"On the morning, they set off with their canoes loaded deep with goods, and well armed. Of the proceeds of this expedition we only got twenty slaves, with assurance that our cargo would be completed next trip, as they had made arrangements up the country for more. Of those we received at this time, all had to get their hurts fomented and dressed, so much had they been injured, from the manner in which they had been secured by the traders; and it was some days before they were completely recovered. The gyves we put on did not gall the ankles, while they were secure; but their greatest inconvenience was that, on whatever occasion one had to move, the companion of his chain had to accompany him. During our tedious stay, it was my duty often to go to King Peppel's town for water, and there I recollect well, I met a handsome young female slave, who used to weep much, and importune me, in Negro English, to purchase and carry her to the West Indies with me. I was much surprised at this request, for the blacks are in general very averse to leave the country; and having made inquiry into her history, found it to be most cruel. I never was so sorry for a slave as I was for that young creature. She had been taken captive at the surprisal and plunder of her native town—her husband having escaped—and, being heavy with child, had been delivered on her way to the coast, where she and her infant were shipped for the West Indies. In the voyage out, the captain having taken a fancy to her person, kept her in his cabin, and did not sell her, but brought her again to Bonny, where he had come for a new cargo. It so happened that her husband had, like herself, been reduced to slavery, and was brought on board the very ship in which she was. Her feelings may more easily be conceived than described. Neither flattery nor punishment could make her comply with the captain's wishes; and he was so provoked, that he exchanged her for another slave with King Peppel, who had passed his word never to sell her to any one of the European traders. Her husband and child were meanwhile carried away, and she was left behind, to linger out a life of hopeless grief.
"Let me hasten to leave this horrible place. I could make your heart sick by relating a hundredth part of what I was forced to witness. As to what happened in our own ship, I cannot avoid. After next new moon, we received the remainder of our cargo—four hundred slaves, male and female. The receiving them on board is the most heart-breaking and disagreeable part of the whole of a slaving voyage. When they come first on board, extreme terror is expressed in every feature; and their tears and groans while being put in irons few hearts can withstand, even though hardened by two or three voyages. This was my first and last; I cursed my folly a thousand times, and would have rejoiced to have been a beggar in Scotland rather than where I was. The men are chained by the ankles, two and two, then placed within their own barricade; so that husband and wife, sister and brother, may be in the same ship, and not know of it. When they come first on board, many of them refuse to eat or drink, rather choosing to die than live, and thinking we only wish them to feed, that they may become fat and fit for our eating—a prejudice many of them firmly believe in, and founded on the notion that the whites are men-eaters, and purchase them to carry to market like bullocks. While this feeling is in their mind, which is called the sulky fit, there is much trouble with them. The men remain silent and sullen, the women weep and tremble. Arguments, could we speak the different tongues, would be of no avail—the cat is the only remedy; and that is administered until they comply. The sight of it, or a few strokes in general, is sufficient for the females; but many of the males will stand out a long time, and, during the flogging, never utter a groan—snapping their fingers in the face of their tormenters, and crying, 'O Furrie! O Furrie!' (Never mind!) always a sure token of their despair and recklessness. We were very fortunate in getting our cargo so soon. We had two or three visits of King Peppel alongside in his begging disguise—and wished no more. His custom was to visit each ship, meanly dressed, and in a whining voice, equivalent to a demand, beseech an alms—and he never begged in vain, for the royal beggar always got a handsome present; and, indeed, the ultimate success of the voyage required this, in consequence of his unlimited power over his subjects.
"Having got on board the lime-juice and other necessaries, all we required was the royal leave to depart; and at length his Majesty came on board, in as great state as at first—the same scene was acted over again—his parting-present was little inferior to the former, the difference being, that this was called a farewell present, and was returned by a man slave, and two elephant's teeth. The price of a prime male slave was, at this time, in Bonny, equal to an elephant's tooth of sixty-five pounds weight, or one thousand billets of red wood—nearly £10 of English money.
"Next day we set sail for St. Vincent, to our great joy, having lain here exactly six weeks and one day. Both the crew and the slaves began to grow very sickly. The duties of the crew were very severe, and, as disease prevailed, these became more and more disagreeable. As you seem interested, I will give you a faint, unconnected sketch of the run; but I would much rather pass it over, though the Queen Charlotte was remarked for her care and humanity to the slaves. To proceed:—
"Next morning, the negroes were forced upon deck, and the place where they had passed the night upon the bare boards, naked as they were born, was scrubbed with lime-juice, until every stain was removed. When upon deck, chained by the ankles, two and two, a strict watch behoved to be kept over them, to prevent them from throwing themselves overboard—a remedy for their sufferings they are keen to resort to for the first fortnight; and, when the state of the weather would permit, the drum and fife being played, they were compelled to dance at least twice a day, to make their blood circulate, and promote their health. At these times, there was such a clanking of chains and stamping upon the decks, you would have thought they would have been beaten to pieces by them; and no wonder, when they were about two hundred lusty fellows, all in violent exercise at one time. At first the cat was forced to be employed; but they are very fond of the drum, and soon call of themselves for "jiggery-jigg," as they term it; will take the instruments themselves, beat their own time in their own way, and dance away in then own fashion.
