The day after our arrival within the realm of this great spider,--who,
throned in the centre of his mesh, was able to catch almost every fly
that flew athwart the web,--I landed at one of the minor factories,
and sold a thousand quarter-kegs of powder to Don Jose Ramon. But,
next day, when I proceeded in my capacity of interpreter to the
establishment of Don Pedro, I found his Castilian plumage ruffled,
and, though we were received with formal politeness, he declined to
purchase, because we had failed to address _him_ in advance of any
other factor on the river.
The folks at Sierra Leone dwelt so tenderly on the generous side of
Blanco's character, that I was still not without hope that I might
induce him to purchase a good deal of our rum and tobacco, which would
be drugs on our hands unless he consented to relieve us. I did not
think it altogether wrong, therefore, to concoct a little _ruse_
whereby I hoped to touch the pocket through the breast of the Don. In
fact, I addressed him a note, in which I truly related my recent
mishaps, adventures, and imprisonments; but I concluded the narrative
with a hope that he would succor one so destitute and unhappy, by
allowing him to win an honest _commission_ allowed by the American
captain on any sales I could effect. The bait took; a prompt, laconic
answer returned; I was bidden to come ashore with the invoice of our
cargo; and, _for my sake_, Don Pedro purchased from the Yankee brig
$5000 worth of rum and tobacco, all of which was paid by drafts on
London, _of which slaves were, of course, the original basis_! My
imaginary commissions, however, remained in the purse of the owners.
An accident occurred in landing our merchandise, which will serve to
illustrate the character of Blanco. While the hogsheads of tobacco
were discharging, our second mate, who suffered from _strabismus_ more
painfully than almost any cross-eyed man I ever saw, became
excessively provoked with one of the native boatmen who had been
employed in the service. It is probable that the negro was insolent,
which the mate thought proper to chastise by throwing staves at the
Krooman's head. The negro fled, seeking refuge on the other side of
his canoe; but the enraged officer continued the pursuit, and, in his
double-sighted blundering, ran against an oar which the persecuted
black suddenly lifted in self-defence. I know not whether it was rage
or blindness, or both combined, that prevented the American from
seeing the blade, but on he dashed, rushing impetuously against the
implement, severing his lip with a frightful gash, and knocking four
teeth from his upper jaw.
Of course, the luckless negro instantly fled to "the bush;" and, that
night, in the agony of delirium, caused by fever and dreaded
deformity, the mate terminated his existence by laudanum.
The African law condemns the man who _draws blood_ to a severe fine in
slaves, proportioned to the harm that may have been inflicted.
Accordingly, the culprit Krooman, innocent as he was of premeditated
evil, now lay heavily loaded with irons in Don Pedro's barracoon,
awaiting the sentence which the whites in his service already declared
_should be death_. "He struck a white!" they said, and the wound he
inflicted was reported to have caused that white man's ruin. But,
luckily, before the sentence was executed, _I_ came ashore, and, as
the transaction occurred in my presence, I ventured to appeal from the
verdict of public opinion to Don Pedro, with the hope that I might
exculpate the Krooman. My simple and truthful story was sufficient.
An order was instantly given for the black's release, and, in spite of
native chiefs and grumbling whites, who were savagely greedy for the
fellow's blood, Don Pedro persisted in his judgment and sent him back
on board the "Reaper."
The character manifested by Blanco on this occasion, and the admirable
management of his factory, induced me to seize a favorable moment to
offer my services to the mighty trader. They were promptly accepted,
and in a short time I was employed as _principal_ in one of Don
Pedro's branches.
The Vey natives on this river and its neighborhood were not numerous
before the establishment of Spanish factories, but since 1813, the
epoch of the arrival of several Cuban vessels with rich, merchandise,
the neighboring tribes flocked to the swampy flats, and as there was
much similarity in the language and habits of the natives and
emigrants, they soon intermarried and mingled in ownership of the
soil.
