Palaver at Little Berebee--Death of the Interpreter and King Ben Cracko,
and burning of the Town--Battle with the Natives, and Conflagration of
several Towns--Turkey Buzzards--A Love-Letter--Moral Reflections--Treaty
of Grand Berebee--Prince Jumbo and his Father--Native system of
Expresses--Curiosity of the Natives.
_December_ 13.--At nine A.M., the boats of the squadron repaired to the
flag-ship, where they were formed in line, and then pulled towards the
shore abreast. The landing-place is tolerably good, but contracted. Four
or five boats might easily approach it together; but when most of the
thirteen attempted it at once, so narrow was the space, that one or two of
them filled. They were hauled up, however, and secured. Our force, on
being disembarked, was stationed in line, opposite the town of Little
Berebee, and the wood in its immediate vicinity. Many of the officers went
up to the Palaver House, a temporary shed erected for the occasion, about
fifty yards from the town-gate. King Ben Cracko now making his appearance,
with five or six headmen or kings of the neighboring tribes, the palaver
began.
The interpreter, on this occasion, was well known to have been, in his own
person, a leading character in the act of piracy and murder, which it was
the object of the palaver to investigate. He had therefore a difficult
part to act; one that required great nerve, and such a talent of throwing
a fair semblance over foul facts, as few men, civilized or savage, are
likely to possess. With the consciousness of guilt upon him, causing him
to startle at the first aspect of peril, it is singular that the man
should have had the temerity to trust himself in so trying a position. His
version of the Mary Carver affair was a very wretched piece of fiction. He
declared that Captain Farwell had killed two natives, and that old King
Cracko, since deceased, had punished the captain by death, in the exercise
of his legitimate authority. He denied that the tribe had participated in
Captain Farwell's murder, or in those of the mate and crew, or in the
robbery of the vessel; affirming that the schooner had gone ashore, and
that everything was lost. All this was a tissue of falsehood; it being
notorious that a large quantity of goods from the wreck, and portions of
the vessel itself, were distributed among the towns along the coast. It
was well known, moreover, that these people had boasted of having "caught"
(to use their own phrase), an American vessel, and that the neighboring
tribes had threatened to follow Ben Cracko's example.
Governor Roberts, who conducted the examination on our part, expressed to
the man his utter disbelief of the above statements. The Commodore,
likewise, stept hastily towards him, sternly warning him to utter no more
falsehoods. The interpreter, perceiving that the impression was against
him, and probably expecting to be instantly made prisoner, or put to
death, now lost the audacity that had hitherto sustained him. At this
moment, it is said, a gun was fired at our party, from the town; and,
simultaneously with the report, the interpreter sprang away like a deer.
There was a cry to stop him--two or three musket-bullets whistled after
the fugitive as he ran--but he had nearly reached the town-gate, when his
limbs, while strained to their utmost energy, suddenly failed beneath him.
A rifle-shot had struck him in the vertebra of the neck, causing
instantaneous death. Meanwhile, King Ben Cracko had made a bolt to escape,
but was seized by his long calico robe; which, however, gave way, leaving
him literally naked in the midst of his enemies. A shot brought him to the
ground; but he sprang to his feet, still struggling to escape. He next
received two bayonet wounds, but fought like a wild beast, until two or
three men flung themselves upon him, and held him down by main force.
Finding himself overpowered, he pretended to be dead, but was securely
bound, and taken to the beach. A lion of the African deserts could not
have shown a fiercer energy than this savage King; and those who gazed at
him, as he lay motionless on the sand, confessed that they had never seen
a frame of such masculine vigor as was here displayed. His wounds proved
mortal.
The melée had been as sudden as the explosion of gunpowder; it was wholly
unexpected, but perhaps not to be wondered at, where two parties, with
weapons in their hands, had met to discuss a question of robbery and
murder. When the firing commenced, about two hundred natives were on the
spot, or in the vicinity; they were now flying in all directions, some
along the beach, a few into the sea itself, but by far the greatest number
to the woods. Many shots were fired, notwithstanding the Commodore's
orders to refrain. We were now directed to break down the palisades, and
set fire to the town. A breach of twenty or thirty feet was soon made in
the wall, by severing the withes that bound together the upright planks.
