; I therefore began to think that they
were not all of the same disposition. A few days after I was on board
we sailed for England. I was still at a loss to conjecture my destiny.
By this time, however, I could smatter a little imperfect English; and
I wanted to know as well as I could where we were going. Some of the
people of the ship used to tell me they were going to carry me back to
my own country, and this made me very happy. I was quite rejoiced at
the sound of going back; and thought if I should get home what wonders
I should have to tell. But I was reserved for another fate, and was
soon undeceived when we came within sight of the English coast. While
I was on board this ship, my captain and master named me _Gustavus
Vassa_. I at that time began to understand him a little, and refused to
be called so, and told him as well as I could that I would be called
Jacob; but he said I should not, and still called me Gustavus; and
when I refused to answer to my new name, which at first I did, it
gained me many a cuff; so at length I submitted, and was obliged to
bear the present name, by which I have been known ever since. The ship
had a very long passage; and on that account we had very short
allowance of provisions. Towards the last we had only one pound and a
half of bread per week, and about the same quantity of meat, and one
quart of water a-day. We spoke with only one vessel the whole time we
were at sea, and but once we caught a few fishes. In our extremities
the captain and people told me in jest they would kill and eat me; but
I thought them in earnest, and was depressed beyond measure, expecting
every moment to be my last. While I was in this situation one evening
they caught, with a good deal of trouble, a large shark, and got it on
board. This gladdened my poor heart exceedingly, as I thought it would
serve the people to eat instead of their eating me; but very soon, to
my astonishment, they cut off a small part of the tail, and tossed the
rest over the side. This renewed my consternation; and I did not know
what to think of these white people, though I very much feared they
would kill and eat me. There was on board the ship a young lad who had
never been at sea before, about four or five years older than myself:
his name was Richard Baker. He was a native of America, had received
an excellent education, and was of a most amiable temper. Soon after I
went on board he shewed me a great deal of partiality and attention,
and in return I grew extremely fond of him. We at length became
inseparable; and, for the space of two years, he was of very great use
to me, and was my constant companion and instructor. Although this
dear youth had many slaves of his own, yet he and I have gone through
many sufferings together on shipboard; and we have many nights lain in
each other's bosoms when we were in great distress. Thus such a
friendship was cemented between us as we cherished till his death,
which, to my very great sorrow, happened in the year 1759, when he was
up the Archipelago, on board his majesty's ship the Preston: an event
which I have never ceased to regret, as I lost at once a kind
interpreter, an agreeable companion, and a faithful friend; who, at
the age of fifteen, discovered a mind superior to prejudice; and who
was not ashamed to notice, to associate with, and to be the friend and
instructor of one who was ignorant, a stranger, of a different
complexion, and a slave! My master had lodged in his mother's house in
America: he respected him very much, and made him always eat with him
in the cabin. He used often to tell him jocularly that he would kill
me to eat. Sometimes he would say to me--the black people were not
good to eat, and would ask me if we did not eat people in my country.
I said, No: then he said he would kill Dick (as he always called him)
first, and afterwards me. Though this hearing relieved my mind a
little as to myself, I was alarmed for Dick and whenever he was called
I used to be very much afraid he was to be killed; and I would peep
and watch to see if they were going to kill him: nor was I free from
this consternation till we made the land. One night we lost a man
overboard; and the cries and noise were so great and confused, in
stopping the ship, that I, who did not know what was the matter,
began, as usual, to be very much afraid, and to think they were going
to make an offering with me, and perform some magic; which I still
believed they dealt in. As the waves were very high I thought the
Ruler of the seas was angry, and I expected to be offered up to
appease him. This filled my mind with agony, and I could not any more
that night close my eyes again to rest. However, when daylight
appeared I was a little eased in my mind; but still every time I was
called I used to think it was to be killed. Some time after this we
saw some very large fish, which I afterwards found were called
grampusses. They looked to me extremely terrible, and made their
appearance just at dusk; and were so near as to blow the water on the
ship's deck. I believed them to be the rulers of the sea; and, as the
white people did not make any offerings at any time, I thought they
were angry with them: and, at last, what confirmed my belief was, the
wind just then died away, and a calm ensued, and in consequence of it
the ship stopped going. I supposed that the fish had performed this,
and I hid myself in the fore part of the ship, through fear of being
offered up to appease them, every minute peeping and quaking: but my
good friend Dick came shortly towards me, and I took an opportunity to
ask him, as well as I could, what these fish were. Not being able to
talk much English, I could but just make him understand my question;
and not at all, when I asked him if any offerings were to be made to
them: however, he told me these fish would swallow any body; which
sufficiently alarmed me. Here he was called away by the captain, who
was leaning over the quarter-deck railing and looking at the fish; and
most of the people were busied in getting a barrel of pitch to light,
for them to play with. The captain now called me to him, having
learned some of my apprehensions from Dick; and having diverted
himself and others for some time with my fears, which appeared
ludicrous enough in my crying and trembling, he dismissed me. The
barrel of pitch was now lighted and put over the side into the water:
by this time it was just dark, and the fish went after it; and, to my
great joy, I saw them no more.

However, all my alarms began to subside when we got sight of land; and
at last the ship arrived at Falmouth, after a passage of thirteen
weeks. Every heart on board seemed gladdened on our reaching the
shore, and none more than mine. The captain immediately went on shore,
and sent on board some fresh provisions, which we wanted very much:
we made good use of them, and our famine was soon turned into
feasting, almost without ending. It was about the beginning of the
spring 1757 when I arrived in England, and I was near twelve years of
age at that time. I was very much struck with the buildings and the
pavement of the streets in Falmouth; and, indeed, any object I saw
filled me with new surprise. One morning, when I got upon deck, I saw
it covered all over with the snow that fell over-night: as I had never
seen any thing of the kind before, I thought it was salt; so I
immediately ran down to the mate and desired him, as well as I could,
to come and see how somebody in the night had thrown salt all over the
deck. He, knowing what it was, desired me to bring some of it down to
him: accordingly I took up a handful of it, which I found very cold
indeed; and when I brought it to him he desired me to taste it. I did
so, and I was surprised beyond measure. I then asked him what it was;
he told me it was snow: but I could not in anywise understand him. He
asked me if we had no such thing in my country; and I told him, No. I
then asked him the use of it, and who made it; he told me a great man
in the heavens, called God: but here again I was to all intents and
purposes at a loss to understand him; and the more so, when a little
after I saw the air filled with it, in a heavy shower, which fell down
on the same day. After this I went to church; and having never been at
such a place before, I was again amazed at seeing and hearing the
service. I asked all I could about it; and they gave me to understand
it was worshipping God, who made us and all things. I was still at a
great loss, and soon got into an endless field of inquiries, as well
as I was able to speak and ask about things. However, my little friend
Dick used to be my best interpreter; for I could make free with him,
and he always instructed me with pleasure: and from what I could
understand by him of this God, and in seeing these white people did
not sell one another, as we did, I was much pleased; and in this I
thought they were much happier than we Africans. I was astonished at
the wisdom of the white people in all things I saw; but was amazed at
their not sacrificing, or making any offerings, and eating with
unwashed hands, and touching the dead. I likewise could not help
remarking the particular slenderness of their women, which I did not
at first like; and I thought they were not so modest and shamefaced as
the African women.

I had often seen my master and Dick employed in reading; and I had a
great curiosity to talk to the books, as I thought they did; and so to
learn how all things had a beginning: for that purpose I have often
taken up a book, and have talked to it, and then put my ears to it,
when alone, in hopes it would answer me; and I have been very much
concerned when I found it remained silent.

