Having asked the officer whether any of the negresses
would wish to be married, he replied that all the women wished to marry,
and that they had already selected their husbands!
This was wholesale matrimony, that required a church as large as
Westminster Abbey, and a whole company of clergy!
Fortunately, matters are briefly arrranged in Africa. I saw the loving
couples standing hand in hand. Some of the girls were pretty, and my
black troops had shown good taste in their selection. Unfortunately,
however, for the Egyptian regiment, the black ladies had a strong
antipathy to brown men, and the suitors were all refused. This was a
very awkward affair. The ladies having received their freedom, at once
asserted "woman's rights."
I was obliged to limit the matrimonial engagements, and those who were
for a time condemned to single blessedness were placed in charge of
certain officers to perform the cooking for the troops and other
domestic work. I divided the boys into classes; some I gave to the
English workmen to be instructed in carpenter's and blacksmith's work;
others were apprenticed to tailors, shoemakers, &c., in the regiment,
while the best looking were selected as domestic servants. A nice little
girl, of about three years old, without parents, was taken care of by my
wife.
When slaves are liberated in large numbers there is always a difficulty
in providing for them. We feel this dilemma when our cruisers capture
Arab dhows on the east coast of Africa, and our government becomes
responsible for an influx of foundlings.