Before this could be effected, another party crept through the small
holes, serving the purpose of gates, and penetrated to the centre of the
town, where, assembling around the great council-tree, they gave three
cheers. The houses were then set on fire, and, within fifteen minutes,
presented one mass of conflagration. The palisades likewise caught the
flames, and were consumed, leaving an open space of blackened and smoking
ruins, where, half an hour before, the sun had shone upon a town.
The natives did not remain idle spectators of the destruction of their
houses. Advancing to the edge of the woods, they discharged their muskets
at us, loaded not with Christian bullets, but with copper-slugs, probably
manufactured out of the spikes of the Mary Carver. A marine was struck in
the side by one of these missiles, which tumbled him over, but without
inflicting a serious wound. A party from our ship penetrated the woods
behind the town, where one of them fired at an object which he perceived
moving in the underbrush. Going up to the spot, it proved to be a very
aged man, apparently on the verge of a century, much emaciated, and too
feeble to crawl further in company with his flying towns-people. He was
unharmed by the shot, but evidently expected instant death, and held up
his hand in supplication. Our party placed the poor old patriarch in a
more sheltered spot, and left him there, after supplying him with food; an
act of humanity which must have seemed to him very singular, if not
absurd, in contrast with the mischief which we had wrought upon his home
and people. Meantime, the ships were disposed to have a share in the
fight, and opened a cannonade upon the woods, shattering the great
branches of the trees, and adding to the terror, if not to the loss, of
the enemy. Little Berebee being now a heap of ashes, we re-embarked,
taking with us an American flag, probably that of the Mary Carver, which
had been found in the town. We also made prizes of several canoes, one of
which was built for war, and capable of carrying forty men. The wounded
King Cracko, likewise, was taken on board the frigate, where, next
morning, he breathed his last; thus expiating the outrage in which, two
years before, he had been a principal actor. We afterwards understood that
the natives suffered a loss of eight killed and two wounded.
15.--The season for palavers and diplomacy being now over, we landed at
seven o'clock this morning, ten or twelve miles below Berebee, in order to
measure out a further retribution to the natives. On approaching the
beach, we were fired upon from the bushes, but without damage, although
the enemy were sheltered within twenty yards of the water's edge. The
boat's crew first ashore, together with two or three marines, charged into
the shrubbery and drove off the assailants. All being disembarked, the
detachment was formed in line, and marched to the nearest town, which was
immediately attacked. Like the other native towns, it was protected by a
wall of high palisades, planted firmly in the soil, and bound together by
thongs of bamboo. Cutting a passage through these, we entered the place,
which contained perhaps a hundred houses, neatly built of wicker-work, and
having their high conical roofs thatched with palmetto-leaves. Such
edifices were in the highest degree combustible, and being set on fire, it
was worth while for a lover of the picturesque to watch the flames, as
they ran up the conical roofs, and meeting at the apex, whirled themselves
fiercely into the darkened air.
While this was going on, the war-bells, drums, and war-horns of the
natives were continually sounding; and flocks of vultures (perhaps a more
accurate ornithologist might call them turkey-buzzards) appeared in the
sky, wheeling slowly and heavily over our heads. These ravenous birds
seemed to have a presentiment that there were deeds of valor to be done:
nor was it quite a comfortable idea, that some of them, ere nightfall,
might gratify their appetite at one's own personal expense. To confess the
truth, however, they were probably attracted by the scent of some
slaughtered bullocks; it being indifferent to a turkey-buzzard whether he
prey on a cow or a Christian. After destroying the first town, we marched
about a mile and a half up the beach, to attack a second. On our advance,
the marine drummer and fifer were ordered from the front of the column to
the rear, as being a position of less danger. They of course obeyed; but
the little drummer deeming it a reflection upon his courage, burst into
tears, and actually blubbered aloud as he beat the _pas de charge_. It
was a strange operation of manly spirit in a boyish stage of development.