My master lodged at the house of a gentleman in Falmouth, who had a
fine little daughter about six or seven years of age, and she grew
prodigiously fond of me; insomuch that we used to eat together, and
had servants to wait on us. I was so much caressed by this family that
it often reminded me of the treatment I had received from my little
noble African master. After I had been here a few days, I was sent on
board of the ship; but the child cried so much after me that nothing
could pacify her till I was sent for again. It is ludicrous enough,
that I began to fear I should be betrothed to this young lady; and
when my master asked me if I would stay there with her behind him, as
he was going away with the ship, which had taken in the tobacco again,
I cried immediately, and said I would not leave her. At last, by
stealth, one night I was sent on board the ship again; and in a little
time we sailed for Guernsey, where she was in part owned by a
merchant, one Nicholas Doberry. As I was now amongst a people who had
not their faces scarred, like some of the African nations where I had
been, I was very glad I did not let them ornament me in that manner
when I was with them. When we arrived at Guernsey, my master placed me
to board and lodge with one of his mates, who had a wife and family
there; and some months afterwards he went to England, and left me in
care of this mate, together with my friend Dick: This mate had a
little daughter, aged about five or six years, with whom I used to be
much delighted. I had often observed that when her mother washed her
face it looked very rosy; but when she washed mine it did not look so:
I therefore tried oftentimes myself if I could not by washing make my
face of the same colour as my little play-mate (Mary), but it was all
in vain; and I now began to be mortified at the difference in our
complexions. This woman behaved to me with great kindness and
attention; and taught me every thing in the same manner as she did her
own child, and indeed in every respect treated me as such. I remained
here till the summer of the year 1757; when my master, being appointed
first lieutenant of his majesty's ship the Roebuck, sent for Dick and
me, and his old mate: on this we all left Guernsey, and set out for
England in a sloop bound for London. As we were coming up towards the
Nore, where the Roebuck lay, a man of war's boat came alongside to
press our people; on which each man ran to hide himself. I was very
much frightened at this, though I did not know what it meant, or what
to think or do. However I went and hid myself also under a hencoop.
Immediately afterwards the press-gang came on board with their swords
drawn, and searched all about, pulled the people out by force, and put
them into the boat. At last I was found out also: the man that found
me held me up by the heels while they all made their sport of me, I
roaring and crying out all the time most lustily: but at last the
mate, who was my conductor, seeing this, came to my assistance, and
did all he could to pacify me; but all to very little purpose, till I
had seen the boat go off. Soon afterwards we came to the Nore, where
the Roebuck lay; and, to our great joy, my master came on board to us,
and brought us to the ship. When I went on board this large ship, I
was amazed indeed to see the quantity of men and the guns. However my
surprise began to diminish as my knowledge increased; and I ceased to
feel those apprehensions and alarms which had taken such strong
possession of me when I first came among the Europeans, and for some
time after. I began now to pass to an opposite extreme; I was so far
from being afraid of any thing new which I saw, that, after I had been
some time in this ship, I even began to long for a battle. My griefs
too, which in young minds are not perpetual, were now wearing away;
and I soon enjoyed myself pretty well, and felt tolerably easy in my
present situation. There was a number of boys on board, which still
made it more agreeable; for we were always together, and a great part
of our time was spent in play. I remained in this ship a considerable
time, during which we made several cruises, and visited a variety of
places: among others we were twice in Holland, and brought over
several persons of distinction from it, whose names I do not now
remember. On the passage, one day, for the diversion of those
gentlemen, all the boys were called on the quarter-deck, and were
paired proportionably, and then made to fight; after which the
gentleman gave the combatants from five to nine shillings each. This
was the first time I ever fought with a white boy; and I never knew
what it was to have a bloody nose before. This made me fight most
desperately; I suppose considerably more than an hour: and at last,
both of us being weary, we were parted. I had a great deal of this
kind of sport afterwards, in which the captain and the ship's company
used very much to encourage me. Sometime afterwards the ship went to
Leith in Scotland, and from thence to the Orkneys, where I was
surprised in seeing scarcely any night: and from thence we sailed with
a great fleet, full of soldiers, for England. All this time we had
never come to an engagement, though we were frequently cruising off
the coast of France: during which we chased many vessels, and took in
all seventeen prizes. I had been learning many of the manoeuvres of
the ship during our cruise; and I was several times made to fire the
guns. One evening, off Havre de Grace, just as it was growing dark, we
were standing off shore, and met with a fine large French-built
frigate. We got all things immediately ready for fighting; and I now
expected I should be gratified in seeing an engagement, which I had so
long wished for in vain. But the very moment the word of command was
given to fire we heard those on board the other ship cry 'Haul down
the jib;' and in that instant she hoisted English colours. There was
instantly with us an amazing cry of--Avast! or stop firing; and I
think one or two guns had been let off, but happily they did no
mischief. We had hailed them several times; but they not hearing, we
received no answer, which was the cause of our firing. The boat was
then sent on board of her, and she proved to be the Ambuscade man of
war, to my no small disappointment. We returned to Portsmouth, without
having been in any action, just at the trial of Admiral Byng (whom I
saw several times during it): and my master having left the ship, and
gone to London for promotion, Dick and I were put on board the Savage
sloop of war, and we went in her to assist in bringing off the St.
George man of war, that had ran ashore somewhere on the coast. After
staying a few weeks on board the Savage, Dick and I were sent on shore
at Deal, where we remained some short time, till my master sent for us
to London, the place I had long desired exceedingly to see. We
therefore both with great pleasure got into a waggon, and came to
London, where we were received by a Mr. Guerin, a relation of my
master. This gentleman had two sisters, very amiable ladies, who took
much notice and great care of me. Though I had desired so much to see
London, when I arrived in it I was unfortunately unable to gratify my
curiosity; for I had at this time the chilblains to such a degree that
I could not stand for several months, and I was obliged to be sent to
St. George's Hospital. There I grew so ill, that the doctors wanted to
cut my left leg off at different times, apprehending a mortification;
but I always said I would rather die than suffer it; and happily (I
thank God) I recovered without the operation. After being there
several weeks, and just as I had recovered, the small-pox broke out on
me, so that I was again confined; and I thought myself now
particularly unfortunate. However I soon recovered again; and by this
time my master having been promoted to be first lieutenant of the
Preston man of war of fifty guns, then new at Deptford, Dick and I
were sent on board her, and soon after we went to Holland to bring
over the late Duke of ---- to England.--While I was in this ship an
incident happened, which, though trifling, I beg leave to relate, as I
could not help taking particular notice of it, and considering it then
as a judgment of God. One morning a young man was looking up to the
fore-top, and in a wicked tone, common on shipboard, d----d his eyes
about something. Just at the moment some small particles of dirt fell
into his left eye, and by the evening it was very much inflamed. The
next day it grew worse; and within six or seven days he lost it. From
this ship my master was appointed a lieutenant on board the Royal
George. When he was going he wished me to stay on board the Preston,
to learn the French horn; but the ship being ordered for Turkey I
could not think of leaving my master, to whom I was very warmly
attached; and I told him if he left me behind it would break my heart.
This prevailed on him to take me with him; but he left Dick on board
the Preston, whom I embraced at parting for the last time. The Royal
George was the largest ship I had ever seen; so that when I came on
board of her I was surprised at the number of people, men, women, and
children, of every denomination; and the largeness of the guns, many
of them also of brass, which I had never seen before. Here were also
shops or stalls of every kind of goods, and people crying their
different commodities about the ship as in a town. To me it appeared a
little world, into which I was again cast without a friend, for I had
no longer my dear companion Dick. We did not stay long here. My master
was not many weeks on board before he got an appointment to be sixth
lieutenant of the Namur, which was then at Spithead, fitting up for
Vice-admiral Boscawen, who was going with a large fleet on an
expedition against Louisburgh. The crew of the Royal George were
turned over to her, and the flag of that gallant admiral was hoisted
on board, the blue at the maintop-gallant mast head. There was a very
great fleet of men of war of every description assembled together for
this expedition, and I was in hopes soon to have an opportunity of
being gratified with a sea-fight. All things being now in readiness,
this mighty fleet (for there was also Admiral Cornish's fleet in
company, destined for the East Indies) at last weighed anchor, and
sailed. The two fleets continued in company for several days, and then
parted; Admiral Cornish, in the Lenox, having first saluted our
admiral in the Namur, which he returned. We then steered for America;
but, by contrary winds, we were driven to Teneriffe, where I was
struck with its noted peak. Its prodigious height, and its form,
resembling a sugar-loaf, filled me with wonder. We remained in sight
of this island some days, and then proceeded for America, which we
soon made, and got into a very commodious harbour called St. George,
in Halifax, where we had fish in great plenty, and all other fresh
provisions. We were here joined by different men of war and transport
ships with soldiers; after which, our fleet being increased to a
prodigious number of ships of all kinds, we sailed for Cape Breton in
Nova Scotia. We had the good and gallant General Wolfe on board our
ship, whose affability made him highly esteemed and beloved by all the
men. He often honoured me, as well as other boys, with marks of his
notice; and saved me once a flogging for fighting with a young
gentleman. We arrived at Cape Breton in the summer of 1758: and here
the soldiers were to be landed, in order to make an attack upon
Louisbourgh. My master had some part in superintending the landing;
and here I was in a small measure gratified in seeing an encounter
between our men and the enemy. The French were posted on the shore to
receive us, and disputed our landing for a long time; but at last they
were driven from their trenches, and a complete landing was effected.
Our troops pursued them as far as the town of Louisbourgh. In this
action many were killed on both sides. One thing remarkable I saw this
day:--A lieutenant of the Princess Amelia, who, as well as my master,
superintended the landing, was giving the word of command, and while
his mouth was open a musquet ball went through it, and passed out at
his cheek. I had that day in my hand the scalp of an indian king, who
was killed in the engagement: the scalp had been taken off by an
Highlander. I saw this king's ornaments too, which were very curious,
and made of feathers.

Our land forces laid siege to the town of Louisbourgh, while the
French men of war were blocked up in the harbour by the fleet, the
batteries at the same time playing upon them from the land. This they
did with such effect, that one day I saw some of the ships set on fire
by the shells from the batteries, and I believe two or three of them
were quite burnt. At another time, about fifty boats belonging to the
English men of war, commanded by Captain George Balfour of the Ætna
fire-ship, and another junior captain, Laforey, attacked and boarded
the only two remaining French men of war in the harbour. They also set
fire to a seventy-gun ship, but a sixty-four, called the Bienfaisant,
they brought off. During my stay here I had often an opportunity of
being near Captain Balfour, who was pleased to notice me, and liked me
so much that he often asked my master to let him have me, but he would
not part with me; and no consideration could have induced me to leave
him. At last Louisbourgh was taken, and the English men of war came
into the harbour before it, to my very great joy; for I had now more
liberty of indulging myself, and I went often on shore. When the ships
were in the harbour we had the most beautiful procession on the water
I ever saw. All the admirals and captains of the men of war, full
dressed, and in their barges, well ornamented with pendants, came
alongside of the Namur. The vice-admiral then went on shore in his
barge, followed by the other officers in order of seniority, to take
possession, as I suppose, of the town and fort. Some time after this
the French governor and his lady, and other persons of note, came on
board our ship to dine. On this occasion our ships were dressed with
colours of all kinds, from the topgallant-mast head to the deck; and
this, with the firing of guns, formed a most grand and magnificent
spectacle.

As soon as every thing here was settled Admiral Boscawen sailed with
part of the fleet for England, leaving some ships behind with
Rear-admirals Sir Charles Hardy and Durell. It was now winter; and one
evening, during our passage home, about dusk, when we were in the
channel, or near soundings, and were beginning to look for land, we
descried seven sail of large men of war, which stood off shore.
Several people on board of our ship said, as the two fleets were (in
forty minutes from the first sight) within hail of each other, that
they were English men of war; and some of our people even began to
name some of the ships. By this time both fleets began to mingle, and
our admiral ordered his flag to be hoisted. At that instant the other
fleet, which were French, hoisted their ensigns, and gave us a
broadside as they passed by. Nothing could create greater surprise and
confusion among us than this: the wind was high, the sea rough, and we
had our lower and middle deck guns housed in, so that not a single gun
on board was ready to be fired at any of the French ships. However,
the Royal William and the Somerset being our sternmost ships, became a
little prepared, and each gave the French ships a broadside as they
passed by. I afterwards heard this was a French squadron, commanded by
Mons. Conflans; and certainly had the Frenchmen known our condition,
and had a mind to fight us, they might have done us great mischief.
But we were not long before we were prepared for an engagement.
Immediately many things were tossed overboard; the ships were made
ready for fighting as soon as possible; and about ten at night we had
bent a new main sail, the old one being split. Being now in readiness
for fighting, we wore ship, and stood after the French fleet, who
were one or two ships in number more than we. However we gave them
chase, and continued pursuing them all night; and at daylight we saw
six of them, all large ships of the line, and an English East
Indiaman, a prize they had taken. We chased them all day till between
three and four o'clock in the evening, when we came up with, and
passed within a musquet shot of, one seventy-four gun ship, and the
Indiaman also, who now hoisted her colours, but immediately hauled
them down again. On this we made a signal for the other ships to take
possession of her; and, supposing the man of war would likewise
strike, we cheered, but she did not; though if we had fired into her,
from being so near, we must have taken her. To my utter surprise the
Somerset, who was the next ship astern of the Namur, made way
likewise; and, thinking they were sure of this French ship, they
cheered in the same manner, but still continued to follow us. The
French Commodore was about a gun-shot ahead of all, running from us
with all speed; and about four o'clock he carried his foretopmast
overboard. This caused another loud cheer with us; and a little after
the topmast came close by us; but, to our great surprise, instead of
coming up with her, we found she went as fast as ever, if not faster.
The sea grew now much smoother; and the wind lulling, the seventy-four
gun ship we had passed came again by us in the very same direction,
and so near, that we heard her people talk as she went by; yet not a
shot was fired on either side; and about five or six o'clock, just as
it grew dark, she joined her commodore. We chased all night; but the
next day they were out of sight, so that we saw no more of them; and
we only had the old Indiaman (called Carnarvon I think) for our
trouble. After this we stood in for the channel, and soon made the
land; and, about the close of the year 1758-9, we got safe to St.
Helen's. Here the Namur ran aground; and also another large ship
astern of us; but, by starting our water, and tossing many things
overboard to lighten her, we got the ships off without any damage. We
stayed for a short time at Spithead, and then went into Portsmouth
harbour to refit; from whence the admiral went to London; and my
master and I soon followed, with a press-gang, as we wanted some hands
to complete our complement.

