Travels Of Richard And John Lander Into The Interior Of Africa For The Discovery Of The Course And Termination Of The Niger By Robert Huish
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Moghtari Then Said, That Unless He Would Kiss Hameda's
Hands And Feet, He Should Be Put In Irons, Which He Peremptorily
Refused To Do.
Soon after.
Hameda's father came to Adams, and told
him, that unless he did kiss his son's feet and hands, he must be put
in irons. Adams then stated to him, that he could not submit to do
so; that it was contrary to his religion to kiss the hands and feet
of any person; that in his own country he had never been required to
do it; and that, whatever might be the consequence, he would not do
it. Finding he would not submit, the old man ordered that he should
be put in irons, and accordingly they fastened his feet together with
iron chains, and did the same by his hands. After he had remained in
this state about ten days, Moghtari came to him again, urging him to
do as required, and declaring that, if he did not, he should never
see the Christian country again. Adams, however, persevered in
turning a deaf ear to her entreaties and threats. Some time
afterwards, finding that confinement was destructive of his health,
Hameda came to him, and took the irons from his hands. The following
three weeks, he remained with the irons on his legs, during which
time, repeated and pressing entreaties, and the most dreadful threats
were used to induce him to submit; but all to no purpose. He was also
frequently advised by the mate and the other Christians, who used to
be sent to him, for the purpose of persuading him to submit, as he
must otherwise inevitably lose his life. At length, finding that
neither threats nor entreaties would avail, and Adams having remained
in irons from June to the beginning of August, and his sufferings
having reduced him almost to a skeleton, his master was advised to
sell him; for, if longer confined, he would certainly die, and
thereby prove a total loss. Influenced by this consideration, his
master at last determined to release him from his confinement; but,
although very weak, the moment he was liberated, he was set to
gathering in the corn.
About a week afterwards, Dolbie, the mate, fell sick. Adams had
called to see him, when Dolbie's master, named Brahim, a son of the
sheik, ordered him to get up and go to work, and upon Dolbie
declaring that he was unable, Brahim beat him with a stick, to compel
him to go; but as he still did not obey, Brahim threatened that he
would kill him; and upon Dolbie's replying, that he had better do so
at once than kill him by inches, Brahim stabbed him in the side with
his dagger, and he died in a few minutes. As soon as he was dead, he
was taken by some slaves a short distance from the town, where a hole
was dug, into which he was thrown without ceremony. As the grave was
not deep, and as it frequently happened that corpses after burial
were dug out of the ground by the foxes, Adams and his two surviving
companions went the next day and covered the grave with stones.
As the Moors were constantly urging them to become Mahommedans, and
they were unceasingly treated with the greatest brutality, the
fortitude of Williams and Davison being exhausted, they at last
unhappily consented to renounce their religion, and were circumcised;
by this means they obtained their liberty, after which they were
presented with a horse, a musket, and a blanket each, and permitted
to marry; no Christian being allowed, at any place inhabited by
Moors, to take a wife, or to cohabit with a moorish woman.
As Adams was now the only remaining Christian at Wadinoon, he became
in a more especial manner an object of the derision and persecution
of the Moors, who were constantly upbraiding and reviling him, and
telling him that his soul would be lost, unless he became a
Mahommedan, insomuch that his life was becoming intolerable.
Mr. Dupuis, speaking of the conduct which Adams received from the
Moors, says, "I can easily believe Adams' statement of the brutal
treatment he experienced at Wadinoon. It is consistent with the
accounts I have always heard of the people of that country, who I
believe to be more bigoted and cruel than even the remoter
inhabitants of the desert. In the frequent instances which have come
under my observation, the general effect of the treatment of the
Arabs on the minds of the Christian captives, has been most
deplorable. On the first arrival of these unfortunate men at
Mogadore, if they have been any considerable time in slavery, they
appear lost to reason and feeling, their spirits broken, and their
whole faculties sunk in a species of stupor, which I am unable
adequately to describe. Habited like the meanest Arabs of the desert,
they appear degraded even below the negro slave. The succession of
hardships, which they endure, from the caprice and tyranny of their
purchasers, without any protecting law to which they can appeal for
alleviation or redress, seems to destroy every spring of exertion or
hope in their minds; they appear indifferent to every thing around
them; abject, servile, and brutified."
"Adams alone was, in some respects, an exception from this
description. I do not recollect any ransomed Christian slave, who
discovered a greater elasticity of spirit, or who sooner recovered
from the indifference and stupor here described."
It is to be remarked, that the Christian captives are invariably
worse treated than the idolatrous or pagan slaves, whom the Arabs,
either by theft or purchase, bring from the interior of Africa, and
that religious bigotry is the chief cause of this distinction. The
zealous disciples of Mahomet consider the negroes merely as ignorant,
unconverted beings, upon whom, by the act of enslaving them, they are
conferring a benefit, by placing them within reach of instruction in
"the true belief;" and the negroes, having no hopes of ransom, and
being often enslaved when children, are in general, soon converted to
the Mahommedan faith.
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