Captain Canot Part 1

Captain Canot.

by Brantz Mayer and Theodore Canot.

TO

N. P. WILLIS,

OF IDLEWILD.

MY DEAR WILLIS,

While inscribing this work with your name, as a testimonial of our long, unbroken friendship, you will let me say, I am sure, not only how, but why I have written it.

About a year ago I was introduced to its hero, by Dr. James Hall, the distinguished founder and first governor of our colony at Cape Palmas.

While busy with his n.o.ble task in Africa, Dr. Hall accidentally became acquainted with Captain Canot, during his residence at Cape Mount, and was greatly impressed in his favor by the accounts of all who knew him. Indeed,--setting aside his career as a slaver,--Dr. Hall's observation convinced him that Canot was a man of unquestionable integrity. The zeal, moreover, with which he embraced the first opportunity, after his downfall, to mend his fortunes by honorable industry in South America, ent.i.tled him to respectful confidence. As their acquaintance ripened, my friend gradually drew from the wanderer the story of his adventurous life, and so striking were its incidents, so true its delineations of African character, that he advised the captain to prepare a copious memorandum, which I should write out for the public.

Let me tell you why I undertook this task; but first, let me a.s.sure you that, entertaining as the story might have been for a large cla.s.s of readers, I would not have composed a line for the mere gratification of scandalous curiosity. My conversations with Canot satisfied me that his disclosures were more thoroughly candid than those of any one who has. .h.i.therto related his connection with the traffic. I thought that the evidence of one who, for twenty years, played the chief part in such a drama, was of value to society, which, is making up its mind, not only about a great political and domestic problem, but as to the nature of the race itself. I thought that a true picture of aboriginal Africa,--unstirred by progress,--unmodified by reflected civilization,--full of the barbarism that blood and tradition have handed down from the beginning, and embalmed in its prejudices, like the corpses of Egypt,--could not fail to be of incalculable importance to philanthropists who regard no people as beyond the reach of enlightenment.

The completed task rises before me like a moving panorama whose scenery and background are the ocean and tropics, and whose princ.i.p.al actor combines the astuteness of Fouche with the dexterity of Gil Blas. I have endeavored to set forth his story as plainly as possible, letting events instead of descriptions develope a chequered life which was incessantly connected with desperate men of both colors. As he unmasked his whole career, and gave me leave to use the incidents, I have not dared to hide what the actor himself displayed no wish to conceal. Besides the sketches of character which familiarize us with the aboriginal negro in Africa, there is a good moral in the resultless life, which, after all its toils, hazards, and successes leaves the adventurer a stranded wreck in the prime of manhood. One half the natural capacity, employed industriously in lawful commerce, would have made the captain comfortable and independent. Nor is there much to attract in the singular abnegation of civilized happiness in a slaver's career. We may not be surprised, that such an _animal_ as Da Souza, who is portrayed in these pages, should revel in the sensualities of Dahomey; but we must wonder at the pa.s.sive endurance that could chain a superior order of man, like Don Pedro Blanco, for fifteen unbroken years, to his pestilential hermitage, till the avaricious anchorite went forth from the marshes of Gallinas, laden with gold. I do not think this story is likely to seduce or educate a race of slavers!

The frankness of Canot's disclosures may surprise the more reserved and timid cla.s.ses of society; but I am of opinion that there is an ethnographic value in the account of his visit to the Mandingoes and Fullahs, and especially in his narrative of the wars, jugglery, cruelty, superst.i.tion, and crime, by which one sixth of Africa subjects the remaining five sixths to servitude.

As the reader peruses these characteristic anecdotes, he will ask himself how,--in the progress of mankind,--such a people is to be approached and dealt with? Will the Mahometanism of the North which is winning its way southward, and infusing itself among the crowds of central Africa, so as, in some degree, to modify their barbarism, prepare the primitive tribes to receive a civilization and faith which are as true as they are divine? Will our colonial fringe spread its fibres from the coast to the interior, and, like veins of refreshing blood, pour new currents into the mummy's heart? Is there hope for a nation which, in three thousand years, has hardly turned in its sleep?

The identical types of race, servitude, occupation, and character that are now extant in Africa, may be found on the Egyptian monuments built forty centuries ago; while a Latin poem, attributed to Virgil, describes a menial negress who might unquestionably pa.s.s for a slave of our Southern plantations:

"Interdum clamat Cybalen; erat unica custos; Afra genus, tota patriam testante figura; Torta comam, labroque tumens, et fusca colorem; Pectore lata, jacens mammis, compressior alvo, Cruribus exilis, spatiosa prodiga planta; Continuis rimis calcanea scissa rigebant."[1]

It will be seen from these hints that our memoir has nothing to do with slavery as a North American inst.i.tution, except so far as it is an inheritance from the system it describes; yet, in proportion as the details exhibit an innate or acquired inferiority of the negro race _in its own land_, they must appeal to every generous heart in behalf of the benighted continent.