CHAP. IV.

_The author is baptized--Narrowly escapes drowning--Goes on
an expedition to the Mediterranean--Incidents he met with
there--Is witness to an engagement between some English and
French ships--A particular account of the celebrated
engagement between Admiral Boscawen and Mons. Le Clue, off
Cape Logas, in August 1759--Dreadful explosion of a French
ship--The author sails for England--His master appointed to
the command of a fire-ship--Meets a negro boy, from whom he
experiences much benevolence--Prepares for an expedition
against Belle-Isle--A remarkable story of a disaster which
befel his ship--Arrives at Belle-Isle--Operations of the
landing and siege--The author's danger and distress, with
his manner of extricating himself--- Surrender of
Belle-Isle--Transactions afterwards on the coast of
France--Remarkable instance of kidnapping--The author
returns to England--Hears a talk of peace, and expects his
freedom--His ship sails for Deptford to be paid off, and
when he arrives there he is suddenly seized by his master
and carried forcibly on board a West India ship and sold._

It was now between two and three years since I first came to England,
a great part of which I had spent at sea; so that I became inured to
that service, and began to consider myself as happily situated; for my
master treated me always extremely well; and my attachment and
gratitude to him were very great. From the various scenes I had beheld
on shipboard, I soon grew a stranger to terror of every kind, and was,
in that respect at least, almost an Englishman. I have often reflected
with surprise that I never felt half the alarm at any of the numerous
dangers I have been in, that I was filled with at the first sight of
the Europeans, and at every act of theirs, even the most trifling,
when I first came among them, and for some time afterwards. That fear,
however, which was the effect of my ignorance, wore away as I began to
know them. I could now speak English tolerably well, and I perfectly
understood every thing that was said. I now not only felt myself
quite easy with these new countrymen, but relished their society and
manners. I no longer looked upon them as spirits, but as men superior
to us; and therefore I had the stronger desire to resemble them; to
imbibe their spirit, and imitate their manners; I therefore embraced
every occasion of improvement; and every new thing that I observed I
treasured up in my memory. I had long wished to be able to read and
write; and for this purpose I took every opportunity to gain
instruction, but had made as yet very little progress. However, when I
went to London with my master, I had soon an opportunity of improving
myself, which I gladly embraced. Shortly after my arrival, he sent me
to wait upon the Miss Guerins, who had treated me with much kindness
when I was there before; and they sent me to school.

While I was attending these ladies their servants told me I could not
go to Heaven unless I was baptized. This made me very uneasy; for I
had now some faint idea of a future state: accordingly I communicated
my anxiety to the eldest Miss Guerin, with whom I was become a
favourite, and pressed her to have me baptized; when to my great joy
she told me I should. She had formerly asked my master to let me be
baptized, but he had refused; however she now insisted on it; and he
being under some obligation to her brother complied with her request;
so I was baptized in St. Margaret's church, Westminster, in February
1759, by my present name. The clergyman, at the same time, gave me a
book, called a Guide to the Indians, written by the Bishop of Sodor
and Man. On this occasion Miss Guerin did me the honour to stand as
godmother, and afterwards gave me a treat. I used to attend these
ladies about the town, in which service I was extremely happy; as I
had thus many opportunities of seeing London, which I desired of all
things. I was sometimes, however, with my master at his
rendezvous-house, which was at the foot of Westminster-bridge. Here I
used to enjoy myself in playing about the bridge stairs, and often in
the watermen's wherries, with other boys. On one of these occasions
there was another boy with me in a wherry, and we went out into the
current of the river: while we were there two more stout boys came to
us in another wherry, and, abusing us for taking the boat, desired me
to get into the other wherry-boat. Accordingly I went to get out of
the wherry I was in; but just as I had got one of my feet into the
other boat the boys shoved it off, so that I fell into the Thames;
and, not being able to swim, I should unavoidably have been drowned,
but for the assistance of some watermen who providentially came to my
relief.

The Namur being again got ready for sea, my master, with his gang, was
ordered on board; and, to my no small grief, I was obliged to leave my
school-master, whom I liked very much, and always attended while I
stayed in London, to repair on board with my master. Nor did I leave
my kind patronesses, the Miss Guerins, without uneasiness and regret.
They often used to teach me to read, and took great pains to instruct
me in the principles of religion and the knowledge of God. I therefore
parted from those amiable ladies with reluctance; after receiving from
them many friendly cautions how to conduct myself, and some valuable
presents.

When I came to Spithead, I found we were destined for the
Mediterranean, with a large fleet, which was now ready to put to sea.
We only waited for the arrival of the admiral, who soon came on board;
and about the beginning of the spring 1759, having weighed anchor, and
got under way, Sailed for the Mediterranean; and in eleven days, from
the Land's End, we got to Gibraltar. While we were here I used to be
often on shore, and got various fruits in great plenty, and very
cheap.

I had frequently told several people, in my excursions on shore, the
story of my being kidnapped with my sister, and of our being
separated, as I have related before; and I had as often expressed my
anxiety for her fate, and my sorrow at having never met her again. One
day, when I was on shore, and mentioning these circumstances to some
persons, one of them told me he knew where my sister was, and, if I
would accompany him, he would bring me to her. Improbable as this
story was I believed it immediately, and agreed to go with him, while
my heart leaped for joy: and, indeed, he conducted me to a black young
woman, who was so like my sister, that, at first sight, I really
thought it was her: but I was quickly undeceived; and, on talking to
her, I found her to be of another nation.

While we lay here the Preston came in from the Levant. As soon as she
arrived, my master told me I should now see my old companion, Dick,
who had gone in her when she sailed for Turkey. I was much rejoiced at
this news, and expected every minute to embrace him; and when the
captain came on board of our ship, which he did immediately after, I
ran to inquire after my friend; but, with inexpressible sorrow, I
learned from the boat's crew that the dear youth was dead! and that
they had brought his chest, and all his other things, to my master:
these he afterwards gave to me, and I regarded them as a memorial of
my friend, whom I loved, and grieved for, as a brother.

While we were at Gibraltar, I saw a soldier hanging by his heels, at
one of the moles[L]: I thought this a strange sight, as I had seen a
man hanged in London by his neck. At another time I saw the master of
a frigate towed to shore on a grating, by several of the men of war's
boats, and discharged the fleet, which I understood was a mark of
disgrace for cowardice. On board the same ship there was also a sailor
hung up at the yard-arm.

After lying at Gibraltar for some time, we sailed up the Mediterranean
a considerable way above the Gulf of Lyons; where we were one night
overtaken with a terrible gale of wind, much greater than any I had
ever yet experienced. The sea ran so high that, though all the guns
were well housed, there was great reason to fear their getting loose,
the ship rolled so much; and if they had it must have proved our
destruction. After we had cruised here for a short time, we came to
Barcelona, a Spanish sea-port, remarkable for its silk manufactures.
Here the ships were all to be watered; and my master, who spoke
different languages, and used often to interpret for the admiral,
superintended the watering of ours. For that purpose he and the
officers of the other ships, who were on the same service, had tents
pitched in the bay; and the Spanish soldiers were stationed along the
shore, I suppose to see that no depredations were committed by our
men.

I used constantly to attend my master; and I was charmed with this
place. All the time we stayed it was like a fair with the natives, who
brought us fruits of all kinds, and sold them to us much cheaper than
I got them in England. They used also to bring wine down to us in hog
and sheep skins, which diverted me very much. The Spanish officers
here treated our officers with great politeness and attention; and
some of them, in particular, used to come often to my master's tent to
visit him; where they would sometimes divert themselves by mounting me
on the horses or mules, so that I could not fall, and setting them off
at full gallop; my imperfect skill in horsemanship all the while
affording them no small entertainment. After the ships were watered,
we returned to our old station of cruizing off Toulon, for the purpose
of intercepting a fleet of French men of war that lay there. One
Sunday, in our cruise, we came off a place where there were two small
French frigates lying in shore; and our admiral, thinking to take or
destroy them, sent two ships in after them--the Culloden and the
Conqueror. They soon came up to the Frenchmen; and I saw a smart fight
here, both by sea and land: for the frigates were covered by
batteries, and they played upon our ships most furiously, which they
as furiously returned, and for a long time a constant firing was kept
up on all sides at an amazing rate. At last one frigate sunk; but the
people escaped, though not without much difficulty: and a little after
some of the people left the other frigate also, which was a mere
wreck. However, our ships did not venture to bring her away, they were
so much annoyed from the batteries, which raked them both in going and
coming: their topmasts were shot away, and they were otherwise so much
shattered, that the admiral was obliged to send in many boats to tow
them back to the fleet. I afterwards sailed with a man who fought in
one of the French batteries during the engagement, and he told me our
ships had done considerable mischief that day on shore and in the
batteries.

After this we sailed for Gibraltar, and arrived there about August
1759. Here we remained with all our sails unbent, while the fleet was
watering and doing other necessary things. While we were in this
situation, one day the admiral, with most of the principal officers,
and many people of all stations, being on shore, about seven o'clock
in the evening we were alarmed by signals from the frigates stationed
for that purpose; and in an instant there was a general cry that the
French fleet was out, and just passing through the streights. The
admiral immediately came on board with some other officers; and it is
impossible to describe the noise, hurry and confusion throughout the
whole fleet, in bending their sails and slipping their cables; many
people and ships' boats were left on shore in the bustle. We had two
captains on board of our ship who came away in the hurry and left
their ships to follow. We shewed lights from the gun-whale to the main
topmast-head; and all our lieutenants were employed amongst the fleet
to tell the ships not to wait for their captains, but to put the sails
to the yards, slip their cables and follow us; and in this confusion
of making ready for fighting we set out for sea in the dark after the
French fleet. Here I could have exclaimed with Ajax,

"Oh Jove! O father! if it be thy will
That we must perish, we thy will obey,
But let us perish by the light of day."

They had got the start of us so far that we were not able to come up
with them during the night; but at daylight we saw seven sail of the
line of battle some miles ahead. We immediately chased them till about
four o'clock in the evening, when our ships came up with them; and,
though we were about fifteen large ships, our gallant admiral only
fought them with his own division, which consisted of seven; so that
we were just ship for ship. We passed by the whole of the enemy's
fleet in order to come at their commander, Mons. La Clue, who was in
the Ocean, an eighty-four gun ship: as we passed they all fired on us;
and at one time three of them fired together, continuing to do so for
some time. Notwithstanding which our admiral would not suffer a gun to
be fired at any of them, to my astonishment; but made us lie on our
bellies on the deck till we came quite close to the Ocean, who was
ahead of them all; when we had orders to pour the whole three tiers
into her at once.

