The first expedition upon which Don Pedro Blanco despatched me
revealed a new phase of Africa to my astonished eyes. I was sent in a
small Portuguese schooner to Liberia for tobacco; and here the trader
who had never contemplated the negro on the shores of his parent
country except as a slave or a catcher of slaves, first beheld the
rudiments of an infant state, which in time may become the wedge of
Ethiopian civilization. The comfortable government house, neat public
warerooms, large emigration home, designed for the accommodation of
the houseless; clean and spacious streets, with brick stores and
dwellings; the twin churches with their bells and comfortable
surroundings; the genial welcome from well dressed negroes; the
regular wharves and trim craft on the stocks, and last of all, a visit
from a colored collector with a _printed_ bill for twelve dollars
"anchor dues," all convinced me that there was, in truth, something
more in these ebony frames than an article of commerce and labor. I
paid the bill eagerly,--considering that a document _printed in Africa
by Negroes_, under North American influence, would be a curiosity
among the infidels of Gallinas!
My engagements with Blanco had been made on the basis of familiarity
with the slave-trade in all its branches, but my independent spirit
and impatient temper forbade, from the first, the acceptance of any
subordinate position at Gallinas. Accordingly, as soon as I returned
from the new Republic, Don Pedro desired me to prepare for the
establishment of a branch factory, under my exclusive control, at New
Sestros, an independent principality in the hands of a Bassa chief.
I lost no time in setting forth on this career of comparative
independence, and landed with the trading cargo provided for me, at
the Kroomen's town, where I thought it best to dwell till a factory
could be built.
An African, as well as a white man, must be drilled into the traffic.
It is one of those things that do not "come by nature:" yet its
mysteries are acquired, like the mysteries of commerce generally, with
much more facility by some tribes than others. I found this signally
illustrated by the prince and people of New Sestros, and very soon
detected their great inferiority to the Soosoos, Mandingoes, and Veys.
For a time their conduct was so silly, arrogant, and trifling, that I
closed my chests and broke off communication. Besides this, the slaves
they offered were of an inferior character and held at exorbitant
prices. Still, as I was commanded to purchase rapidly, I managed to
collect about seventy-five negroes of medium grades, all of whom I
designed sending to Gallinas in the schooner that was tugging at her
anchor off the beach.
At the proper time I sent for the black prince _to assist me in
shipping the slaves_, and to receive the head-money which was his
export duty on my cargo. The answer to my message was an illustration
of the character and insolence of the ragamuffins with whom I had to
deal. "The prince," returned my messenger, "don't like your sauciness,
Don Teodore, _and won't come till you beg his pardon by a present_!"
It is very true that after my visit to their republic, I began to
entertain a greater degree of respect than was my wont, for black men,
yet my contempt for the original, unmodified race was so great, that
when the prince's son, a boy of sixteen, delivered this reply on
behalf of his father, I did not hesitate to cram it down his throat by
a back-handed blow, which sent the sprig of royalty bleeding and
howling home.
It may be easily imagined what was the condition of the native town
when the boy got back to the "palace," and told his tale of Spanish
boxing. In less than ten minutes, another messenger arrived with an
order for my departure from the country "before next day at noon;"--an
order which, the envoy declared, would be _enforced_ by the outraged
townsfolk unless I willingly complied.
Now, I had been too long in Africa to tremble before a negro prince,
and though I really hated the region, I determined to disobey in order
to teach the upstart a lesson of civilized manners. Accordingly, I
made suitable preparations for resistance, and, when my hired servants
and _barracooniers_ fled in terror at the prince's command, I landed
some whites from my schooner, to aid in protecting our slaves.
By this time, my house had been constructed of the frail bamboos and
matting which are exclusively used in the buildings of the Bassa
country. I had added a cane verandah or piazza to mine, and protected
it from the pilfering natives, by a high palisade, that effectually
excluded all intruders. Within the area of this inclosure was slung my
hammock, and here I ate my meals, read, wrote, and received "Princes"
as well as the mob.
At nightfall, I loaded twenty-five muskets, and placed them _inside my
sofa_, which was a long trade-chest. I covered the deal table with a
blanket, beneath whose pendent folds I concealed a keg of powder _with
the head out_. Hard by, under a broad-brimmed _sombrero_, lay a pair
of double-barrelled pistols. With these dispositions of my volcanic
armory, I swung myself asleep in the hammock, and leaving the three
whites to take turns in watching, never stirred till an hour after
sunrise, when I was roused by the war-drum and bells from the village,
announcing the prince's approach.
In a few minutes my small inclosure of palisades was filled with armed
and gibbering savages, while his majesty, in the red coat of a British
drummer, but without any trowsers, strutted pompously into my
presence. Of course, I assumed an air of humble civility, and leading
the potentate to one end of the guarded piazza, where he was
completely isolated from his people, I stationed myself between the
table and the _sombrero_. Some of the prince's relations attempted to
follow him within my inclosure, but, according to established rules,
they dared not advance beyond an assigned limit.
When the formalities were over, a dead silence prevailed for some
minutes. I looked calmly and firmly into the prince's eyes, and waited
for him to speak. Still he was silent. At last, getting tired of
dumb-show, I asked the negro if he had "come to assist me in shipping
my slaves; the sun is getting rather high," said I, "and we had better
begin without delay!"
"Did you get my message?" was his reply, "and why haven't you gone?"
"Of course I received your message," returned I, "but as I came to New
Sestros at my leisure, I intend to go away when it suits me. Besides
this, Prince Freeman, I have no fear that you will do me the least
harm, especially as I shall be _before_ you in any capers of that
sort."
Then, by a sudden jerk, I threw off the blanket that hid the exposed
powder, and, with pistols in hand, one aimed at the keg and the other
at the king, I dared him to give an order for my expulsion.
It is inconceivable how _moving_ this process proved, not only to
Freeman, but to the crowd comprising his body-guard. The poor
blusterer, entirely cut off from big companions, was in a laughable
panic. His tawny skin became ashen, as he bounded from his seat and
rushed to the extremity of the piazza; and, to make a long story
short, in a few minutes he was as penitent and humble as a dog.
I was, of course, not unforgiving, when Freeman advanced to the rail,
and warning the blacks that he had "changed his mind," ordered the
odorous crowd out of my inclosure. Before the negroes departed,
however, I made him swear eternal fidelity and friendship in their
presence, after which I sealed the compact with a couple of demijohns
of New England rum.
Before sunset, seventy-five slaves were shipped for me in his canoes,
and ever after, Prince Freeman was a model monument of the virtues of
gunpowder physic!