Chapter XVII

Novel method adopted by Europeans for conveying slaves on board their vessels — Conduct of the Portuguese Merchants, resident at Badagry, towards the Author — The White Negroes — Manners and Ceremonies of the Badagrians — Horrid indifference with respect to the shedding of Human Blood — Murder of two of the King’s wives by moonlight.

By reason of the vigilance of British men-of-war on the coast, merchants are obliged to use much greater caution than formerly, for eluding observation, and embarking their purchased slaves. The plan now generally adopted is as follows: as soon as a vessel arrives at her place of destination, the crew discharge her light cargo, with the manacles intended for the slaves, and land the captain at the same time. The vessel then cruises along the coast to take in country cloth, ivory, a little gold dust, &c.; and, if a British man-of-war be near, the crew having nothing on board to excite suspicion, in most cases contrive to get their vessel searched whilst trading with the natives. At such time as they fancy their presence would be necessary, they return to the place where the cargo had been landed, and communicate with the captain on shore, who, during their absence had not been idle; and who then takes the opportunity of acquainting his crew with the exact time in which he will be in readiness to embark. The vessel then cruises a second time up and down the coast, till the appointed day approaches, when she proceeds to take in her living cargo.

Immediately on sight of her every canoe for miles near is put in requisition by the captain; provisions and water are speedily conveyed on board; and last of all, the wretched slaves are dragged forcibly towards the boats, and received by the European crew, who, as soon as this is effected, crowd all sail, and the vessel quickly disappears. I saw four hundred slaves at Badagry crammed into a small schooner of eighty tons; and the appearance of these unhappy human beings was squalid and miserable in the extreme. They were fastened by the neck in pairs, only a quarter of a yard of chain being allowed for each, and driven to the beach by a parcel of hired scoundrels, whilst their associates in cruelty were in front of the party, pulling them along by a narrow band, their only apparel, which encircled the waist.

On leaving their native shore in the canoes, the wretched slaves set up a wild and dismal lament, which rent the air, and might have been heard at a considerable distance; but their tears failed to soften the hearts of the relentless Christians, who huddled them hastily into the hold of their vessel; and the cries of the Africans were heard no more.

Captain Morrison was the only Portuguese in the town that behaved with even common civility to me; the others, seven or eight in number, evidently viewed me with suspicion and alarm, and actively exerted themselves to persuade Adólee and his people that it would be necessary to destroy me, asserting that I was a spy sent by the English Government, and if suffered to leave the city, would return with numbers of my countrymen, and enslave its inhabitants. What success these insinuations met with, will hereafter be related; but in the mean time these very men kept up an outward show of friendship and esteem for me during a long period, and strove all in their power to lull suspicion asleep, by endeavouring to strengthen the favourable opinion they flattered themselves I entertained for their merits; and, by apparent frankness of manner and openness of conduct, to do away any evil impression which the rumour of their clandestine practices might have awakened in my bosom. But although I maintained the profoundest taciturnity on the subject, I was perfectly well acquainted with the whole of their manœuvring, and prepared to encounter it in whatever way it might at first annoy me.

Amongst other things, the Portuguese at Badagry earnestly entreated me to sell my poor slaves, and offered ninety-five dollars for each of them; but of course I rejected their proposal with the contempt it merited. I went to see one of these slave-merchants one day by special invitation: he was at breakfast on my entering his hut; and wheaten rolls and tea and sugar, were smoking and giving odour before him. I ardently wished at the time to seat myself at his side, and partake of the good things spread out so temptingly in my sight; for I had not tasted bread for nearly two years previously, nor tea or sugar for eighteen months; so that my childish propensity is not to be wondered at. The Portuguese, however, although he looked first at me and then on his breakfast, did not seem to be in a hurry to invite me to share it with him: so, fancying he felt some delicacy and bashfulness about the matter, which his eyes seemed to confirm, I was preparing very unceremoniously to help myself, but thought I might as well in the first place ask his permission. This I did in the best-tempered manner in the world; but the surly, ill-natured European, dropping the tea he was conveying to his lips, almost frightened me out of my wits, by exclaiming, “Stay your hand for a moment, if you please, Mr. Englishman; you have three fine slaves in your possession, for each of whom I will immediately pay you a hundred dollars, and also send you as many wheaten cakes as will serve you for a twelvemonth; but, unless you consent to this proposal, you will have neither rolls nor tea of mine, I assure you.” I could not think of gratifying my appetite at the expense of my poor slaves, the faithful companions of my pilgrimage; so concealing, as well as I was able, the disappointment I could not help feeling, I arose, and bestowing on the Portuguese the epithets of a heartless, unfeeling scoundrel, hastily quitted his inhospitable roof, and repaired to my own dwelling. There I breakfasted more contentedly on a little boiled Indian corn, mixed with palm-oil and water, my usual fare, than if I had enjoyed all the luxuries in the world by wounding my conscience, and doing violence to the best feelings of my nature.