As we approached the second town, our boat-keepers, who watched the scene,
distinctly saw a party of thirty or forty natives lying behind a palisade,
with their guns pointed at our advanced guard. Unconscious that the enemy
were so near, we halted for an instant, about forty yards from the town,
and then advanced at a run. This so disconcerted the defenders that they
fled, after firing only a few shots, none of which took effect. In fact,
the natives proved themselves but miserable marksmen. They can seldom hit
an object in motion, although, if a man stand still, they sometimes manage
to put a copper-slug into his body, by taking aim a long time. After
firing, the savage runs a long distance before he ventures to load. Had
their skill or their hardihood been greater, we must have suffered
severely; for the woods extended nearly to the water's edge, and exposed
us, during the whole day, to the fire of a sheltered and invisible enemy.
After the storm and conflagration of the second town, we took a brief
rest, and then proceeded to capture and burn another, situated about a
mile to the northward. This accomplished, we judged it to be dinner-time.
Indeed, we had done work enough to ensure an appetite; and history does
not make mention, so far as I am aware, of such destruction of cities so
expeditiously effected. Having emptied our baskets, we advanced about
three miles along the beach--still with the slugs of the enemy whistling
in our ears--and gave to the devouring element another town. Man is
perhaps never happier than when his native destructiveness can be freely
exercised, and with the benevolent complacency of performing a good
action, instead of the remorse of perpetrating a bad one. It unites the
charms of sin and virtue. Thus, in all probability, few of us had ever
spent a day of higher enjoyment than this, when we roamed about, with a
musket in one hand and a torch in the other, devastating what had hitherto
been the homes of a people.
One of the sweetest spots that I have seen in Africa, was a little hamlet
of three houses, standing apart from the four large towns above-mentioned,
and surrounded by an impervious hedge of thorn-bushes, with two palisaded
entrances. Forcing our way through one of these narrow portals, we beheld
a grassy area of about fifty yards across, overshadowed by a tree of very
dense foliage, which had its massive roots in the centre, and spread its
great protecting branches over the whole enclosure. The three dwellings
were of the same sort of basket-work as those already described, but
particularly neat, and giving a pleasant impression of the domestic life
of their inhabitants. This small, secluded hamlet had probably been the
residence of one family, a patriarch, perhaps, with his descendants to the
third or fourth generation--who, beneath that shadowy tree, must have
enjoyed all the happiness of which uncultivated man is susceptible. Nor
would it be too great a stretch of liberality, to suppose that the green
hedge of impervious thorns had kept out the vices of their race, and that
the little area within was a sphere where all the virtues of the native
African had been put in daily practice. These three dwellings, and the
verdant wall around them, and the great tree that brooded over the whole,
might unquestionably have been spared, with safety to our consciences. But
when man takes upon himself the office of an avenger by the sword, he is
not to be perplexed with such little scrupulosities, as whether one
individual or family be less guilty than the rest. Providence, it is to be
presumed, will find some method of setting such matters right. In fine,
when the negro patriarch's strong sable sons supported their decrepit sire
homeward, with their wives, "black, but comely," bearing the glistening,
satin-skinned babies on their backs, and their other little ebony
responsibilities trudging in the rear, there must have been a dismal wail;
for there was the ancestral tree, its foliage shrivelled with fire,
stretching out its desolate arms over the ashes of the three wicker
dwellings.
The business of the day was over. Besides short excursions, and charges
into the bush, the men had marched and countermarched at least twelve
miles upon the beach, with the surf sometimes rolling far beyond our
track. Some hundreds of slugs had been fired at us; and, on our part, we
had blazed away at every native who had ventured to show his face; but the
amount of casualties, after such a day of battle, reminds one of the
bloodless victories and defeats of an Italian army, during the middle
ages. In a word, we had but two men wounded; and whether any of the enemy
were killed or no, it is impossible to say. At all events, we slew a
number of neat cattle, eight or nine of which were sent on board the
ships, where they answered a much better purpose than as many human
carcasses. The other spoil consisted of several canoes, together with
numerous household utensils--which we shall bring home as trophies and
curiosities. There was also a chain cable, and many other articles
belonging to the Mary Carver, and a pocket-book, containing a letter
addressed to Captain Robert McFarland. The purport of the epistle is not a
matter of public interest; but it was written in a lady's delicate hand,
and was probably warm with affection; and little did the fair writer dream
that her missive would find its way into an African hut, where it was
probably regarded as a piece of witchcraft.
