When I was once comfortably installed at my motley establishment, and,
under the management of Colonists, had initiated the native workmen
into tolerable skill with the adze, saw, sledgehammer and forge, I
undertook to build a brig of one hundred tons. In six months, people
came from far and near to behold the mechanical marvels of Cape Mount.
Meanwhile, my plantation went on slowly, while my _garden_ became a
matter of curiosity to all the intelligent coasters and cruisers,
though I could never enlighten the natives as to the value of the
"foreign grass" which I cultivated so diligently. They admired the
symmetry of my beds, the richness of my pine-apples, the luxurious
splendor of my sugar-cane, the abundance of my coffee, and the cool
fragrance of the arbors with which I adorned the lawn; but they would
never admit the use of my exotic vegetables. In order to water my
premises, I turned the channel of a brook, surrounding the garden with
a perfect canal; and, as its sides were completely laced with an
elaborate wicker-work of willows, the aged king and crowds of his
followers came to look upon the Samsonian task as one of the wonders
of Africa. "What is it," exclaimed Fana-Toro, as he beheld the
deflected water-course, "that a white man cannot do!" After this, his
majesty inspected all my plants, and shouted again with surprise at
the toil we underwent to satisfy our appetites. The use or worth of
_flowers_, of which I had a rare and beautiful supply, he could never
divine; but his chief amazement was still devoted to our daily
expenditure of time, strength, and systematic toil, when rice and
palm-oil would grow wild while we were sleeping!
* * * * *
It will be seen from this sketch of my domestic comforts and
employment, that New Florence prospered in every thing but _farming_
and _trade_. At first it was my hope, that two or three years of
perseverance would enable me to open a lawful traffic with the
interior; but I soon discovered that the slave-trade was alone thought
of by the natives, who only bring the neighboring produce to the
beach, when their captives are ready for a market. I came, moreover,
to the conclusion that the interior negroes about Cape Mount had no
commerce with Eastern tribes except for slaves, and consequently that
its small river will never create marts like those which have direct
communications by water with the heart of a rich region, and absorb
its gold, ivory, wax, and hides. To meet these difficulties, I
hastened the building of my vessel _as a coaster_.
About this time, an American craft called the A----, arrived in my
neighborhood. She was loaded with tobacco, calicoes, rum, and powder.
Her captain who was unskilled in coast-trade, and ignorant of Spanish,
engaged me to act as supercargo for him to Gallinas. In a very short
period I disposed of his entire investment. The trim and saucy rig of
this Yankee clipper bewitched the heart of a Spanish trader who
happened to be among the _lagunes_, and an offer was forthwith made,
through me, for her purchase. The bid was accepted at once, and the
day before Christmas fixed as the period of her delivery, after a trip
to the Gaboon.
In contracting to furnish this slaver with a craft and the necessary
apparatus for his cargo, it would be folly for me to deny that I was
dipping once more into my ancient trade; yet, on reflection, I
concluded that in covering the vessel for a moment with my name, I was
no more amenable to rebuke, than the respectable merchants of Sierra
Leone and elsewhere who passed hardly a day without selling, to
notorious slavers, such merchandise as could be used _alone_ in
slave-wars or slave-trade. It is probable that the sophism soothed my
conscience at the moment, though I could never escape the promise that
sealed my agreement with Lieutenant Seagram.
The appointed day arrived, and my smoking semaphores announced the
brigantine's approach to Sugarei, three miles from Cape Mount. The
same evening the vessel was surrendered to me by the American captain,
who landed his crew and handed over his flag and papers. As soon as I
was in charge, no delay was made to prepare for the reception of
freight; and by sunrise I resigned her to the Spaniard, who
immediately embarked seven hundred negroes, and landed them in Cuba in
twenty-seven days.
Till now the British cruisers had made Cape Mount their friendly
rendezvous, but the noise of this shipment in my neighborhood, and my
refusal to explain or converse on the subject, gave umbrage to
officers who had never failed to supply themselves from my grounds and
larder. In fact I was soon marked as an enemy of the squadron, while
our intercourse dwindled to the merest shadow. In the course of a
week, the Commander on the African station, himself, hove to off the
Cape, and summoning me on board, concluded a petulant conversation by
remarking that "a couple of men like Monsieur Canot would make work
enough in Africa for the whole British squadron!"
