Karfa
Was Overpowered By This Unexpected Token Of My Gratitude, And Still
More So When He Heard That I Intended To Send A Handsome Present To
The Good Old Schoolmaster, Fankooma, At Malacotta.
He promised to
carry up the goods along with his own; and Dr. Laidley assured him
that he would exert himself in assisting him to dispose of his
slaves to the best advantage the moment a slave vessel should
arrive.
These and other instances of attention and kindness shown
him by Dr. Laidley were not lost upon Karfa. He would often say to
me, "My journey has indeed been prosperous!" But observing the
improved state of our manufactures and our manifest superiority in
the arts of civilised life, he would sometimes appear pensive, and
exclaim, with an involuntary sigh, Fato fing inta feng ("Black men
are nothing")! At other times he would ask me, with great
seriousness, what could possibly have induced me, who was no trader,
to think of exploring so miserable a country as Africa. He meant by
this to signify that, after what I must have witnessed in my own
country, nothing in Africa could in his opinion deserve a moment's
attention. I have preserved these little traits of character in
this worthy negro, not only from regard to the man, but also because
they appear to me to demonstrate that he possessed a mind ABOVE HIS
CONDITION. And to such of my readers as love to contemplate human
nature in all its varieties, and to trace its progress from rudeness
to refinement, I hope the account I have given of this poor African
will not be unacceptable.
No European vessel had arrived at Gambia for many months previous to
my return from the interior, and as the rainy season was now setting
in I persuaded Karfa to return to his people at Jindey. He parted
with me on the 14th with great tenderness; but as I had little hopes
of being able to quit Africa for the remainder of the year, I told
him, as the fact was, that I expected to see him again before my
departure. In this, however, I was luckily disappointed, and my
narrative now hastens to its conclusion; for on the 15th, the ship
Charlestown, an American vessel, commanded by Mr. Charles Harris,
entered the river. She came for slaves, intending to touch at Goree
to fill up, and to proceed from thence to South Carolina. As the
European merchants on the Gambia had at this time a great many
slaves on hand, they agreed with the captain to purchase the whole
of his cargo, consisting chiefly of rum and tobacco, and deliver him
slaves to the amount in the course of two days. This afforded me
such an opportunity of returning, though by a circuitous route, to
my native country as I thought was not to be neglected. I therefore
immediately engaged my passage in this vessel for America; and
having taken leave of Dr. Laidley, to whose kindness I was so
largely indebted, and my other friends on the river, I embarked at
Kayee on the 17th day of June.
Our passage down the river was tedious and fatiguing; and the
weather was so hot, moist, and unhealthy, that before our arrival at
Goree four of the seamen, the surgeon, and three of the slaves had
died of fevers. At Goree we were detained, for want of provisions,
until the beginning of October.
The number of slaves received on board this vessel, both on the
Gambia and at Goree, was one hundred and thirty, of whom about
twenty-five had been, I suppose, of free condition in Africa, as
most of those, being bushreens, could write a little Arabic. Nine
of them had become captives in the religious war between Abdulkader
and Damel, mentioned in the latter part of the preceding chapter.
Two of the others had seen me as I passed through Bondou, and many
of them had heard of me in the interior countries. My conversation
with them, in their native language, gave them great comfort; and as
the surgeon was dead I consented to act in a medical capacity in his
room for the remainder of the voyage. They had in truth need of
every consolation in my power to bestow; not that I observed any
wanton acts of cruelty practised either by the master or the seamen
towards them, but the mode of confining and securing negroes in the
American slave-ships (owing chiefly to the weakness of their crews)
being abundantly more rigid and severe than in British vessels
employed in the same traffic, made these poor creatures to suffer
greatly, and a general sickness prevailed amongst them. Besides the
three who died on the Gambia, and six or eight while we remained at
Goree, eleven perished at sea, and many of the survivors were
reduced to a very weak and emaciated condition.
In the midst of these distresses the vessel, after having been three
weeks at sea, became so extremely leaky as to require constant
exertion at the pumps. It was found necessary therefore to take
some of the ablest of the negro men out of irons and employ them in
this labour, in which they were often worked beyond their strength.
This produced a complication of miseries not easily to be described.
We were, however, relieved much sooner than I expected, for, the
leak continuing to gain upon us, notwithstanding our utmost
exertions to clear the vessel, the seamen insisted on bearing away
for the West Indies, as affording the only chance of saving our
lives. Accordingly, after some objections on the part of the
master, we directed our course for Antigua, and fortunately made
that island in about thirty-five days after our departure from
Goree. Yet even at this juncture we narrowly escaped destruction,
for on approaching the north-west side of the island we struck on
the Diamond Rock and got into St. John's Harbour with great
difficulty.
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