A Voyage Round the World Part 19

"Captain R. Commings Sir I mush obliged to you for please spear me some nails for make door do my friend I remain Sir

"Tom Duke."

(NO. 7.)

"Captain c.u.mmins Sir I let you know but I want to go to Market for me self in I send you Book to give me 50 Iranba for 110 Crew Salt then now I want 70 Crew Salt in them Bring me Book for 40 Crew Salt again then now I thank you to Down hose head for my 2 small hatt I am your Humble Servant

"Antega Ambo."

If the Christian Missionaries were to establish schools in the towns on the banks of these rivers, they would be very likely to prove eminently beneficial to the people, who are very desirous of, receiving every kind of instruction, more particularly a knowledge of writing, which, at present, the head men teach each other in an imperfect manner, of which the above notes form an example. There is not one of them who ever read English, or any other language in print; and I have heard the Duke express great regret at not being able to read the newspapers, of the contents of which, although he had seen many, he still remained ignorant.

_Thursday, 13_.--The Eden's prize (a Spanish schooner taken last voyage by the African) arrived this evening from Fernando Po, with Capt. Owen on board, to whom Captain Smith and myself immediately went to pay our respects.

_Friday, 14_.--Captain Owen visited the Spanish slave schooner, the ship Agnes, the brig Kent, and mustered the crews of the two palm-oil vessels, when he met with several volunteers for the Eden. In the afternoon, he went on sh.o.r.e to see the Duke, who received him very civilly, but suspiciously, for, notwithstanding their great professions of friendship for the English in general, and their real regard for some particular individuals, who are regular traders to the country, the consideration of the profits they derive from the slave-trade, prompts them to feel no little annoyance at our interference in their lucrative commerce. They already perceive that our new settlement at Fernando Po, is calculated to interfere with their proceedings, and they have clearly expressed their sentiments upon the subject; not, however, without clothing their observations so cunningly as to avoid giving offence.

"What for," said one, "white man come to live in black man's country?

What for can't white man stop in own country? Much better for white man, than black man's country."

Mr. Cowan, the hospital a.s.sistant at Fernando Po, and myself, accompanied King Eyo, this evening, in his large canoe, up the river, to Creek Town, a distance of twelve miles, where his Majesty resides.

The town is built on the edge of a creek, a short distance from the river. On our arrival, we found that King Eyo had a larger wooden framed English house, than the King of the Old Calabar, but not in such good repair: it was also sent from England by Mr. Bold, of Liverpool, to the King's father. In the largest room there was an elevated seat, in humble imitation of a throne, where the King sat to hear and give judgment in cases of dispute, and other causes that required his interference. He had a number of articles of English furniture, for instance, drawers, sofas, chairs, &c. The princ.i.p.al articles in gla.s.s, were a chandelier, suspended in the centre of the room, several mirrors, gla.s.s shades, for lamps or candles; rummers, wine-gla.s.ses, &c.; but, like the Duke, his Majesty does not sleep in his English house, preferring a native hut, where he was surrounded by his wives and domestics; the latter, of course, being his slaves. King Eyo is more moderate in his conjugal establishment than the Duke, having only twenty wives, while Duke Ephraim's number amounts to sixty.

The captain of an English vessel calling on the Duke one day, he exclaimed, "Oh, my friend, you come very good time, I just send away some of my wives, that I have had to entertain me!"--The captain replying, that he regretted he had not come sooner, as he should have liked to see them. The Duke answered, "Oh! no, my friend; you could not; it is not Calabar fashion!" How many were there? questioned the captain--"Oh!" replied the Duke, "only twenty-five!"

_Sat.u.r.day, 15_.--There was so much noise in the town all night, that we imagined it must proceed from drunkenness, or else some desperate rencounter; indeed, it was impossible to think otherwise, for they were screaming, hallooing, and blowing cows-horns, or conchs, which produced so horrid a din, that there was no possibility of sleeping, and we expected no less than that a party would rush into the house where we were. The uproar, however, died away towards morning, and we learned afterwards, that it was nothing more than the ordinary savage enjoyment of the natives.

Captain Owen arrived this morning to pay King Eyo a visit; he remained a couple of hours, and then returned to Old Calabar Town.

In the afternoon, we left Creek Town, with the King, in Tom Eyo's canoe, to return to Old Calabar; we had been very hospitably entertained by his Majesty, who gave us what is called Calabar chop, a dish consisting of any sort of meat stewed in palm-oil, and highly seasoned with pepper.