The engagement now commenced with great fury on both sides: the Ocean
immediately returned our fire, and we continued engaged with each
other for some time; during which I was frequently stunned with the
thundering of the great guns, whose dreadful contents hurried many of
my companions into awful eternity. At last the French line was
entirely broken, and we obtained the victory, which was immediately
proclaimed with loud huzzas and acclamations. We took three prizes, La
Modeste, of sixty-four guns, and Le Temeraire and Centaur, of
seventy-four guns each. The rest of the French ships took to flight
with all the sail they could crowd. Our ship being very much damaged,
and quite disabled from pursuing the enemy, the admiral immediately
quitted her, and went in the broken and only boat we had left on board
the Newark, with which, and some other ships, he went after the
French. The Ocean, and another large French ship, called the
Redoubtable, endeavouring to escape, ran ashore at Cape Logas, on the
coast of Portugal; and the French admiral and some of the crew got
ashore; but we, finding it impossible to get the ships off, set fire
to them both. About midnight I saw the Ocean blow up, with a most
dreadful explosion. I never beheld a more awful scene. In less than a
minute the midnight for a certain space seemed turned into day by the
blaze, which was attended with a noise louder and more terrible than
thunder, that seemed to rend every element around us.

My station during the engagement was on the middle-deck, where I was
quartered with another boy, to bring powder to the aftermost gun; and
here I was a witness of the dreadful fate of many of my companions,
who, in the twinkling of an eye, were dashed in pieces, and launched
into eternity. Happily I escaped unhurt, though the shot and splinters
flew thick about me during the whole fight. Towards the latter part of
it my master was wounded, and I saw him carried down to the surgeon;
but though I was much alarmed for him and wished to assist him I dared
not leave my post. At this station my gun-mate (a partner in bringing
powder for the same gun) and I ran a very great risk for more than
half an hour of blowing up the ship. For, when we had taken the
cartridges out of the boxes, the bottoms of many of them proving
rotten, the powder ran all about the deck, near the match tub: we
scarcely had water enough at the last to throw on it. We were also,
from our employment, very much exposed to the enemy's shots; for we
had to go through nearly the whole length of the ship to bring the
powder. I expected therefore every minute to be my last; especially
when I saw our men fall so thick about me; but, wishing to guard as
much against the dangers as possible, at first I thought it would be
safest not to go for the powder till the Frenchmen had fired their
broadside; and then, while they were charging, I could go and come
with my powder: but immediately afterwards I thought this caution was
fruitless; and, cheering myself with the reflection that there was a
time allotted for me to die as well as to be born, I instantly cast
off all fear or thought whatever of death, and went through the whole
of my duty with alacrity; pleasing myself with the hope, if I survived
the battle, of relating it and the dangers I had escaped to the dear
Miss Guerin, and others, when I should return to London.

Our ship suffered very much in this engagement; for, besides the
number of our killed and wounded, she was almost torn to pieces, and
our rigging so much shattered, that our mizen-mast and main-yard, &c.
hung over the side of the ship; so that we were obliged to get many
carpenters, and others from some of the ships of the fleet, to assist
in setting us in some tolerable order; and, notwithstanding, it took
us some time before we were completely refitted; after which we left
Admiral Broderick to command, and we, with the prizes, steered for
England. On the passage, and as soon as my master was something
recovered of his wounds, the admiral appointed him captain of the Ætna
fire-ship, on which he and I left the Namur, and went on board of her
at sea. I liked this little ship very much. I now became the captain's
steward, in which situation I was very happy: for I was extremely well
treated by all on board; and I had leisure to improve myself in
reading and writing. The latter I had learned a little of before I
left the Namur, as there was a school on board. When we arrived at
Spithead the Ætna went into Portsmouth harbour to refit, which being
done, we returned to Spithead and joined a large fleet that was
thought to be intended against the Havannah; but about that time the
king died: whether that prevented the expedition I know not; but it
caused our ship to be stationed at Cowes, in the isle of Wight, till
the beginning of the year sixty-one. Here I spent my time very
pleasantly; I was much on shore all about this delightful island, and
found the inhabitants very civil.

While I was here, I met with a trifling incident, which surprised me
agreeably. I was one day in a field belonging to a gentleman who had
a black boy about my own size; this boy having observed me from his
master's house, was transported at the sight of one of his own
countrymen, and ran to meet me with the utmost haste. I not knowing
what he was about turned a little out of his way at first, but to no
purpose: he soon came close to me and caught hold of me in his arms as
if I had been his brother, though we had never seen each other before.
After we had talked together for some time he took me to his master's
house, where I was treated very kindly. This benevolent boy and I were
very happy in frequently seeing each other till about the month of
March 1761, when our ship had orders to fit out again for another
expedition. When we got ready, we joined a very large fleet at
Spithead, commanded by Commodore Keppel, which was destined against
Belle-Isle, and with a number of transport ships with troops on board
to make a descent on the place. We sailed once more in quest of fame.
I longed to engage in new adventures and see fresh wonders.

I had a mind on which every thing uncommon made its full impression,
and every event which I considered as marvellous. Every extraordinary
escape, or signal deliverance, either of myself or others, I looked
upon to be effected by the interposition of Providence. We had not
been above ten days at sea before an incident of this kind happened;
which, whatever credit it may obtain from the reader, made no small
impression on my mind.

We had on board a gunner, whose name was John Mondle; a man of very
indifferent morals. This man's cabin was between the decks, exactly
over where I lay, abreast of the quarter-deck ladder. One night, the
20th of April, being terrified with a dream, he awoke in so great a
fright that he could not rest in his bed any longer, nor even remain
in his cabin; and he went upon deck about four o'clock in the morning
extremely agitated. He immediately told those on the deck of the
agonies of his mind, and the dream which occasioned it; in which he
said he had seen many things very awful, and had been warned by St.
Peter to repent, who told him time was short. This he said had greatly
alarmed him, and he was determined to alter his life. People generally
mock the fears of others when they are themselves in safety; and some
of his shipmates who heard him only laughed at him. However, he made
a vow that he never would drink strong liquors again; and he
immediately got a light, and gave away his sea-stores of liquor. After
which, his agitation still continuing, he began to read the
Scriptures, hoping to find some relief; and soon afterwards he laid
himself down again on his bed, and endeavoured to compose himself to
sleep, but to no purpose; his mind still continuing in a state of
agony. By this time it was exactly half after seven in the morning: I
was then under the half-deck at the great cabin door; and all at once
I heard the people in the waist cry out, most fearfully--'The Lord
have mercy upon us! We are all lost! The Lord have mercy upon us!' Mr.
Mondle hearing the cries, immediately ran out of his cabin; and we
were instantly struck by the Lynne, a forty-gun ship, Captain Clark,
which nearly ran us down. This ship had just put about, and was by the
wind, but had not got full headway, or we must all have perished; for
the wind was brisk. However, before Mr. Mondle had got four steps from
his cabin-door, she struck our ship with her cutwater right in the
middle of his bed and cabin, and ran it up to the combings of the
quarter-deck hatchway, and above three feet below water, and in a
minute there was not a bit of wood to be seen where Mr. Mondle's cabin
stood; and he was so near being killed that some of the splinters tore
his face. As Mr. Mondle must inevitably have perished from this
accident had he not been alarmed in the very extraordinary way I have
related, I could not help regarding this as an awful interposition of
Providence for his preservation. The two ships for some time swinged
alongside of each other; for ours being a fire-ship, our
grappling-irons caught the Lynne every way, and the yards and rigging
went at an astonishing rate. Our ship was in such a shocking condition
that we all thought she would instantly go down, and every one ran for
their lives, and got as well as they could on board the Lynne; but our
lieutenant being the aggressor, he never quitted the ship. However,
when we found she did not sink immediately, the captain came on board
again, and encouraged our people to return and try to save her. Many
on this came back, but some would not venture. Some of the ships in
the fleet, seeing our situation, immediately sent their boats to our
assistance; but it took us the whole day to save the ship with all
their help. And by using every possible means, particularly frapping
her together with many hawsers, and putting a great quantity of tallow
below water where she was damaged, she was kept together: but it was
well we did not meet with any gales of wind, or we must have gone to
pieces; for we were in such a crazy condition that we had ships to
attend us till we arrived at Belle-Isle, the place of our destination;
and then we had all things taken out of the ship, and she was properly
repaired. This escape of Mr. Mondle, which he, as well as myself,
always considered as a singular act of Providence, I believe had a
great influence on his life and conduct ever afterwards.

Now that I am on this subject I beg leave to relate another instance
or two which strongly raised my belief of the particular interposition
of Heaven, and which might not otherwise have found a place here, from
their insignificance. I belonged for a few days in the year 1758 to
the Jason, of fifty-four guns, at Plymouth; and one night, when I was
on board, a woman, with a child at her breast, fell from the
upper-deck down into the hold, near the keel. Every one thought that
the mother and child must be both dashed to pieces; but, to our great
surprise, neither of them was hurt. I myself one day fell headlong
from the upper-deck of the Ætna down the after-hold, when the ballast
was out; and all who saw me fall cried out I was killed: but I
received not the least injury. And in the same ship a man fell from
the mast-head on the deck without being hurt. In these, and in many
more instances, I thought I could plainly trace the hand of God,
without whose permission a sparrow cannot fall. I began to raise my
fear from man to him alone, and to call daily on his holy name with
fear and reverence: and I trust he heard my supplications, and
graciously condescended to answer me according to his holy word, and
to implant the seeds of piety in me, even one of the meanest of his
creatures.

When we had refitted our ship, and all things were in readiness for
attacking the place, the troops on board the transports were ordered
to disembark; and my master, as a junior captain, had a share in the
command of the landing. This was on the 8th of April. The French were
drawn up on the shore, and had made every disposition to oppose the
landing of our men, only a small part of them this day being able to
effect it; most of them, after fighting with great bravery, were cut
off; and General Crawford, with a number of others, were taken
prisoners. In this day's engagement we had also our lieutenant killed.

