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Page 16
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
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