Towards the middle of April, seeing his plants had produced less cotton than he expected, and that the hot winds and grasshoppers had made great havock in his plantations, my father decided to leave upon it but one old negro, for superintending the day-labourers, whom he had reduced to four. In the mean time, we learned that some merchants, settled at Senegal, had written to France against my father. They complained that he had not employed sufficient severity against some unfortunate persons who had not been able to pay their debts; and they exclaimed against some miserable speculations which he had made in the country of Fouta Toro, for procuring grain necessary for the support of his negroes.
The expedition to Galam making preparations for its departure,[13] my father, in spite of the insinuations of some merchants of the colony, was desirous also of trying his fortune. He associated himself with a person who was to make the voyage; he bought European goods, and refitted his boat, which again occasioned him loss. Towards the middle of August 1818, the expedition set off. A month after its departure, my cousin, whom the country had considerably affected, returned to France, to our great regret. My sister and myself found ourselves the only society to enable us to support our sorrows; however, as we hoped to return to France in a few years, we overcame our disappointment. We had already in some degree recovered our tranquillity, in spite of all our misfortunes and the solitude in which we lived, when my father received a letter from the governor of the colony, announcing to him, that, by the decision of the Minister of Marine, a new attorney had come to Senegal, and enjoining him at the same time to place the papers of the office in the hands of his successor.
[13] The voyage from Senegal to the country of Galam is made but once a year, because it is necessary to take advantage of the overflowing of the river, either in coming or going. The merchant boats which are destined to make the voyage, look like a fleet, and depart in the middle of August, under escort of a king's ship, commissioned to pay the droits and customs to the Negro princes of the interior, with whom that colony is connected.
Such a circumstance could not fail to affect us much; for the few resources we possessed made us anticipate an event almost as horrible as the shipwreck, which exposed our family to all the horrors of want in the boundless deserts of Sahara. My father, however, having nothing with which he could reproach himself, courageously supported this new misfortune, hoping sooner or later to be able to unmask those who had urged his ruin. He wrote a letter to his Excellency the Minister of Marine, in which he detailed the affairs of the office of the colony, the regularity of the accounts, the unfortunate condition to which his numerous family were reduced by the loss of his employment, and concluded with these words:—"Broken without being heard, at the end of twenty-nine years of faithful service, but too proud to make me afraid of a disgrace which cannot but be honourable to me, especially as it has its source in those philanthropic principles which I manifested in the abandoning of the raft of the Medusa, I resign myself in silence to my destiny."
This letter, full of energy, although a little too firm, failed not to affect the feeling heart of the Minister of Marine, who wrote to the governor of Senegal to give my father some employment in the administration of the colony. But that order had either remained too long in the office of the minister, or the governor of Senegal had judged it proper not to communicate the good news to us, as we did not hear of the order of the minister till after the death of my father, nearly fifteen months after its date.
When my father had rendered his accounts, and installed his successor into the colony's office, he told me it would be quite necessary to think of returning into his island of Safal, to cultivate it ourselves. He persuaded me that our plantation suffered solely from the want of our personal care, and that the happiness and tranquillity of a country life would soon make us forget our enemies and our sufferings. It was then decided that I should set off on the morrow, with two of my brothers, to go and cultivate the cotton at the plantation. We took our little shallop, and two negro sailors, and, by daybreak, were upon the river, leaving at Senegal my father, my sister Caroline, and the youngest of our brothers and sisters.
CHAPTER XII.
MISS PICARD LIVES IN THE ISLAND OF SAFAL—HER MANNER OF LIVING—SUFFERINGS SHE ENDURED—SHE GATHERS FLOWERS WHICH CONTAIN A DELETERIOUS POISON—HER TWO BROTHERS FALL SICK—THEY ARE CONVEYED TO SENEGAL—MISS PICARD OVERCOME WITH MELANCHOLY ALSO FALLS SICK—STATE IN WHICH SHE IS FOUND—A NEGRO BOILS FOR HER AN OLD VULTURE—RETURN OF MISS PICARD TO SENEGAL—HER CONVALESCENCE—HER RETURN TO THE ISLAND OF SAFAL—M. PICARD GOES THERE TO LIVE WITH ALL HIS FAMILY—DESCRIPTION OF THE FURNITURE OF THE AFRICAN COTTAGE—COUNTRY LIFE—COMFORT OF THEIR FIRESIDE—WALKS OF THE FAMILY—LITTLE PLEASURES WHICH THEY ENJOY.
For the space of two months I endured, as did my little brothers, the beams of a burning sun, the irritations of insects and thorns, and the want of that food to which we had been accustomed. I suffered during all the day from a severe headache; but I collected from the ground which belonged to us the cotton, on which were founded all our hopes. At night my two young brothers and myself retired into the cottage, which we used in the island; the working negroes brought the cotton we had collected during the day; after which I set about preparing supper. The children, accompanied by the old negro Etienne (the keeper of the plantation), went and picked up some branches of dry wood. We lighted a large fire in the middle of the hut, and I kneaded the cakes of millet flour which were to be our supper, as well as what was to supply us next day. My paste being prepared, I laid each cake upon the fire which the children had lighted. Often, and especially when we were very hungry, I placed them on a shovel of iron which I set upon the fire. This quick mode of proceeding procured us millet-bread in less than half an hour; but it must be confessed that this species of wafers or cakes, though well enough prepared and baked, was far from having the taste of those we eat at Paris. However, to make them more palatable, I added butter when I had it, or we ate them with some sour milk. With the first dish was served up at the same time the dessert, which stood in place of dainties, of roast meat and salad; it generally consisted of boiled beans, or roasted pistachio nuts. On festival days, being those when my father came to see us, we forgot our bad fare in eating the sweet bread he brought with him from Senegal.