"We had four or five different nations on board. Of one nation we had only twenty, and these we found were more than enough, from the trouble they gave us, forcing us to confine them by themselves, as all the other nations were afraid of them, and said they were men-eaters. These stood nearly six feet high, and stout in proportion; their teeth were ground to a point, and fitted into each other like a rat-trap; their nails were long and strong; they were sullen and untractable, and of consequence often flogged to make them eat, at which times their looks, as they snapped their fingers in your face, and growled 'O Furrie!' to one another, were horrible. In vain was all our care and attention to them, and every indulgence consistent with the safety of the ship. They had each two glasses of brandy, and sometimes three, per day; but some nations would not taste it, while others would drink as much as we would have given them. Those who did not take their allowance would keep it in their bekka, (cocoa-nut shell;) and when any of the crew did them any little service, they would wait an opportunity, and beckon as slily as possible, and give it to them. It was really beautiful to witness their kindness to each other of the same nation. If any of us gave one of them a piece of salt beef—of which they were very fond, but of which they were allowed none, for fear of creating thirst—he that got it, though it were no larger than my finger, would pull it, fibre by fibre, and divide it equally, making, with scrupulous accuracy, his own proportion no larger than any of the others; while the man that gave it would get the grateful negro's day's allowance of liquor for it, when we went below to secure them for the night. Before they were turned below, they were carefully searched, lest they had concealed a nail, or any bit of iron, in their bekka, or little bag, by which they might have been enabled to undo their chains; and in the mornings, their irons and berths were as carefully examined. But what availed our care and attention, where sickness and death reigned triumphant? Never a day passed but one or two were thrown overboard, some days three; and, during our run to St. Vincent, of six weeks, we lost, out of a cargo of four hundred, one hundred and twenty. Two of the crew also died, and I myself was given up for death by the captain; but, contrary to his and my own expectation, I recovered rapidly. After I began to get convalescent, I had picked up a few of the poor creatures' words, and did my best, weak as I was, to relieve their wants, which were very urgent. The captain, from the very first, when he observed my dislike to the service I had engaged in, and the pity expressed in my looks, told me to take it easy, for that I would soon get accustomed to it. But I never could. Their complaints and piteous moans ceased not, night nor day. Although they were, in the night, confined below, and the crew had slung their hammocks on deck, under a spare sail, or anywhere they thought they would be most out of the sounds, still their moanings disturbed our sleep. Vain was the threat, 'Nappy becca—paum paum,' (Be quiet—I will beat you,) and the cat shaken over them. 'Eerie eerie cucoo' (I am sick plenty) was the reply. 'Biea de biea' (I want the doctor) sounded from every part; but 'Biea menie' (I want water) was the constant cry at all times—yet we were liberal in our allowance, and constantly supplying them with it.
"We gave them hot tea, when sick, made of pepper and boiled water, which they relished very much, crying often—'Biea de biea ocko menie—eerie eerie cucoo.' (I want the doctor and hot water—I am very sick.) This would often be repeated from twenty voices at once, in their soft, plaintive manner of speaking, as they gathered confidence from the time they had been on board. As long as they were able to move, we forced them to the deck; but we in general found them dead in the morning, when we went below to send them up. Often did the companion of the dead man's chain feign death, to be thrown overboard with him; but the cat was always applied to test him, and he was kept alive against his will. All this happened oftenest within the first fortnight or three weeks; for, by the fourth week, we had gained their confidence in a great measure, and their fears had worn off. The captain's custom was, when we found any one of them cheerful, and apparently easy in mind, to take off their chains, clothe them in a pair of trowsers and frock, and give them a charge over their fellows. Then they became proud, and stalked over the deck like admirals—and none more ready with the cat than they. Thus we gained upon them fast—the others envying those whom they saw dressed and trusted; so that, before we reach the end of the voyage, they were all, except some indomitable spirits, clothed, and walking the deck. Though still strictly watched, we allowed some of them to go aloft, and they soon became useful, more especially the boys, who before they left the vessel, were, some of them, no despicable seamen. When freed of their irons, and dressed, if they got the loan of a razor, or even a piece of broken bottle, they would shave, and cut their hair in their own fashion, and become, if possible, more vain and proud of their appearance. In the middle of this heart-rending misery, at least to me, there was one ray of light that enlivened the gloom.
"We had on board of us a son of Bonnyface, the prime minister or chief favourite of King Peppel. He had been intrusted to Captain Waugh, as a great favour, to take him to England for his education, and we were to take him out again next voyage. Billy Bonnyface acted on board like a ministering angel. He was a sweet boy, and of great service to the captain, in soothing and giving confidence to the slaves, and attending the sick. He felt most acutely for their distress, and was constantly pleading with the captain for some little comfort or other for them—the tears streaming down his ebony face, in which the unsophisticated workings of his young mind were more moving than his words. All looked upon him as a friend, while by those whose language he spoke he was almost adored. All the crew, too, loved him; for to every one of them he had rendered some little service, by interceding for them with the captain, over whom his influence was great. A smarter or more active boy I never saw; he spoke English, for a negro, very well, and took great delight in teaching the black boy-slaves, who learned amazingly fast. I know not how it was, but little Billy loved me more than any other of the crew, and I can safely say there was no love lost. When he had a moment at leisure he was ever with me. You can judge by my looks if there was anything comely in them; yet the dear boy often hung round my neck and kissed me, while I held him to my bosom, and he called me Dad Robion."
Here the worthy captain paused, as if from extreme emotion. I felt as if I could have wept myself. He hastily resumed—
"I am an old fool. I shall go on, if I don't sicken you with my gossip."