On the 21st of April we renewed our efforts to land the men, while all
the men of war were stationed along the shore to cover it, and fired
at the French batteries and breastworks from early in the morning till
about four o'clock in the evening, when our soldiers effected a safe
landing. They immediately attacked the French; and, after a sharp
encounter, forced them from the batteries. Before the enemy retreated
they blew up several of them, lest they should fall into our hands.
Our men now proceeded to besiege the citadel, and my master was
ordered on shore to superintend the landing of all the materials
necessary for carrying on the siege; in which service I mostly
attended him. While I was there I went about to different parts of the
island; and one day, particularly, my curiosity almost cost me my
life. I wanted very much to see the mode of charging the mortars and
letting off the shells, and for that purpose I went to an English
battery that was but a very few yards from the walls of the citadel.
There, indeed, I had an opportunity of completely gratifying myself in
seeing the whole operation, and that not without running a very great
risk, both from the English shells that burst while I was there, but
likewise from those of the French. One of the largest of their shells
bursted within nine or ten yards of me: there was a single rock close
by, about the size of a butt; and I got instant shelter under it in
time to avoid the fury of the shell. Where it burst the earth was torn
in such a manner that two or three butts might easily have gone into
the hole it made, and it threw great quantities of stones and dirt to
a considerable distance. Three shot were also fired at me and another
boy who was along with me, one of them in particular seemed

"Wing'd with red lightning and impetuous rage;"

for with a most dreadful sound it hissed close by me, and struck a
rock at a little distance, which it shattered to pieces. When I saw
what perilous circumstances I was in, I attempted to return the
nearest way I could find, and thereby I got between the English and
the French centinels. An English serjeant, who commanded the outposts,
seeing me, and surprised how I came there, (which was by stealth along
the seashore), reprimanded me very severely for it, and instantly took
the centinel off his post into custody, for his negligence in
suffering me to pass the lines. While I was in this situation I
observed at a little distance a French horse, belonging to some
islanders, which I thought I would now mount, for the greater
expedition of getting off. Accordingly I took some cord which I had
about me, and making a kind of bridle of it, I put it round the
horse's head, and the tame beast very quietly suffered me to tie him
thus and mount him. As soon as I was on the horse's back I began to
kick and beat him, and try every means to make him go quick, but all
to very little purpose: I could not drive him out of a slow pace.
While I was creeping along, still within reach of the enemy's shot, I
met with a servant well mounted on an English horse. I immediately
stopped; and, crying, told him my case; and begged of him to help me,
and this he effectually did; for, having a fine large whip, he began
to lash my horse with it so severely, that he set off full speed with
me towards the sea, while I was quite unable to hold or manage him. In
this manner I went along till I came to a craggy precipice. I now
could not stop my horse; and my mind was filled with apprehensions of
my deplorable fate should he go down the precipice, which he appeared
fully disposed to do: I therefore thought I had better throw myself
off him at once, which I did immediately with a great deal of
dexterity, and fortunately escaped unhurt. As soon as I found myself
at liberty I made the best of my way for the ship, determined I would
not be so fool-hardy again in a hurry.

We continued to besiege the citadel till June, when it surrendered.
During the siege I have counted above sixty shells and carcases in the
air at once. When this place was taken I went through the citadel, and
in the bomb-proofs under it, which were cut in the solid rock; and I
thought it a surprising place, both for strength and building:
notwithstanding which our shots and shells had made amazing
devastation, and ruinous heaps all around it.

After the taking of this island our ships, with some others commanded
by Commodore Stanhope in the Swiftsure, went to Basse-road, where we
blocked up a French fleet. Our ships were there from June till
February following; and in that time I saw a great many scenes of war,
and stratagems on both sides to destroy each others fleet. Sometimes
we would attack the French with some ships of the line; at other times
with boats; and frequently we made prizes. Once or twice the French
attacked us by throwing shells with their bomb-vessels: and one day as
a French vessel was throwing shells at our ships she broke from her
springs, behind the isle of I de Re: the tide being complicated, she
came within a gun shot of the Nassau; but the Nassau could not bring a
gun to bear upon her, and thereby the Frenchman got off. We were twice
attacked by their fire-floats, which they chained together, and then
let them float down with the tide; but each time we sent boats with
graplings, and towed them safe out of the fleet.

We had different commanders while we were at this place, Commodores
Stanhope, Dennis, Lord Howe, &c. From hence, before the Spanish war
began, our ship and the Wasp sloop were sent to St. Sebastian in
Spain, by Commodore Stanhope; and Commodore Dennis afterwards sent our
ship as a cartel to Bayonne in France[M], after which[N] we went in
February in 1762 to Belle-Isle, and there stayed till the summer, when
we left it, and returned to Portsmouth.

After our ship was fitted out again for service, in September she went
to Guernsey, where I was very glad to see my old hostess, who was now
a widow, and my former little charming companion, her daughter. I
spent some time here very happily with them, till October, when we had
orders to repair to Portsmouth. We parted from each other with a great
deal of affection; and I promised to return soon, and see them again,
not knowing what all-powerful fate had determined for me. Our ship
having arrived at Portsmouth, we went into the harbour, and remained
there till the latter end of November, when we heard great talk about
peace; and, to our very great joy, in the beginning of December we had
orders to go up to London with our ship to be paid off. We received
this news with loud huzzas, and every other demonstration of gladness;
and nothing but mirth was to be seen throughout every part of the
ship. I too was not without my share of the general joy on this
occasion. I thought now of nothing but being freed, and working for
myself, and thereby getting money to enable me to get a good
education; for I always had a great desire to be able at least to read
and write; and while I was on shipboard I had endeavoured to improve
myself in both. While I was in the Ætna particularly, the captain's
clerk taught me to write, and gave me a smattering of arithmetic as
far as the rule of three. There was also one Daniel Queen, about forty
years of age, a man very well educated, who messed with me on board
this ship, and he likewise dressed and attended the captain.
Fortunately this man soon became very much attached to me, and took
very great pains to instruct me in many things. He taught me to shave
and dress hair a little, and also to read in the Bible, explaining
many passages to me, which I did not comprehend. I was wonderfully
surprised to see the laws and rules of my country written almost
exactly here; a circumstance which I believe tended to impress our
manners and customs more deeply on my memory. I used to tell him of
this resemblance; and many a time we have sat up the whole night
together at this employment. In short, he was like a father to me; and
some even used to call me after his name; they also styled me the
black Christian. Indeed I almost loved him with the affection of a
son. Many things I have denied myself that he might have them; and
when I used to play at marbles or any other game, and won a few
half-pence, or got any little money, which I sometimes did, for
shaving any one, I used to buy him a little sugar or tobacco, as far
as my stock of money would go. He used to say, that he and I never
should part; and that when our ship was paid off, as I was as free as
himself or any other man on board, he would instruct me in his
business, by which I might gain a good livelihood. This gave me new
life and spirits; and my heart burned within me, while I thought the
time long till I obtained my freedom. For though my master had not
promised it to me, yet, besides the assurances I had received that he
had no right to detain me, he always treated me with the greatest
kindness, and reposed in me an unbounded confidence; he even paid
attention to my morals; and would never suffer me to deceive him, or
tell lies, of which he used to tell me the consequences; and that if I
did so God would not love me; so that, from all this tenderness, I had
never once supposed, in all my dreams of freedom, that he would think
of detaining me any longer than I wished.

In pursuance of our orders we sailed from Portsmouth for the Thames,
and arrived at Deptford the 10th of December, where we cast anchor
just as it was high water. The ship was up about half an hour, when my
master ordered the barge to be manned; and all in an instant, without
having before given me the least reason to suspect any thing of the
matter, he forced me into the barge; saying, I was going to leave him,
but he would take care I should not. I was so struck with the
unexpectedness of this proceeding, that for some time I did not make a
reply, only I made an offer to go for my books and chest of clothes,
but he swore I should not move out of his sight; and if I did he would
cut my throat, at the same time taking his hanger. I began, however,
to collect myself; and, plucking up courage, I told him I was free,
and he could not by law serve me so. But this only enraged him the
more; and he continued to swear, and said he would soon let me know
whether he would or not, and at that instant sprung himself into the
barge from the ship, to the astonishment and sorrow of all on board.
The tide, rather unluckily for me, had just turned downward, so that
we quickly fell down the river along with it, till we came among some
outward-bound West Indiamen; for he was resolved to put me on board
the first vessel he could get to receive me. The boat's crew, who
pulled against their will, became quite faint different times, and
would have gone ashore; but he would not let them. Some of them strove
then to cheer me, and told me he could not sell me, and that they
would stand by me, which revived me a little; and I still entertained
hopes; for as they pulled along he asked some vessels to receive me,
but they could not. But, just as we had got a little below Gravesend,
we came alongside of a ship which was going away the next tide for the
West Indies; her name was the Charming Sally, Captain James Doran; and
my master went on board and agreed with him for me; and in a little
time I was sent for into the cabin. When I came there Captain Doran
asked me if I knew him; I answered that I did not; 'Then,' said he
'you are now my slave.' I told him my master could not sell me to him,
nor to any one else. 'Why,' said he, 'did not your master buy you?' I
confessed he did. 'But I have served him,' said I, 'many years, and he
has taken all my wages and prize-money, for I only got one sixpence
during the war; besides this I have been baptized; and by the laws of
the land no man has a right to sell me:' And I added, that I had heard
a lawyer and others at different times tell my master so. They both
then said that those people who told me so were not my friends; but I
replied--it was very extraordinary that other people did not know the
law as well as they. Upon this Captain Doran said I talked too much
English; and if I did not behave myself well, and be quiet, he had a
method on board to make me. I was too well convinced of his power over
me to doubt what he said; and my former sufferings in the slave-ship
presenting themselves to my mind, the recollection of them made me
shudder. However, before I retired I told them that as I could not get
any right among men here I hoped I should hereafter in Heaven; and I
immediately left the cabin, filled with resentment and sorrow. The
only coat I had with me my master took away with him, and said if my
prize-money had been 10,000 £. he had a right to it all, and would have
taken it. I had about nine guineas, which, during my long sea-faring
life, I had scraped together from trifling perquisites and little
ventures; and I hid it that instant, lest my master should take that
from me likewise, still hoping that by some means or other I should
make my escape to the shore; and indeed some of my old shipmates told
me not to despair, for they would get me back again; and that, as soon
as they could get their pay, they would immediately come to Portsmouth
to me, where this ship was going: but, alas! all my hopes were
baffled, and the hour of my deliverance was yet far off. My master,
having soon concluded his bargain with the captain, came out of the
cabin, and he and his people got into the boat and put off; I followed
them with aching eyes as long as I could, and when they were out of
sight I threw myself on the deck, while my heart was ready to burst
with sorrow and anguish.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote L: He had drowned himself in endeavouring to desert.]

[Footnote M: Among others whom we brought from Bayonne, two gentlemen,
who had been in the West Indies, where they sold slaves; and they
confessed they had made at one time a false bill of sale, and sold two
Portuguese white men among a lot of slaves.]

[Footnote N: Some people have it, that sometimes shortly before
persons die their ward has been seen; that is, some spirit exactly in
their likeness, though they are themselves at other places at the same
time. One day while we were at Bayonne Mr. Mondle saw one of our men,
as he thought, in the gun-room; and a little after, coming on the
quarter-deck, he spoke of some circumstances of this man to some of
the officers. They told him that the man was then out of the ship, in
one of the boats with the Lieutenant: but Mr. Mondle would not believe
it, and we searched the ship, when he found the man was actually out
of her; and when the boat returned some time afterwards, we found the
man had been drowned at the very time Mr. Mondle thought he saw him.]

CHAP. V.