I answered the compliment with a profound _salaam_, and went over the
Penelope's side satisfied that my friendship was at an end with her
Majesty's cruisers.
* * * * *
The portion of Cape Mount whereon I pitched my tent, had been so long
depopulated by the early wars against Fana-Toro, that the wild beasts
reasserted their original dominion over the territory. The forest was
full of leopards, wild cats, cavallis or wild boars, and
ourang-outangs.
Very soon after my arrival, a native youth in my employ had been
severely chastised for misconduct, and in fear of repetition, fled to
the mount after supplying himself with a basket of cassava. As his
food was sufficient for a couple of days, we thought he might linger
in the wood till the roots were exhausted, and then return to duty.
But three days elapsed without tidings from the truant. On the fourth,
a diligent search disclosed his corpse in the forest, every limb
dislocated and covered with bites apparently made by human teeth. It
was the opinion of the natives that the child had been killed by
ourang-outangs, nor can I doubt their correctness, for when I visited
the scene of the murder, the earth for a large space around, was
covered with the footprints of the beast and scattered with the skins
of its favorite esculent.
I was more annoyed, however, at first, by leopards than any other
animal. My cattle could not stray beyond the fences, nor could my
laborers venture abroad at any time without weapons. I made use of
spring-traps, pit-fall, and various expedients to purify the forest;
but such was the cunning or agility of our nimble foes that they all
escaped. The only mode by which I succeeded in freeing the _homestead_
of their ravages, was by arming the muzzle of a musket with a slice of
meat which was attached by a string to the trigger, so that the load
and the food were discharged into the leopard's mouth at the same
moment. Thus, by degrees as my settlement grew, the beasts receded
from the promontory and its adjacent grounds; and in a couple of
years, the herds were able to roam where they pleased without danger.
Cape Mount had long been deserted by elephants, but about forty miles
from my dwelling, on the upper forests of the lake, the noble animal
might still be hunted; and whenever the natives were fortunate enough
to "bag" a specimen, I was sure to be remembered in its division. If
the prize proved a male, I received the feet and trunk, but if it
turned out of the gentler gender, I was honored with the udder, as a
royal _bonne-bouche_.
[Illustration: AN ELEPHANT HUNT.]
In Africa a slaughtered elephant is considered public property by the
neighboring villagers, all of whom have a right to carve the giant
till his bones are bare. A genuine sportsman claims nothing but the
ivory and tail, the latter being universally a perquisite of the king.
Yet I frequently found that associations were made among the natives
to capture this colossal beast and his valuable tusks. Upon these
occasions, a club was formed on the basis of a whaling cruise, while a
single but well-known hunter was chosen to do execution. One man
furnished the muskets, another supplied the powder, a third gave the
iron bolts for balls, a fourth made ready the provender, while a fifth
despatched a bearer with the armament. As soon as the outfit was
completed, the huntsman's _juju_ and _fetiche_ were invoked for good
luck, and he departed under an escort of wives and associates.
An African elephant is smaller, as well as more cunning and wild, than
the Asiatic. Accordingly, the sportsman is often obliged to circumvent
his game during several days, for it is said that in populous
districts, its instincts are so keen as to afford warning of the
neighborhood of fire-arms, even at extraordinary distances. The common
and most effectual mode of enticing an elephant within reach of a
ball, is to strew the forest for several miles with _pine-apples_,
whose flavor and fragrance infallibly bewitch him. By degrees, he
tracks and nibbles the fruit from slice to slice, till, lured within
the hunter's retreat, he is despatched from the branches of a lofty
tree by repeated shots at his capacious forehead.
Sometimes it happens that four or five discharges with the wretched
powder used in Africa fail to slay the beast, who escapes from the
jungle and dies afar from the encounter. When this occurs, an
attendant is despatched for a reinforcement, and I have seen a whole
settlement go forth _en masse_ to search for the monster that will
furnish food for many a day. Sometimes the crowd is disappointed, for
the wounds have been slight and the animal is seen no more.
Occasionally, a dying elephant will linger a long time, and is only
discovered by the buzzards hovering above his body. Then it is that
the bushmen, guided by the vultures, haste to the forest, and fall
upon the putrid flesh with more avidity than birds of prey. Battles
have been fought on the carcass of an elephant, and many a slave,
captured in the conflict, has been marched from the body to the beach.