“My brothers were named ’Omar, Sálih, Sa’íd, Músá Bábà, Múmin, ’Abd-allah, Suleïmán, Mustafá, Yúsuf, and ’Abdu-r-rahmán; but my mother’s side, Sálih only. My sisters were ’A’yishah, Aminah, Selímah, Hawái [Eve], and Keltum; but Aminah only on my mother’s side. These men and these women issued, all of them, from the stock of the Sheïkh ’Abdu-l-kádir, the sheríf, and their family name is Mór.

“About five years after my father’s death, I asked my instructor, who taught me the Koran, to go with me to the city of Ghónah to visit my father’s grave. He answered, ‘Yea, Abú Bekr assiddík, if it please God, I will do that thou dost desire.’ He then prepared himself, and sought for provision for the road; and he was followed by a large company of his disciples,[196] who bewailed him. We reached the city of Kong, and afterwards went on to the city of Ghónah; and abode there a long time, reckoning that country as our own. We found protection[197] in that country. Two years after our arrival in Ghónah, it entered into my teacher’s heart to set out on the pilgrimage; and while he was making diligent enquiries from people who were going to perform the pilgrimage, some men told him of the business of Mohammed Keshín and his brother ’Omar, and Adam, of the land of Buntukhú. He then began to make inquiries of the people of Buntukkú, and they told him that Omar and Mohammed Keshín had departed, and had left Adam behind; that he was not [now] going, but wished to go. My master made haste to seek for him in some of the towns, and left me in the city of Ghónah with my uncle Mahmúd.

“At this time we heard the news of the business of Adingharah, Sultán of Buntukkú, after the Sultán of Bandah, or Inkoransá, who was named Afwá, had been killed. They say Adinkarah wished to kill Kujóh, governor of Kolongzhwí, a town belonging to the Sultán of Ghónah. He wished to kill him, because of what happened between him and Dikkì, his deputy [who had been killed by Kujóh]. Adinkarah, therefore wished to put the latter to death by way of retaliation. Adinkarah, Sultán of Buntukkú, sent to Kujóh, requiring him to pay a great deal of gold as a ransom for his life,[198] and Kujóh sent what he required; but he refused to accept it, and said to Kujóh’s messenger, ‘Return to thy master, and say to him, “Unless thou increase it by 200 times as much, I will not accept it; but my sword shall take his head from off his neck; thou shalt die a swift death.” When this messenger came to his master, and told him these words, Kujóh stretched out his hand, took back the gold, and kept it; and likewise sent a messenger to the Sultán of Ghónah to tell him what had happened.

“Then was Adinkarah very wroth; and he ordered all his captains to gather all their soldiers together, and follow him to make war against Kujóh, and to kill him, that they might avenge the death of his servant Dikkí. When the Sultán of Ghónah heard that Adinkarah, Sultán to Buntukkú, and his army, had come against them to kill them, he and all his host, together with Kujóh, rose up to meet them, and marched against them as far as the town of Bolóh, choosing to attack them there; and there they fought from mid-day till evening. Then they separated, and returned to their own places. Seven days afterwards, they again gathered themselves together, and engaged in battle, at the town of Amvighóh. It was a hard fought battle, and many souls perished on that day. Thus did Adinkarah overcome the King of Ghónah, and take the town of Amvighóh. The people of Ghónah fled, and some of them passed on [as far as] to the city of Kong.

“On that day was I made a slave. They tore off my cloths, bound me with ropes, laid on me a heavy burden, and carried me to the town of Buntukkú, and from thence to the town of Kumásí, the King of Ashantí’s town. From thence through Askumá and Ajimmakúh, in the land of Fantí, to Daghóh, near the salt sea.

“There they sold me to the Christians, and I was bought by a certain captain of a ship of that town. He sent me to a boat, and delivered me to the people of the ship. We continued on board ship, at sea, for three months, and then came on shore in the land of Jamaica. This was the beginning of my slavery until this day. I tasted the bitterness of slavery from them,[199] and its oppressiveness; but praise be to God, under whose power are all things, He doth whatsoever he willeth! No one can turn aside that which he hath ordained, nor can any one withhold that which He hath given! As God Almighty himself hath said:—Nothing can befal us unless it be written for us (in his book)! He is our master: in God, therefore, let all the faithful put their trust!

“The faith of our families is the faith of Islám. They circumcise the foreskin; say the five prayers;[200] fast every year in the month of Ramadán; give alms as ordained in the law; marry [only] four free women—a fifth is forbidden to them except she be their slave; they fight for the faith of God; perform the pilgrimage [to Mecca]—i.e. such as are able so to do; eat the flesh of no beast but what they have slain for themselves; drink no wine—for whatever intoxicates is forbidden unto them; they do not keep company with those whose faith is contrary to theirs,—such as worshippers of idols, men who swear falsely by the name of the Lord, who dishonour their parents, commit murder or robbery, bear false witness, are covetous, proud, insolent, hypocrites, unclean in their discourse, or do any thing that is forbidden: they teach their children to read, and [instruct them in] the different parts of knowledge; their minds are perfect and blameless according to the measure of their faith.

“Verily I have erred and done wickedly, but I entreat God to guide my heart in the right path, for he knoweth what is in my heart, and whatever [can be pleaded] in my behalf.

“Finished in the month of August, on the 29th day, in the year of the Messiah

1834 [1835].”