It has lately become common to a.s.sert that Providence permits _an exodus through slavery_, in order that the liberated negro may in time return, and, with foreign acquirements, become the pioneer of African civilization. It is attempted to reconcile us to this "good from evil," by stopping inquiry with the "inscrutability of G.o.d's ways!"

But we should not suffer ourselves to be deceived by such imaginary irreverence; for, in G.o.d's ways, there is nothing _less_ inscrutable than his _law of right_. That law is never qualified in this world. It moves with the irresistible certainty of organized nature, and, while it makes man free, in order that his responsibility may be unquestionable, it leaves mercy, even, for the judgment hereafter.

Such a system of divine law can never palliate _the African slave trade_, and, in fact, it is the basis of that human legislation which converts the slaver into a pirate, and awards him a felon's doom.

For these reasons, we should discountenance schemes like those proposed not long ago in England, and sanctioned by the British government, for the encouragement of spontaneous emigration from Africa under the charge of _contractors_. The plan was viewed with fear by the colonial authorities, and President Roberts at once issued a proclamation to guard the natives. No one, I think, will read this book without a conviction that the idea of _voluntary expatriation_ has not dawned on the African mind, and, consequently, what might begin in laudable philanthropy would be likely to end in practical servitude.

Intercourse, trade, and colonization, in slow but steadfast growth, are the providences intrusted to us for the n.o.ble task of civilization. They who are practically acquainted with the colored race of our country, have long believed that gradual colonization was the only remedy for Africa as well as America. The repugnance of the free blacks to _emigration from our sh.o.r.es_ has produced a tardy movement, and thus the African population has been thrown back grain by grain, and not wave by wave. Every one conversant with the state of our colonies, knows how beneficial this languid accretion has been. It moved many of the most enterprising, thrifty, and independent. It established a social nucleus from the best cla.s.ses of American colored people. Like human growth, it allowed the frame to mature in muscular solidity. It gave immigrants time to test the climate; to learn the habit of government in states as well as in families; to acquire the bearing of freemen; to abandon their imitation of the whites among whom they had lived; and thus, by degrees, to consolidate a social and political system which may expand into independent and lasting nationality. Instead, therefore, of lamenting the slowness with which the colonies have reached their vigorous promise, we should consider it a blessing that the vicious did not rush forth in turbulent crowds with the worthy, and impede the movements of better folks, who were still unused to the task of self-reliance.

Men are often too much in a hurry to do good, and mar by excessive zeal what patience would complete. "Deus quies quia aeternus," saith St. Augustine. The cypress is a thousand years in growth, yet its limbs touch not the clouds, save on a mountain top. Shall the regeneration of a continent be quicker than its ripening? That would be miracle--not progress.

Accept this offering, my dear Willis, as a token of that sincere regard, which, during an intimacy of a quarter of a century, has never wavered in its friendly trust.

Faithfully, yours,

BRANTZ MAYER.

BALTIMORE, _1st July, 1854_.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] MORETUM,--Carm. Virg. Wagner's ed. vol. 4, p. 301.

CONTENTS.

PAGE CHAP. I.--My parentage and education--Apprenticed at Leghorn to an American captain--First voyage--its mishaps--overboard--black cook--Sumatra--cabin-boy--Arrival in Boston--My first _command_--View of Boston harbor from the mast-head--My first interview with a Boston merchant, WILLIAM GRAY 1

CHAP. II.--My uncle tells my adventure with LORD BYRON--CAPTAIN TOWNE, and my life in Salem--My skill in Latin--Five years voyaging from Salem--I rescue a Malay girl at Quallahbattoo--The _first_ slave I ever saw--End of my apprenticeship--My backslidings in Antwerp and Paris--Ship on a British vessel for Brazil--The captain and his wife--Love, grog, and grumbling--A scene in the harbor of Rio--Matrimonial happiness--Voyage to Europe--Wreck and loss on the coast near Ostend 10