The idea of palm-oil may be unpleasant to an English reader, but when it is fresh, it is not unpalatable, and I must confess, that I greatly relished a dish of fish and yams which was brought on board the Kent, as a present to the captain: of course it was cooked in their best style. I remember, at one time, having as much prejudice as any of my countrymen against oil; but when I went to France, I partook of it insensibly, until I began to like it; and, when in Italy, I fell into the custom of using it with vegetables, as a subst.i.tute for melted b.u.t.ter: fresh oil, in warm climates, being generally preferred to b.u.t.ter, even where both are to be had, which is not always the case in southern lat.i.tudes.

There are very few good fish in the Old Calabar river; the best I met with was a species of sole, but very thin, which, I suppose, is owing to the muddiness of the river itself, and to the extensive mud-banks which flank the channel. The water in the river is also so bad as to be unfit for use, in consequence of the quant.i.ty of decayed animal and vegetable matter that must constantly be mixed with it, in a climate where the progress of putrefaction is so rapid; however, fortunately for the shipping, there is a good spring on the bank of the river, about a mile below the town, where it is usual to send for supplies.

King Eyo went on board the African, schooner, and remained with Captain Smith to select goods, equal in value to twenty bullocks.

---------- [36] It is the custom here to bury their dead in their own houses.

[37] Brother to King Eyo.

CHAP. XII.

Captain Owen's Departure--Runaway Slave--Egbo again--Duke's Sunday-- Superst.i.tious Abstinence--Anecdote of a Native Gentleman--Breaking Trade--Author's Visit to Creek Town--Bullocks embarked--Departure from Calabar--Chased by mistake--Dangerous Situation--Mortality at Fernando Po--Detection of a Deserter--Frequency of Tornados--Horatio hove down--Capture of a Slave Vessel--Loss of Mr. Morrison--Another Slave Vessel taken--Landing a part of the Slaves--Author's Daily Routine-- Garden of Eden--Monstrous Fish--Continued Mortality--Market at Longfield

_Monday, 17_.--After breakfast, Captain Owen sailed in the Victoria for Fernando Po. The Lady Combermere also departed for the same destination; the latter vessel, being on a trading voyage along the coast, contained a number of articles in her freight, much required by the people at the settlement.

Soon after these vessels were out of sight, two parties of slaves came down from the Barac.o.o.ns, to wash themselves in the river; they were chained in pairs, the right leg of one to the left leg of another.

Before the Victoria arrived, they were brought down daily; but were not seen during the time she remained, notwithstanding there were several depots for slaves in the town.

Some black gentlemen came on board to-day to barter for bullocks.

The brig James, from Liverpool, arrived this afternoon. About eight in the evening, a Calabar man was brought on board from the Kent's oil-house; he wanted to be secreted until we sailed, as he wished to make his escape; for, he said, his master wanted to cut his head off, or to make him chop nut, i.e. to oblige him to eat a poisonous nut, which produces speedy death, because he had free-mason (meaning witchcraft), and that his master had been sick ever since he had last flogged him.

Picked up floating about the harbour, the long-boat of a French slaver, that had been taken while at anchor here, by a French man-of-war brig.-- Ther. at 1 P.M. 93. F. in the shade.

_Wednesday, 19_.--We saw from the vessel to-day, that Egbo was running about the town. A small canoe, with a couple of the Eden's Kroomen, came up the river this evening with a letter from the Eden's tender, for information respecting the Spanish slave-vessel that was expected to sail.

_Thursday, 20_.--Fine day, with a fresh sea breeze, which felt quite reviving after several hot days. Egbo again in action to-day, having been sent from Old Calabar to Robin's Town, a distance of three miles, to recover a debt for the Duke.

_Friday, 21_.--Old Calabar being yesterday, this was Duke's Sunday; but neither of these holidays were kept with the usual festivity, in consequence of the prescribed time of the mourning for the Prince, not having yet expired. When these holidays are observed, it is usual for the Duke to invite all the captains and super-cargoes of vessels in the river, when he gives them an excellent dinner, with plenty of palm-wine.