Thus ended the warfare of Little Berebee. The degree of retribution meted
out had by no means exceeded what the original outrage demanded; and the
mode of it was sanctioned by the customs of the African people. According
to their unwritten laws, if individuals of a tribe commit a crime against
another tribe or nation, the criminal must either be delivered up, or
punished at home, or the tribe itself becomes responsible for their guilt.
An example was of peremptory necessity; and the American vessels trading
on the coast will long experience a good effect from this day's battle and
destruction. The story will be remembered in the black man's traditions,
and will have its due weight in many a palaver. Nevertheless, though the
burning of villages be a very pretty pastime, yet it leaves us in a
moralizing mood, as most pleasures are apt to do; and one would fain hope
that civilized man, in his controversies with the barbarian, will at
length cease to descend to the barbarian level, and may adopt some other
method of proving his superiority, than by his greater power to inflict
suffering. For myself personally, the "good old way" suits me tolerably
enough; but I am disinterestedly anxious that posterity should find a
better.
16.--We sailed at day-light for Grand Berebee. Nearing the point on which
it is situated, the ships hoisted white flags at the fore, in token of
amity. A message was sent on shore to the King, who came off in a large
canoe, and set his hand to a treaty, promising to keep good faith with
American vessels. He likewise made himself responsible for the good
conduct of the other tribes in the vicinity.
On board the Macedonian, there were five prisoners, who had been taken two
months ago, by the brig Porpoise. One was the eldest son of this King, and
the others belonged to his tribe. The meeting between the King and prince
was very affecting, and fully proved that nature has not left these wild
people destitute of warmth and tenderness of heart. They threw themselves
into each other's arms, wept, laughed, and danced for joy. To the King,
his son was like one risen from the dead; he had given him up for lost,
supposing that the young man had been executed. The prisoners were each
presented with a new frock and trowsers, besides tobacco, handkerchiefs,
and other suitable gifts. The prince received a lieutenant's old uniform
coat; and when they got into their canoe, it was amusing to see how
awkwardly he paddled, in this outlandish trim. He made two or three
attempts to get the coat off, but without success. One of his companions
then offered his assistance; but as he took the prince by the collar,
instead of the sleeve, it was found impracticable to rid him of the
garment. The more he pulled, the less it would come off; and the last we
saw of Prince Jumbo, he was holding up his skirts in one hand, and
paddling with the other. There will be grand rejoicings to-night, on the
return of the prisoners. All will be dancing and jollity; plays will be
performed; the villages will re-echo with the report of fire-arms and the
clamor of drums; and the whole population will hold a feast of bullocks.
20.--Anchored at Cape Palmas. The natives here were alarmed at the return
of the three ships; and many of them carried away their moveables into the
woods. News of the destruction of the towns below had reached them several
days since. They have a simple, but very effective system of expresses.
When information of great interest is to be conveyed from tribe to tribe,
one of their swiftest runners is despatched, who makes what speed he can,
and, when tired, entrusts his message to another. Thus it is speeded on,
without a moment's delay. Should the runner encounter a river in his
course, he shouts his news across; it is caught up on the other side, and
immediately sent forward. In this manner, intelligence finds its way along
the coast with marvellous celerity.
23.--We sailed two days ago. Yesterday, there came off from the shore,
some six or eight miles, a couple of canoes, paddled by six men each, who
exerted themselves to the utmost to overtake us. They had nothing to sell;
and their only object seemed to be, to obtain the particulars of the fight
and conflagration at Little Berebee, a hundred and fifty miles below.
25.--Anchored at Monrovia, and landed Governor Roberts, who, with Dr.
Johnson, had been a passenger from Cape Palmas.
28.--Sailed for Porto Praya, with the intention of visiting Madeira,
before returning to the coast.