CHAP. III.--I design going to South America--A Dutch galliot for Havana--Male and female captain--Run foul of in the Bay of Biscay--Put into Ferrol, in Spain--I am appropriated by a _new_ mother, grandmother, and sisters--A comic scene--How I got out of the sc.r.a.pe--Set sail for Havana--Jealousy of the captain--Deprived of my post--Restored--Refuse to do duty--Its sad consequences--Wrecked on a reef near Cuba--Fisherman-wreckers--Offer to land cargo--Make a bargain with our salvors--A sad _denouement_--A night bath and escape 19

CHAP. IV.--Bury my body in the sand to escape the insects--Night of horror--Refuge on a tree--Scented by bloodhounds--March to the rancho--My guard--Argument about my fate--"MY UNCLE" RAFAEL suddenly appears on the scene--Magic change effected by my relationship--Clothed, and fed, and comforted--I find an uncle, and am protected--MESCLET--Made cook's mate--Gallego, the cook--His appearance and character--DON RAFAEL'S story--"Circ.u.mstances"--His counsel for my conduct on the island 31

CHAP. V.--Life on a sand key--Pirates and wreckers--Their difference--Our galliot destroyed--the gang goes to Cuba--I am left with Gallego--His daily fishing and nightly flitting--I watch him--My discoveries in the graveyard--Return of the wreckers--"Amphibious Jews"--Visit from a Cuban inspector--"Fishing license"--Gang goes to Cape Verde--Report of a fresh wreck--Chance of escape--Arrival--Return of wreckers--Bachicha and his clipper--Death of Mesclet--My adventures in a privateer--My restoration to the key--Gallego's charges--His trial and fate 41

CHAP. VI.--I am sent from the key--Consigned to a grocer at Regla--CIBO--His household--Fish-loving padre--Our dinners and studies--Rafael's fate--Havana--A slaver--I sail for Africa--The Areostatico's voyage, crew, gale--Mutiny--How I meet it alone--My first night in Africa! 57

CHAP. VII.--Reflections on my conduct and character--Morning after the mutiny--Burial of the dead--My wounds--JACK ORMOND or the "MONGO JOHN"--My physician and his prescription--Value of woman's milk--I make the vessel ready for her slave cargo--I dine with Mongo John--His harem--Frolic in it--Duplicity of my captain--I take service with Ormond as his clerk--I _pack_ the human cargo of the Areostatico--Farewell to my English cabin-boy--His story 68

CHAP. VIII.--I take possession of my new quarters--My household and its fittings--History of Mr. Ormond--How he got his rights in Africa--I take a survey of his property and of my duties--The Cerberus of his harem--Unga-golah's stealing--Her rage at my opposition--A night visit at my quarters--ESTHER, the quarteroon--A warning and a sentimental scene--Account of an African factor's harem--Mongo John in his decline--His women--Their flirtations--Battles among the girls--How African beaus fight a duel _for love_!--Scene of pa.s.sionate jealousy among the women 76

CHAP. IX.--Pains and dreariness of the "wet season"--African rain!--A CARAVAN announced as coming to the Coast--Forest paths and trails in Africa--How we arrange to catch a caravan--"Barkers," who they are--AHMAH-DE-BELLAH, son of the ALI-MAMI of FOOTHA-YALLON--A Fullah chief leads the caravan of 700 persons--Arrival of the caravan--Its character and reception--Its produce taken charge of--People billeted--Mode of trading for the produce of a caravan--(_Note:_ Account of the produce, its value and results)--Mode of purchasing the produce--Sale over--Gift of an ostrich--Its value in guns--_Bungee_ or "_dash_"--Ahmah-de-Bellah--How he got up his caravan--Blocks the forest paths--Convoy duties--Value and use of blocking the forest paths--Collecting debts, &c.--My talks with Ahmah--his instructions and sermons on Islamism--My geographical disquisitions, rotundity of the world, the Koran--I consent to turn, _minus_ the baptism!--Ahmah's attempt to vow me to Islamism--Fullah punishments--Slave wars--Piety and profit--Ahmah and I exchange gifts--A double-barrelled gun for a Koran--I promise to visit the Fullah country 84

CHAP. X.--Mode of purchasing Slaves at factories--Tricks of jockeys--Gunpowder and lemon-juice--I become absolute manager of the stores--Reconciliation with Unga-golah--La belle Esther--I get the African fever--My nurses--Cured by sweating and bitters--Ague--Showerbath remedy--MR. EDWARD JOSEPH--My union with him--I quit the Mongo, and take up my quarters with the Londoner 94