In proportion as these upstarts were educated in slave-trade under the
influence of opulent factors, they greedily acquired the habit of
hunting their own kind and abandoned all other occupations but war and
kidnapping. As the country was prolific and the trade profitable, the
thousands and tens of thousands annually sent abroad from Gallinas,
soon began to exhaust the neighborhood; but the appetite for plunder
was neither satiated nor stopped by distance, when it became necessary
for the neighboring natives to extend their forays and hunts far into
the interior. In a few years war raged wherever the influence of this
river extended. The slave factories supplied the huntsmen with powder,
weapons, and enticing merchandise, so that they fearlessly advanced
against ignorant multitudes, who, too silly to comprehend the benefit
of alliance, fought the aggressors singly, and, of course, became
their prey.
Still, however, the demand increased. Don Pedro and his satellites had
struck a vein richer than the gold coast. His flush barracoons became
proverbial throughout the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, and his
look-outs were ceaseless in their signals of approaching vessels. New
factories were established, as branches, north and south of the
parent den. Mana Rock, Sherbro, Sugarei, Cape Mount, Little Cape
Mount, and even Digby, at the door of Monrovia, all had depots and
barracoons of slaves belonging to the whites of Gallinas.
But this prosperity did not endure. The torch of discord, in a civil
war which was designed for revengeful murder rather than slavery, was
kindled by a black Paris, who had deprived his uncle of an Ethiopian
Helen. Every bush and hamlet contained its Achilles and Ulysses, and
every town rose to the dignity of a Troy.
The geographical configuration of the country, as I have described
it, isolated almost every family of note on various branches of the
river, so that nearly all were enabled to fortify themselves within
their islands or marshy flats. The principal parties in this family
feud were the Amarars and Shiakars. Amarar was a native of Shebar,
and, through several generations, had Mandingo blood in his
veins;--Shiakar, born on the river, considered himself a noble of the
land, and being aggressor in this conflict, disputed his prize with
the wildest ferocity of a savage. The whites, who are ever on the
watch for native quarrels, wisely refrained from partisanship with
either of the combatants, but continued to purchase the prisoners
brought to their factories by both parties. Many a vessel bore across
the Atlantic two inveterate enemies shackled to the same bolt, while
others met on the same deck a long-lost child or brother who had been
captured in the civil war.
I might fill a volume with the narrative of this horrid conflict
before it was terminated by the death of Amarar. For several months
this savage had been blockaded in his stockade by Shiakar's warriors.
At length a sortie became indispensable to obtain provisions, but the
enemy were too numerous to justify the risk. Upon this, Amarar called
his soothsayer, and required him to name a propitious moment for the
sally. The oracle retired to his den, and, after suitable
incantations, declared that the effort should be made as soon as the
hands of Amarar were stained in the blood of his own son. It is said
that the prophet intended the victim to be a youthful son of Amarar,
who had joined his mother's family, and was then distant; but the
impatient and superstitious savage, seeing a child of his own, two
years old, at hand, when the oracle announced the decree, snatched the
infant from his mother's arms, threw it into a rice mortar, and, with
a pestle, mashed it to death!
The sacrifice over, a sortie was ordered. The infuriate and starving
savages, roused by the oracle and inflamed by the bloody scene, rushed
forth tumultuously. Amarar, armed with the pestle, still warm and
reeking with his infant's blood, was foremost in the onset. The
besiegers gave way and fled; the town was re-provisioned; the
fortifications of the enemy demolished, and the soothsayer rewarded
with a slave for his barbarous prediction!
At another time, Amarar was on the point of attacking a strongly
fortified town, when doubts were intimated of success. Again the
wizard was consulted, when the mysterious oracle declared that the
chief "_could not conquer till he returned once more to his mother's
womb_!" That night Amarar committed the blackest of incests; but his
party was repulsed, and the false prophet stoned to death!
These are faint incidents of a savage drama which lasted several
years, until Amarar, in his native town, became the prisoner of
Shiakar's soldiery. Mana, his captor, caused him to be decapitated;
and while the blood still streamed from the severed neck, the
monster's head was thrust into the fresh-torn bowels of his mother!