_The author's reflections on his situation--Is deceived by a
promise of being delivered--His despair at sailing for the
West Indies--Arrives at Montserrat, where he is sold to Mr.
King--Various interesting instances of oppression, cruelty,
and extortion, which the author saw practised upon the
slaves in the West Indies during his captivity from the year
1763 to 1766--Address on it to the planters._

Thus, at the moment I expected all my toils to end, was I plunged, as
I supposed, in a new slavery; in comparison of which all my service
hitherto had been 'perfect freedom;' and whose horrors, always present
to my mind, now rushed on it with tenfold aggravation. I wept very
bitterly for some time: and began to think that I must have done
something to displease the Lord, that he thus punished me so severely.
This filled me with painful reflections on my past conduct; I
recollected that on the morning of our arrival at Deptford I had
rashly sworn that as soon as we reached London I would spend the day
in rambling and sport. My conscience smote me for this unguarded
expression: I felt that the Lord was able to disappoint me in all
things, and immediately considered my present situation as a judgment
of Heaven on account of my presumption in swearing: I therefore, with
contrition of heart, acknowledged my transgression to God, and poured
out my soul before him with unfeigned repentance, and with earnest
supplications I besought him not to abandon me in my distress, nor
cast me from his mercy for ever. In a little time my grief, spent with
its own violence, began to subside; and after the first confusion of
my thoughts was over I reflected with more calmness on my present
condition: I considered that trials and disappointments are sometimes
for our good, and I thought God might perhaps have permitted this in
order to teach me wisdom and resignation; for he had hitherto shadowed
me with the wings of his mercy, and by his invisible but powerful hand
brought me the way I knew not. These reflections gave me a little
comfort, and I rose at last from the deck with dejection and sorrow in
my countenance, yet mixed with some faint hope that the _Lord would
appear_ for my deliverance.

Soon afterwards, as my new master was going ashore, he called me to
him, and told me to behave myself well, and do the business of the
ship the same as any of the rest of the boys, and that I should fare
the better for it; but I made him no answer. I was then asked if I
could swim, and I said, No. However I was made to go under the deck,
and was well watched. The next tide the ship got under way, and soon
after arrived at the Mother Bank, Portsmouth; where she waited a few
days for some of the West India convoy. While I was here I tried every
means I could devise amongst the people of the ship to get me a boat
from the shore, as there was none suffered to come alongside of the
ship; and their own, whenever it was used, was hoisted in again
immediately. A sailor on board took a guinea from me on pretence of
getting me a boat; and promised me, time after time, that it was
hourly to come off. When he had the watch upon deck I watched also;
and looked long enough, but all in vain; I could never see either the
boat or my guinea again. And what I thought was still the worst of
all, the fellow gave information, as I afterwards found, all the while
to the mates, of my intention to go off, if I could in any way do it;
but, rogue like, he never told them he had got a guinea from me to
procure my escape. However, after we had sailed, and his trick was
made known to the ship's crew, I had some satisfaction in seeing him
detested and despised by them all for his behaviour to me. I was still
in hopes that my old shipmates would not forget their promise to come
for me to Portsmouth: and, indeed, at last, but not till the day
before we sailed, some of them did come there, and sent me off some
oranges, and other tokens of their regard. They also sent me word they
would come off to me themselves the next day or the day after; and a
lady also, who lived in Gosport, wrote to me that she would come and
take me out of the ship at the same time. This lady had been once very
intimate with my former master: I used to sell and take care of a
great deal of property for her, in different ships; and in return she
always shewed great friendship for me, and used to tell my master that
she would take me away to live with her: but, unfortunately for me, a
disagreement soon afterwards took place between them; and she was
succeeded in my master's good graces by another lady, who appeared
sole mistress of the Ætna, and mostly lodged on board. I was not so
great a favourite with this lady as with the former; she had conceived
a pique against me on some occasion when she was on board, and she did
not fail to instigate my master to treat me in the manner he did[O].

However, the next morning, the 30th of December, the wind being brisk
and easterly, the Oeolus frigate, which was to escort the convoy,
made a signal for sailing. All the ships then got up their anchors;
and, before any of my friends had an opportunity to come off to my
relief, to my inexpressible anguish our ship had got under way. What
tumultuous emotions agitated my soul when the convoy got under sail,
and I a prisoner on board, now without hope! I kept my swimming eyes
upon the land in a state of unutterable grief; not knowing what to do,
and despairing how to help myself. While my mind was in this situation
the fleet sailed on, and in one day's time I lost sight of the
wished-for land. In the first expressions of my grief I reproached my
fate, and wished I had never been born. I was ready to curse the tide
that bore us, the gale that wafted my prison, and even the ship that
conducted us; and I called on death to relieve me from the horrors I
felt and dreaded, that I might be in that place

"Where slaves are free, and men oppress no more.
Fool that I was, inur'd so long to pain,
To trust to hope, or dream of joy again.

* * * * *

Now dragg'd once more beyond the western main,
To groan beneath some dastard planter's chain;
Where my poor countrymen in bondage wait
The long enfranchisement of ling'ring fate:
Hard ling'ring fate! while, ere the dawn of day,
Rous'd by the lash they go their cheerless way;
And as their souls with shame and anguish burn,
Salute with groans unwelcome morn's return,
And, chiding ev'ry hour the slow-pac'd sun,
Pursue their toils till all his race is run.
No eye to mark their suff'rings with a tear;
No friend to comfort, and no hope to cheer:
Then, like the dull unpity'd brutes, repair
To stalls as wretched, and as coarse a fare;
Thank heaven one day of mis'ry was o'er,
Then sink to sleep, and wish to wake no more[P]."

The turbulence of my emotions however naturally gave way to calmer
thoughts, and I soon perceived what fate had decreed no mortal on
earth could prevent. The convoy sailed on without any accident, with a
pleasant gale and smooth sea, for six weeks, till February, when one
morning the Oeolus ran down a brig, one of the convoy, and she
instantly went down and was ingulfed in the dark recesses of the
ocean. The convoy was immediately thrown into great confusion till it
was daylight; and the Oeolus was illumined with lights to prevent
any farther mischief. On the 13th of February 1763, from the
mast-head, we descried our destined island Montserrat; and soon after
I beheld those

"Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can rarely dwell. Hope never comes
That comes to all, but torture without end
Still urges."

At the sight of this land of bondage, a fresh horror ran through all
my frame, and chilled me to the heart. My former slavery now rose in
dreadful review to my mind, and displayed nothing but misery, stripes,
and chains; and, in the first paroxysm of my grief, I called upon
God's thunder, and his avenging power, to direct the stroke of death
to me, rather than permit me to become a slave, and be sold from lord
to lord.

In this state of my mind our ship came to an anchor, and soon after
discharged her cargo. I now knew what it was to work hard; I was made
to help to unload and load the ship. And, to comfort me in my distress
in that time, two of the sailors robbed me of all my money, and ran
away from the ship. I had been so long used to an European climate
that at first I felt the scorching West India sun very painful, while
the dashing surf would toss the boat and the people in it frequently
above high water mark. Sometimes our limbs were broken with this, or
even attended with instant death, and I was day by day mangled and
torn.

About the middle of May, when the ship was got ready to sail for
England, I all the time believing that Fate's blackest clouds were
gathering over my head, and expecting their bursting would mix me with
the dead, Captain Doran sent for me ashore one morning, and I was told
by the messenger that my fate was then determined. With fluttering
steps and trembling heart I came to the captain, and found with him
one Mr. Robert King, a quaker, and the first merchant in the place.
The captain then told me my former master had sent me there to be
sold; but that he had desired him to get me the best master he could,
as he told him I was a very deserving boy, which Captain Doran said he
found to be true; and if he were to stay in the West Indies he would
be glad to keep me himself; but he could not venture to take me to
London, for he was very sure that when I came there I would leave him.
I at that instant burst out a crying, and begged much of him to take
me to England with him, but all to no purpose. He told me he had got
me the very best master in the whole island, with whom I should be as
happy as if I were in England, and for that reason he chose to let him
have me, though he could sell me to his own brother-in-law for a great
deal more money than what he got from this gentleman. Mr. King, my new
master, then made a reply, and said the reason he had bought me was on
account of my good character; and, as he had not the least doubt of my
good behaviour, I should be very well off with him. He also told me he
did not live in the West Indies, but at Philadelphia, where he was
going soon; and, as I understood something of the rules of
arithmetic, when we got there he would put me to school, and fit me
for a clerk. This conversation relieved my mind a little, and I left
those gentlemen considerably more at ease in myself than when I came
to them; and I was very grateful to Captain Doran, and even to my old
master, for the character they had given me; a character which I
afterwards found of infinite service to me. I went on board again, and
took leave of all my shipmates; and the next day the ship sailed. When
she weighed anchor I went to the waterside and looked at her with a
very wishful and aching heart, and followed her with my eyes and tears
until she was totally out of sight. I was so bowed down with grief
that I could not hold up my head for many months; and if my new master
had not been kind to me I believe I should have died under it at last.
And indeed I soon found that he fully deserved the good character
which Captain Doran had given me of him; for he possessed a most
amiable disposition and temper, and was very charitable and humane. If
any of his slaves behaved amiss he did not beat or use them ill, but
parted with them. This made them afraid of disobliging him; and as he
treated his slaves better than any other man on the island, so he was
better and more faithfully served by them in return. By his kind
treatment I did at last endeavour to compose myself; and with
fortitude, though moneyless, determined to face whatever fate had
decreed for me. Mr. King soon asked me what I could do; and at the
same time said he did not mean to treat me as a common slave. I told
him I knew something of seamanship, and could shave and dress hair
pretty well; and I could refine wines, which I had learned on
shipboard, where I had often done it; and that I could write, and
understood arithmetic tolerably well as far as the Rule of Three. He
then asked me if I knew any thing of gauging; and, on my answering
that I did not, he said one of his clerks should teach me to gauge.