CHAP. XI.--An epoch in my life in 1827--A vessel arrives consigned to me for slaves--LA FORTUNA--How I managed to sell my cigars and get a cargo, though I had no factory--My first shipment--(Note on the cost and profit of a slave voyage)--How slaves are selected for various markets, and shipped--Go on board naked--hearty feed before embarkation--Stowage--Messes--Mode of eating--Grace--Men and women separated--Attention to health, cleanliness, ventilation--Singing and amus.e.m.e.nts--Daily purification of the vessel--Night, order and silence preserved by negro constables--Use and disuse of handcuffs--Brazilian slavers--(Note on condition of slavers since the treaty with Spain) 99

CHAP. XII.--How a cargo of slaves is landed in Cuba--Detection avoided--"_Gratificaciones_." Clothes distributed--Vessel burnt or sent in as a coaster, or in distress--A slave's first glimpse of a Cuban plantation--Delight with food and dress--Oddity of beasts of burden and vehicles--A slave's first interview with a negro _postilion_--the postilion's sermon in favor of slavery--Dealings with the anchorites--How tobacco smoke blinds public functionaries--My popularity on the Rio Pongo--Ormond's enmity to me 107

CHAP. XIII.--I become intimate with "Country princes" and receive their presents--Royal marriages--Insulting to refuse a proffered wife--I am pressed to wed a princess and my diplomacy to escape the sable noose--My partner agrees to marry the princess--The ceremonial of wooing and wedding in African high life--COOMBA 110

CHAP. XIV.--JOSEPH, my partner, has to fly from Africa--How I save our property--My visit to the BAGERS--their primitive mode of life--Habits--Honesty--I find my property unguarded and safe--My welcome in the village--Gift of a goat--Supper--Sleep--A narrow escape in the surf on the coast--the skill of KROOMEN 118

CHAP. XV.--I study the inst.i.tution of SLAVERY IN AFRICA--Man becomes a "legal tender," or the coin of Africa--Slave wars, how they are directly promoted by the peculiar adaptation of the trade of the great commercial nations--Slavery an immemorial inst.i.tution in Africa--How and why it will always be retained--Who are made _home_ slaves--Jockeys and brokers--Five sixths of Africa in domestic bondage 126

CHAP. XVI.--Caravan announced--MAMI-DE-YONG, from Footha-Yallon, uncle of Ahmah-de-Bellah--My ceremonious reception--My preparations for the chief--Coffee--his school and teaching--NARRATIVE OF HIS TRIP TO TIMBUCTOO--Queer black-board map--prolix story teller--Timbuctoo and its trade--Slavery 129

CHAP. XVII.--I set forth on my journey to TIMBO, to see the father of Ahmah-de-Bellah--My caravan and its mode of travel--My Mussulman pa.s.sport--Forest roads--Arrive at KYA among the MANDINGOES--My lodgings--IBRAHIM ALI--Our supper and "bitters"--A scene of piety, love and liquor--Next morning's headache--ALI-NINPHA begs leave to halt for a day--I manage our Fullah guide--My fever--h.o.m.oeopathic dose of Islamism from the Koran--My cure--Afternoon 136

CHAP. XVIII.--A ride on horseback--Its exhilaration in the forest--Visit to the DEVIL'S FOUNTAIN--Tricks of an echo and sulphur water--Ibrahim and I discourse learnedly upon the ethics of fluids--My respect for national peculiarities--Our host's liberality--Mandingo etiquette at the departure of a guest--A valuable gift from Ibrahim and its delicate bestowal--My offering in return--Tobacco and brandy 143

CHAP. XIX.--A night bivouac in the forest--Hammock swung between trees--A surprise and capture--What we do with the fugitive slaves--A Mandingo upstart and his "town"--Inhospitality--He insults my Fullah leader--A quarrel--The Mandingo is seized and his townsfolk driven out--We tarry for Ali-Ninpha--He returns and tries his countrymen--Punishment--Mode of inculcating the social virtues among these interior tribes--We cross the Sanghu on an impromptu bridge--Game--Forest food--Vegetables--A "Witch's cauldron" of reptiles for the negroes 147

CHAP. XX.--Spread of Mahometanism in the interior of Africa--The external aspect of nature in Africa--Prolific land--Indolence a law of the physical const.i.tution--My caravan's progress--The ALI-MAMI'S PROTECTION, its value--Forest scenery--Woods, open plains, barrancas and ravines--Their intense heat--Prairies--Swordgra.s.s--River scenery, magnificence of the sh.o.r.es, foliage, flowers, fruits and birds; picturesque towns, villages and herds--Mountain scenery, view, at _morning_, over the lowlands--An African noon 153