The dinner consists, generally, of goats, wild pigs, monkeys, fish, plain yams, foofoo, &c. The latter dish is a preparation of boiled yams, which are pounded in a mortar until they obtain a tenacity that will admit of being drawn out like birdlime. While the Duke is at dinner, or breakfast, he usually has some foofoo before him. This he rolls in his hands into small b.a.l.l.s, of about two inches in diameter, before he partakes of it: it is, however, but justice to remark, that his Majesty always washes his hands both before and after each meal.

There is a superst.i.tion, prevalent among these people, concerning food that is forbidden, which is pointed out to them from time to time by their doctor, or rather by the fetish men, who are the interpreters of his supposed will; the doctor himself being a mere wooden image; one of which is always carried about in the suite of the Duke. At the time of our visit, the Duke was forbidden to eat beef or fowls, consequently he never allowed them to be put on his table. He was occasionally permitted to eat fish, because, I presume, he was supposed to have a fancy for it.

At these times, the Duke's attendants are forbidden to taste fish.

Although the Duke does not eat beef or fowls, he occasionally orders the animals to be sacrificed as an offering to the devil: for the Calabar people say, that "G.o.d is a good man, and will not hurt them; but the devil is a bad man, and it is therefore necessary to appease him."

The natives of this country all shave on the day previous to Calabar Sunday; and it is curious enough that they all do so according to the Mahommedan mode, excepting when they make devils, that is, go into mourning, at which period, they not only omit shaving, but put on their worst clothes.

The captain of an English vessel, calling one day on a black gentleman, with whom he was on very friendly terms, opened the door suddenly, without ceremony, breaking a slight fastening, and found his friend under the hands of one of his wives, who was performing for him the office of a barber; a discovery which so offended the prejudices of the native, that he could never summon courage after that circ.u.mstance, to look the captain full in the face.

The Duke, King Eyo, and several black gentlemen, breakfasted, and began their trade, on board the James to-day. The form of breaking trade here is not so ceremonious as at the Bonny, being merely done by the Duke's visit a few days after the arrival of a vessel, when refreshments are provided for him and his suite, after which he selects whatever goods he wants, and the trade is then open to all his subjects.

_Sunday, 23_.--There were four guns fired in the town this afternoon, the object of which was to announce the death of a rich old lady; as they were not minute-guns one would suppose her relations were rejoicing at the event which had taken place.

_Monday, 24_.--This evening I accompanied Captains McGhar, Charles, c.o.xenham, and Smith, (all commanding English vessels in the river) to visit King Eyo at Creek Town, but our visit was rather of a different character to that which would be paid to crowned heads in Europe; in this instance our host was the gainer, as well as the honoured party, for his guests came amply provided with the luxuries of life, and he was only required to furnish a few necessaries, which are also presented to him by his subjects, or his particular slaves. The excursion, however, procured us a little variety, and terminated satisfactorily to all parties, but after the novelty of a first visit has pa.s.sed away, there is little interest to be found in a black town, the huts are all on the same plan; and the streets rugged and narrow.

_Tuesday, 25_.--About noon we left Creek Town, to return on board our respective vessels. Early in the evening we experienced a slight touch of a tornado, which in a few hours after was followed by a very violent one, and a good deal of heavy rain.

_Friday, 28_.--We completed our cargo of bullocks this afternoon, which we began to receive on board the preceding day. Our whole deck was now crowded with these animals, divided into compartments, with bamboo and other spars, leaving only a small s.p.a.ce in the fore and after parts to work the vessel. There was also a platform made in the hold for a further number. Took leave of our friends at Old Calabar, and dropped down the river just below seven fathom point, where we anch.o.r.ed for the night. Had a slight tornado this evening.

_Sat.u.r.day, 29_.--Got under weigh at daylight, but were obliged to anchor again before noon, both wind and tide being against us. We here found the Haywood, Captain Burrel, at anchor; she was from Liverpool, bound to Old Calabar, for palm-oil. The larger Liverpool vessels have generally a small one, for a tender, to collect palm-oil, ebony, and ivory,[38] at different places on the coast, as the ships generally remain in one river until their cargoes are complete. There was a dreadful accident happened to one of these tenders. She was boarded by a number of piratical blacks in canoes, belonging to an island near the mouth of the Camaroon river, when they murdered all the trader's crew, and after plundering the vessel of every thing they thought worth carrying away, they got clear off with their booty.