Mr. King dealt in all manner of merchandize, and kept from one to six
clerks. He loaded many vessels in a year; particularly to
Philadelphia, where he was born, and was connected with a great
mercantile house in that city. He had besides many vessels and
droggers, of different sizes, which used to go about the island; and
others to collect rum, sugar, and other goods. I understood pulling
and managing those boats very well; and this hard work, which was the
first that he set me to, in the sugar seasons used to be my constant
employment. I have rowed the boat, and slaved at the oars, from one
hour to sixteen in the twenty-four; during which I had fifteen pence
sterling per day to live on, though sometimes only ten pence. However
this was considerably more than was allowed to other slaves that used
to work with me, and belonged to other gentlemen on the island: those
poor souls had never more than nine pence per day, and seldom more
than six pence, from their masters or owners, though they earned them
three or four pisterines[Q]: for it is a common practice in the West
Indies for men to purchase slaves though they have not plantations
themselves, in order to let them out to planters and merchants at so
much a piece by the day, and they give what allowance they chuse out
of this produce of their daily work to their slaves for subsistence;
this allowance is often very scanty. My master often gave the owners
of these slaves two and a half of these pieces per day, and found the
poor fellows in victuals himself, because he thought their owners did
not feed them well enough according to the work they did. The slaves
used to like this very well; and, as they knew my master to be a man
of feeling, they were always glad to work for him in preference to any
other gentleman; some of whom, after they had been paid for these poor
people's labours, would not give them their allowance out of it. Many
times have I even seen these unfortunate wretches beaten for asking
for their pay; and often severely flogged by their owners if they did
not bring them their daily or weekly money exactly to the time; though
the poor creatures were obliged to wait on the gentlemen they had
worked for sometimes for more than half the day before they could get
their pay; and this generally on Sundays, when they wanted the time
for themselves. In particular, I knew a countryman of mine who once
did not bring the weekly money directly that it was earned; and though
he brought it the same day to his master, yet he was staked to the
ground for this pretended negligence, and was just going to receive a
hundred lashes, but for a gentleman who begged him off fifty. This
poor man was very industrious; and, by his frugality, had saved so
much money by working on shipboard, that he had got a white man to buy
him a boat, unknown to his master. Some time after he had this little
estate the governor wanted a boat to bring his sugar from different
parts of the island; and, knowing this to be a negro-man's boat, he
seized upon it for himself, and would not pay the owner a farthing.
The man on this went to his master, and complained to him of this act
of the governor; but the only satisfaction he received was to be
damned very heartily by his master, who asked him how dared any of his
negroes to have a boat. If the justly-merited ruin of the governor's
fortune could be any gratification to the poor man he had thus robbed,
he was not without consolation. Extortion and rapine are poor
providers; and some time after this the governor died in the King's
Bench in England, as I was told, in great poverty. The last war
favoured this poor negro-man, and he found some means to escape from
his Christian master: he came to England; where I saw him afterwards
several times. Such treatment as this often drives these miserable
wretches to despair, and they run away from their masters at the
hazard of their lives. Many of them, in this place, unable to get
their pay when they have earned it, and fearing to be flogged, as
usual, if they return home without it, run away where they can for
shelter, and a reward is often offered to bring them in dead or alive.
My master used sometimes, in these cases, to agree with their owners,
and to settle with them himself; and thereby he saved many of them a
flogging.

Once, for a few days, I was let out to fit a vessel, and I had no
victuals allowed me by either party; at last I told my master of this
treatment, and he took me away from it. In many of the estates, on the
different islands where I used to be sent for rum or sugar, they would
not deliver it to me, or any other negro; he was therefore obliged to
send a white man along with me to those places; and then he used to
pay him from six to ten pisterines a day. From being thus employed,
during the time I served Mr. King, in going about the different
estates on the island, I had all the opportunity I could wish for to
see the dreadful usage of the poor men; usage that reconciled me to my
situation, and made me bless God for the hands into which I had
fallen.

I had the good fortune to please my master in every department in
which he employed me; and there was scarcely any part of his business,
or household affairs, in which I was not occasionally engaged. I often
supplied the place of a clerk, in receiving and delivering cargoes to
the ships, in tending stores, and delivering goods: and, besides this,
I used to shave and dress my master when convenient, and take care of
his horse; and when it was necessary, which was very often, I worked
likewise on board of different vessels of his. By these means I became
very useful to my master; and saved him, as he used to acknowledge,
above a hundred pounds a year. Nor did he scruple to say I was of more
advantage to him than any of his clerks; though their usual wages in
the West Indies are from sixty to a hundred pounds current a year.

I have sometimes heard it asserted that a negro cannot earn his master
the first cost; but nothing can be further from the truth. I suppose
nine tenths of the mechanics throughout the West Indies are negro
slaves; and I well know the coopers among them earn two dollars a day;
the carpenters the same, and oftentimes more; as also the masons,
smiths, and fishermen, &c. and I have known many slaves whose masters
would not take a thousand pounds current for them. But surely this
assertion refutes itself; for, if it be true, why do the planters and
merchants pay such a price for slaves? And, above all, why do those
who make this assertion exclaim the most loudly against the abolition
of the slave trade? So much are men blinded, and to such inconsistent
arguments are they driven by mistaken interest! I grant, indeed, that
slaves are some times, by half-feeding, half-clothing, over-working
and stripes, reduced so low, that they are turned out as unfit for
service, and left to perish in the woods, or expire on a dunghill.

My master was several times offered by different gentlemen one hundred
guineas for me; but he always told them he would not sell me, to my
great joy: and I used to double my diligence and care for fear of
getting into the hands of those men who did not allow a valuable slave
the common support of life. Many of them even used to find fault with
my master for feeding his slaves so well as he did; although I often
went hungry, and an Englishman might think my fare very indifferent;
but he used to tell them he always would do it, because the slaves
thereby looked better and did more work.

While I was thus employed by my master I was often a witness to
cruelties of every kind, which were exercised on my unhappy fellow
slaves. I used frequently to have different cargoes of new negroes in
my care for sale; and it was almost a constant practice with our
clerks, and other whites, to commit violent depredations on the
chastity of the female slaves; and these I was, though with
reluctance, obliged to submit to at all times, being unable to help
them. When we have had some of these slaves on board my master's
vessels to carry them to other islands, or to America, I have known
our mates to commit these acts most shamefully, to the disgrace, not
of Christians only, but of men. I have even known them gratify their
brutal passion with females not ten years old; and these abominations
some of them practised to such scandalous excess, that one of our
captains discharged the mate and others on that account. And yet in
Montserrat I have seen a negro man staked to the ground, and cut most
shockingly, and then his ears cut off bit by bit, because he had been
connected with a white woman who was a common prostitute: as if it
were no crime in the whites to rob an innocent African girl of her
virtue; but most heinous in a black man only to gratify a passion of
nature, where the temptation was offered by one of a different colour,
though the most abandoned woman of her species. Another negro man was
half hanged, and then burnt, for attempting to poison a cruel
overseer. Thus by repeated cruelties are the wretched first urged to
despair, and then murdered, because they still retain so much of human
nature about them as to wish to put an end to their misery, and
retaliate on their tyrants! These overseers are indeed for the most
part persons of the worst character of any denomination of men in the
West Indies. Unfortunately, many humane gentlemen, by not residing on
their estates, are obliged to leave the management of them in the
hands of these human butchers, who cut and mangle the slaves in a
shocking manner on the most trifling occasions, and altogether treat
them in every respect like brutes. They pay no regard to the situation
of pregnant women, nor the least attention to the lodging of the
field negroes. Their huts, which ought to be well covered, and the
place dry where they take their little repose, are often open sheds,
built in damp places; so that, when the poor creatures return tired
from the toils of the field, they contract many disorders, from being
exposed to the damp air in this uncomfortable state, while they are
heated, and their pores are open. This neglect certainly conspires
with many others to cause a decrease in the births as well as in the
lives of the grown negroes. I can quote many instances of gentlemen
who reside on their estates in the West Indies, and then the scene is
quite changed; the negroes are treated with lenity and proper care, by
which their lives are prolonged, and their masters are profited. To
the honour of humanity, I knew several gentlemen who managed their
estates in this manner; and they found that benevolence was their true
interest. And, among many I could mention in several of the islands, I
knew one in Montserrat[R] whose slaves looked remarkably well, and
never needed any fresh supplies of negroes; and there are many other
estates, especially in Barbadoes, which, from such judicious
treatment, need no fresh stock of negroes at any time. I have the
honour of knowing a most worthy and humane gentleman, who is a native
of Barbadoes, and has estates there[S]. This gentleman has written a
treatise on the usage of his own slaves. He allows them two hours for
refreshment at mid-day; and many other indulgencies and comforts,
particularly in their lying; and, besides this, he raises more
provisions on his estate than they can destroy; so that by these
attentions he saves the lives of his negroes, and keeps them healthy,
and as happy as the condition of slavery can admit. I myself, as shall
appear in the sequel, managed an estate, where, by those attentions,
the negroes were uncommonly cheerful and healthy, and did more work by
half than by the common mode of treatment they usually do. For want,
therefore, of such care and attention to the poor negroes, and
otherwise oppressed as they are, it is no wonder that the decrease
should require 20,000 new negroes annually to fill up the vacant
places of the dead.

Even in Barbadoes, notwithstanding those humane exceptions which I
have mentioned, and others I am acquainted with, which justly make it
quoted as a place where slaves meet with the best treatment, and need
fewest recruits of any in the West Indies, yet this island requires
1000 negroes annually to keep up the original stock, which is only
80,000. So that the whole term of a negro's life may be said to be
there but sixteen years![T] And yet the climate here is in every
respect the same as that from which they are taken, except in being
more wholesome. Do the British colonies decrease in this manner? And
yet what a prodigious difference is there between an English and West
India climate?

While I was in Montserrat I knew a negro man, named Emanuel Sankey,
who endeavoured to escape from his miserable bondage, by concealing
himself on board of a London ship: but fate did not favour the poor
oppressed man; for, being discovered when the vessel was under sail,
he was delivered up again to his master. This Christian master
immediately pinned the wretch down to the ground at each wrist and
ancle, and then took some sticks of sealing wax, and lighted them, and
droped it all over his back. There was another master who was noted
for cruelty; and I believe he had not a slave but what had been cut,
and had pieces fairly taken out of the flesh: and, after they had been
punished thus, he used to make them get into a long wooden box or case
he had for that purpose, in which he shut them up during pleasure. It
was just about the height and breadth of a man; and the poor wretches
had no room, when in the case, to move.

It was very common in several of the islands, particularly in St.
Kitt's, for the slaves to be branded with the initial letters of their
master's name; and a load of heavy iron hooks hung about their necks.
Indeed on the most trifling occasions they were loaded with chains;
and often instruments of torture were added. The iron muzzle,
thumb-screws, &c. are so well known, as not to need a description, and
were sometimes applied for the slightest faults. I have seen a negro
beaten till some of his bones were broken, for even letting a pot boil
over. Is it surprising that usage like this should drive the poor
creatures to despair, and make them seek a refuge in death from those
evils which render their lives intolerable--while,

"With shudd'ring horror pale, and eyes aghast,
They view their lamentable lot, and find
No rest!"

This they frequently do. A negro-man on board a vessel of my master,
while I belonged to her, having been put in irons for some trifling
misdemeanor, and kept in that state for some days, being weary of
life, took an opportunity of jumping overboard into the sea; however,
he was picked up without being drowned. Another, whose life was also a
burden to him, resolved to starve himself to death, and refused to eat
any victuals; this procured him a severe flogging: and he also, on the
first occasion which offered, jumped overboard at Charles Town, but
was saved.

Nor is there any greater regard shewn to the little property than
there is to the persons and lives of the negroes. I have already
related an instance or two of particular oppression out of many which
I have witnessed; but the following is frequent in all the islands.
The wretched field-slaves, after toiling all the day for an unfeeling
owner, who gives them but little victuals, steal sometimes a few
moments from rest or refreshment to gather some small portion of
grass, according as their time will admit. This they commonly tie up
in a parcel; (either a bit, worth six pence; or half a bit's-worth)
and bring it to town, or to the market, to sell. Nothing is more
common than for the white people on this occasion to take the grass
from them without paying for it; and not only so, but too often also,
to my knowledge, our clerks, and many others, at the same time have
committed acts of violence on the poor, wretched, and helpless
females; whom I have seen for hours stand crying to no purpose, and
get no redress or pay of any kind. Is not this one common and crying
sin enough to bring down God's judgment on the islands? He tells us
the oppressor and the oppressed are both in his hands; and if these
are not the poor, the broken-hearted, the blind, the captive, the
bruised, which our Saviour speaks of, who are they? One of these
depredators once, in St. Eustatia, came on board of our vessel, and
bought some fowls and pigs of me; and a whole day after his departure
with the things he returned again and wanted his money back: I refused
to give it; and, not seeing my captain on board, he began the common
pranks with me; and swore he would even break open my chest and take
my money. I therefore expected, as my captain was absent, that he
would be as good as his word: and he was just proceeding to strike me,
when fortunately a British seaman on board, whose heart had not been
debauched by a West India climate, interposed and prevented him. But
had the cruel man struck me I certainly should have defended myself at
the hazard of my life; for what is life to a man thus oppressed? He
went away, however, swearing; and threatened that whenever he caught
me on shore he would shoot me, and pay for me afterwards.

The small account in which the life of a negro is held in the West
Indies is so universally known, that it might seem impertinent to
quote the following extract, if some people had not been hardy enough
of late to assert that negroes are on the same footing in that respect
as Europeans. By the 329th Act, page 125, of the Assembly of
Barbadoes, it is enacted 'That if any negro, or other slave, under
punishment by his master, or his order, for running away, or any other
crime or misdemeanor towards his said master, unfortunately shall
suffer in life or member, no person whatsoever shall be liable to a
fine; but if any man shall out of _wantonness, or only of
bloody-mindedness, or cruel intention, wilfully kill a negro, or other
slave, of his own, he shall pay into the public treasury fifteen
pounds sterling_.' And it is the same in most, if not all, of the West
India islands. Is not this one of the many acts of the islands which
call loudly for redress? And do not the assembly which enacted it
deserve the appellation of savages and brutes rather than of
Christians and men? It is an act at once unmerciful, unjust, and
unwise; which for cruelty would disgrace an assembly of those who are
called barbarians; and for its injustice and _insanity_ would shock
the morality and common sense of a Samaide or a Hottentot.

Shocking as this and many more acts of the bloody West India code at
first view appear, how is the iniquity of it heightened when we
consider to whom it may be extended! Mr. James Tobin, a zealous
labourer in the vineyard of slavery, gives an account of a French
planter of his acquaintance, in the island of Martinico, who shewed
him many mulattoes working in the fields like beasts of burden; and he
told Mr. Tobin these were all the produce of his own loins! And I
myself have known similar instances. Pray, reader, are these sons and
daughters of the French planter less his children by being begotten on
a black woman? And what must be the virtue of those legislators, and
the feelings of those fathers, who estimate the lives of their sons,
however begotten, at no more than fifteen pounds; though they should
be murdered, as the act says, _out of wantonness and bloody-mindedness_!
But is not the slave trade entirely a war with the heart of man? And
surely that which is begun by breaking down the barriers of virtue
involves in its continuance destruction to every principle, and buries
all sentiments in ruin!

I have often seen slaves, particularly those who were meagre, in
different islands, put into scales and weighed; and then sold from
three pence to six pence or nine pence a pound. My master, however,
whose humanity was shocked at this mode, used to sell such by the
lump. And at or after a sale it was not uncommon to see negroes taken
from their wives, wives taken from their husbands, and children from
their parents, and sent off to other islands, and wherever else their
merciless lords chose; and probably never more during life to see each
other! Oftentimes my heart has bled at these partings; when the
friends of the departed have been at the water side, and, with sighs
and tears, have kept their eyes fixed on the vessel till it went out
of sight.

A poor Creole negro I knew well, who, after having been often thus
transported from island to island, at last resided in Montserrat. This
man used to tell me many melancholy tales of himself. Generally, after
he had done working for his master, he used to employ his few leisure
moments to go a fishing. When he had caught any fish, his master would
frequently take them from him without paying him; and at other times
some other white people would serve him in the same manner. One day he
said to me, very movingly, 'Sometimes when a white man take away my
fish I go to my maser, and he get me my right; and when my maser by
strength take away my fishes, what me must do? I can't go to any body
to be righted; then' said the poor man, looking up above 'I must look
up to God Mighty in the top for right.' This artless tale moved me
much, and I could not help feeling the just cause Moses had in
redressing his brother against the Egyptian. I exhorted the man to
look up still to the God on the top, since there was no redress below.
Though I little thought then that I myself should more than once
experience such imposition, and read the same exhortation hereafter,
in my own transactions in the islands; and that even this poor man and
I should some time after suffer together in the same manner, as shall
be related hereafter.

Nor was such usage as this confined to particular places or
individuals; for, in all the different islands in which I have been
(and I have visited no less than fifteen) the treatment of the slaves
was nearly the same; so nearly indeed, that the history of an island,
or even a plantation, with a few such exceptions as I have mentioned,
might serve for a history of the whole. Such a tendency has the
slave-trade to debauch men's minds, and harden them to every feeling
of humanity! For I will not suppose that the dealers in slaves are
born worse than other men--No; it is the fatality of this mistaken
avarice, that it corrupts the milk of human kindness and turns it into
gall. And, had the pursuits of those men been different, they might
have been as generous, as tender-hearted and just, as they are
unfeeling, rapacious and cruel. Surely this traffic cannot be good,
which spreads like a pestilence, and taints what it touches! which
violates that first natural right of mankind, equality and
independency, and gives one man a dominion over his fellows which God
could never intend! For it raises the owner to a state as far above
man as it depresses the slave below it; and, with all the presumption
of human pride, sets a distinction between them, immeasurable in
extent, and endless in duration! Yet how mistaken is the avarice even
of the planters? Are slaves more useful by being thus humbled to the
condition of brutes, than they would be if suffered to enjoy the
privileges of men? The freedom which diffuses health and prosperity
throughout Britain answers you--No. When you make men slaves you
deprive them of half their virtue, you set them in your own conduct an
example of fraud, rapine, and cruelty, and compel them to live with
you in a state of war; and yet you complain that they are not honest
or faithful! You stupify them with stripes, and think it necessary to
keep them in a state of ignorance; and yet you assert that they are
incapable of learning; that their minds are such a barren soil or
moor, that culture would be lost on them; and that they come from a
climate, where nature, though prodigal of her bounties in a degree
unknown to yourselves, has left man alone scant and unfinished, and
incapable of enjoying the treasures she has poured out for him!--An
assertion at once impious and absurd. Why do you use those instruments
of torture? Are they fit to be applied by one rational being to
another? And are ye not struck with shame and mortification, to see
the partakers of your nature reduced so low? But, above all, are there
no dangers attending this mode of treatment? Are you not hourly in
dread of an insurrection? Nor would it be surprising: for when

"--No peace is given
To us enslav'd, but custody severe;
And stripes and arbitrary punishment
Inflicted--What peace can we return?
But to our power, hostility and hate;
Untam'd reluctance, and revenge, though slow,
Yet ever plotting how the conqueror least
May reap his conquest, and may least rejoice
In doing what we most in suffering feel."

But by changing your conduct, and treating your slaves as men, every
cause of fear would be banished. They would be faithful, honest,
intelligent and vigorous; and peace, prosperity, and happiness, would
attend you.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote O: Thus was I sacrificed to the envy and resentment of this
woman for knowing that the lady whom she had succeeded in my master's
good graces designed to take me into her service; which, had I once
got on shore, she would not have been able to prevent. She felt her
pride alarmed at the superiority of her rival in being attended by a
black servant: it was not less to prevent this than to be revenged on
me, that she caused the captain to treat me thus cruelly.]

[Footnote P: "The Dying Negro," a poem originally published in 1773.
Perhaps it may not be deemed impertinent here to add, that this
elegant and pathetic little poem was occasioned, as appears by the
advertisement prefixed to it, by the following incident. "A black,
who, a few days before had ran away from his master, and got himself
christened, with intent to marry a white woman his fellow-servant,
being taken and sent on board a ship in the Thames, took an
opportunity of shooting himself through the head."]

[Footnote Q: These pisterines are of the value of a shilling.]

[Footnote R: Mr. Dubury, and many others, Montserrat.]

[Footnote S: Sir Philip Gibbes, Baronet, Barbadoes.]

[Footnote T: Benezet's Account of Guinea, p. 16.]

CHAP. VI.

_Some account of Brimstone-Hill in Montserrat--Favourable
change in the author's situation--He commences merchant with
three pence--His various success in dealing in the different
islands, and America, and the impositions he meets with in
his transactions with Europeans--A curious imposition on
human nature--Danger of the surfs in the West
Indies--Remarkable instance of kidnapping a free
mulatto--The author is nearly murdered by Doctor Perkins in
Savannah._

In the preceding chapter I have set before the reader a few of those
many instances of oppression, extortion, and cruelty, which I have
been a witness to in the West Indies: but, were I to enumerate them
all, the catalogue would be tedious and disgusting. The punishments of
the slaves on every trifling occasion are so frequent, and so well
known, together with the different instruments with which they are
tortured, that it cannot any longer afford novelty to recite them; and
they are too shocking to yield delight either to the writer or the
reader. I shall therefore hereafter only mention such as incidentally
befel myself in the course of my adventures.

In the variety of departments in which I was employed by my master, I
had an opportunity of seeing many curious scenes in different islands;
but, above all, I was struck with a celebrated curiosity called
Brimstone-Hill, which is a high and steep mountain, some few miles
from the town of Plymouth in Montserrat. I had often heard of some
wonders that were to be seen on this hill, and I went once with some
white and black people to visit it. When we arrived at the top, I saw
under different cliffs great flakes of brimstone, occasioned by the
steams of various little ponds, which were then boiling naturally in
the earth. Some of these ponds were as white as milk, some quite blue,
and many others of different colours. I had taken some potatoes with
me, and I put them into different ponds, and in a few minutes they
were well boiled. I tasted some of them, but they were very
sulphurous; and the silver shoe buckles, and all the other things of
that metal we had among us, were, in a little time, turned as black
as lead.

Some time in the year 1763 kind Providence seemed to appear rather
more favourable to me. One of my master's vessels, a Bermudas sloop,
about sixty tons, was commanded by one Captain Thomas Farmer, an
Englishman, a very alert and active man, who gained my master a great
deal of money by his good management in carrying passengers from one
island to another; but very often his sailors used to get drunk and
run away from the vessel, which hindered him in his business very
much. This man had taken a liking to me; and many different times
begged of my master to let me go a trip with him as a sailor; but he
would tell him he could not spare me, though the vessel sometimes
could not go for want of hands, for sailors were generally very scarce
in the island. However, at last, from necessity or force, my master
was prevailed on, though very reluctantly, to

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