At 5 in the afternoon we got under weigh, and at 8 crossed the bar, where there was a heavy surf and only 15 feet water, so that we and our live stock were in some danger. Soon afterwards we were chased, and had two shots fired at us, being taken for a slaver escaping under cover of the night, and when the vessel was ranging up alongside, with the intention of pouring in a heavy fire and boarding us in the smoke, our a.s.sailants, to their great mortification, heard the bellowing of our oxen, and we discovered the vessel to be the Eden's tender, commanded by our friend Lieutenant Badgeley, who came on board, when we enjoyed a good laugh at his disappointment, in taking our horned cattle for slaves. We soon parted company, leaving him our best wishes.

_Sunday, 30_.--Soon after midnight the weather, from being very calm and clear, became overcast, and at 2 o'clock a tornado came on, which continued with frequent, and most violent gusts of wind, rain, thunder and lightning, till between five and six in the morning; our situation was not at all enviable, as we had both the deck, and hold, crowded with cattle. The violence and variableness of the wind soon raised a very rough and cross sea, which frequently broke over us, making every thing fly from side to side, and producing the greatest disorder. All this time I was in a small moveable bed-place on deck, expecting every instant that the sea would overwhelm us, and wash me and my bed-place overboard, for I was in no danger of being washed out of my bed, as it required no little management to emerge from it at pleasure. This berth of mine was commonly called a doghouse (a box about six feet long, four high, and two broad,) containing a mattress fitted about 18 inches from the deck, above which there was a sliding door and curtain, scarcely large enough to admit an ordinary sized man. I found it, however, much more pleasant in fine weather than sleeping below, where the c.o.c.kroaches were so numerous that a large dishful might be obtained in a few minutes, by putting a little treacle in it, to serve both for bait and trap. I used to think, that if the old story were a fact instead of a fiction, namely, that the Chinese make Soy of these animals, a very lucrative trade might be carried on between them and the natives of these coasts.

Our schooner was a low, sharp, fast sailing vessel, but in an irregular sea she was tossed about like a cork. At daylight the weather cleared up, and the day turned out fine with a moderate breeze, which died away towards noon, when being in sight of the vessels at anchor in Maidstone Bay, Captain Smith and I left the schooner, to pull thither in a boat, and got on board the Eden about two in the afternoon: we also went on board the Louisa, from Sierra Leone.

The accounts we received of our infant settlement were not so favourable as we could have desired, not with regard to the progress of operations, for that was greater than could be reasonably expected, but from the sickness that had prevailed, and the consequent loss of several valuable lives. Mr. Glover, the master of the house-carpenters, died only the preceding evening, and it is much to be feared that the panic which took place on the first symptom of illness, (from a deficiency of that moral courage which every Christian ought to possess) proved more fatal than the disease itself. This morning we had a most convincing ill.u.s.tration of this fact. One of the stoutest and healthiest of our Plymouth artificers, who exhibited no previous symptoms of illness, on hearing of the death of Mr. Glover burst into a fit of crying, and exclaimed, "Oh my wife! my children! I shall never see you again!" From that moment he drooped, and in a few days died from despondency.

_Good Friday, April, 4_.--About 11 o'clock last night, the sentinel over the provision store at Newmarket, observed a man lying on the ground, tearing away the watling off one side of the store. On being challenged, he rose up, either to make his escape, or to resist the sentinel, who was advancing with fixed bayonet. In the scuffle that followed, the culprit was wounded in his left breast, notwithstanding which he succeeded in releasing himself from the grasp of his adversary. The sentinel, however, returned to the charge, and following him up closely, felled him to the earth with a blow from the b.u.t.t-end of his musket.

Still, however, the thief struggled violently, and prostrate as he was, endeavoured to bring down his opponent by seizing his legs: the soldier was now compelled, in self-defence, to transfix his prisoner to the ground, by running his bayonet through his left arm, until the serjeant came up, who took him to the guard-house, whither he walked, notwithstanding his severe wounds, and great loss of blood. His appearance was that of a native, his body being coated with red clay, and the fore part of his head shaved, while he wore the usual ornaments, a girdle, and armlets, of beads: but he was soon discovered to be a soldier of the African Corps, named Gott, who had run away four months before, taking with him his arms, accoutrements, and clothes.

The African, schooner, sailed this afternoon, for the purpose of procuring yams and live stock from other parts of the island, our people having bought up the whole stock of the natives in the neighbourhood of the settlement. We found here a few oysters on the Mangrove trees near the sea-sh.o.r.e, within reach of the tide.