The same individual, however, three days after, sent me a loaf of bread and a cheese, with a bottle of English porter, articles of which I had _dreamt_ repeatedly in the interior, but of which I never expected to partake in Africa. The merchant held out the same inducements as before to obtain my slaves; but although I obstinately refused to accede to his reiterated request, I could not, for the life of me, resist the strong temptation I felt to claim a more familiar acquaintance with the presents placed so provokingly within my reach; and instead of returning them, which was to be the consequence of my refusal, I desired the bearer to acquaint his master with my high admiration of his noble conduct, and my extreme gratitude for a favour so unexpected and undeserved on my part; but to add, that, being determined not to be outdone by him in acts of generosity, I should take the liberty, on the arrival of a British vessel on the coast, of returning the compliment by a suitable acknowledgment.

My decided determination not to part with my slaves for any consideration, and the answer the messenger delivered to the slave- dealer, so greatly exasperated both him and the whole of the Portuguese in the place, that on meeting me in the streets, they used to pour out, in broken English, a whole volley of oaths and curses; and took care not to bestow on me further proofs of their good nature and benevolence, till the arrival of the brig Maria of London at Badagry again opened the sluices of their amiable and charitable feelings, and I was favoured a second time with a present, yet more acceptable than the first, which was sent on condition that I would not make my countrymen acquainted with the fact of any Portuguese being in the town.

I saw two milk white negroes, male and female, with red hair and eyes, on my return from the interior; the one at Tschow, and the other at Badagry. Having examined their bodies pretty minutely, I am confident that they laboured under no disease whatever; indeed they told me themselves that they entered the world in the condition in which I beheld them. Neither of these unsightly individuals appeared to attract a large portion of the curiosity of their sable countrymen; nor did their singular and loathsome appearance excite in their breasts any emotion of horror or disgust. The skin of these white Africans was by no means like that of a fair European, having a much paler and more unearthly hue; but without tumours or scrofulous affection of any kind.

I had retired to rest rather earlier than usual one evening, being greatly fatigued, when about the midnight hour a loud, long, and piercing shriek awoke me with a start, and springing hastily from my couch, I turned aside the slight mat which served instead of glass for my window, to ascertain the cause of it. The moon shone in the heavens with peculiar lustre and beauty, rivalling in splendour the brilliant orb whence she receives her light, so that I was enabled to distinguish clearly every object for some distance from the hut. Another fearful scream at the moment arrested my undivided attention upon a group of persons about ten or twelve yards from my window, in the midst of whom I could perceive two females struggling violently to get loose from the iron gripe with which they were held by their merciless guardians. I called as loudly as I could to the fellows, (who, as well as the perturbation of my mind, and the confusion of the scene would allow me to discern, were eight in number,) to demand the reason of their ill- treatment of the defenceless women at that unseasonable hour, when one of them answered with the greatest unconcern, that the females whom I saw were the King’s wives, who, having spoken their mind with too much frankness in the royal presence an hour before, had been ordered by their husband to make expiation for the offence by having their throats cut,—that being considered as the mildest punishment which could be inflicted for the consummation of so heinous a crime, by the laws of Badagry; a punishment which none but Adólee’s favourites ever underwent! Whilst the man was yet speaking, the trembling criminals shrieked long and bitterly; but from exhaustion their struggles were less vehement than before. At length I saw their hands bound, next their feet; and lastly their heads, bent forcibly backwards, by four of the ruffians, were held tightly by the hair in that painful position. I then heard the poor creatures utter their last thrilling cry of anguish, which caused my blood to run cold in my veins, and a shudder to creep over every limb; and at that moment, the gleam of the uplifted daggers shot across my vision, and as quick as lightning the poinards were buried in the throat and bosom of each, severing the windpipe in their course. A faint gargling sound like water issuing from the mouth of a bottle, was the only noise produced; the ruthless assassins glided like spectres from before my window, trailing their bleeding victims along the earth; and all was as still and solemn as the grave, the moon alone (to my imagination) blushing to be a spectatress of the atrocious deed.

As soon as this bloody tragedy had been enacted, the spell that had bound me motionless to the window, dissolved, and, flinging myself on my mat, I endeavoured to obtain a little repose, and calm the agitation of my mind; but the dreadful scene I had witnessed awakened a host of phantoms in my disordered imagination, and obliged me to walk to and from the apartment till the morning, when, on taking a stroll through the town, my eyes were saluted with the revolting spectacle of the murdered women hanging on the branches of the fetish-tree!

The manners and ceremonies of the Badagrians, although they appeared so simple and engaging to us whilst we continued amongst them, on first leaving the Brazen, are without comparison the most rude and barbarous of those of any of the people on the whole continent of Africa. The murder of a slave is not considered even in the light of a misdemeanor amongst them; and the frequency of this crime has not only taken away all sense of its enormity, but steeled the breasts of the multitude against every compassionate feeling; whilst the king and government encourage savage principles and pastimes by setting them the example.

The following particulars were gleaned principally from personal observation, whilst I remained in that city of blood, called by the inhabitants Badàg (or Woman); and, in the absence of that source, from repeated conversations held with the king, his eldest son, and his great chiefs or generals, Bombanee, Poser, and Accra, whom I questioned separately, and at different periods, concerning the celebration of their sacrifices and other religious rites. I found no discrepancies whatever in the information thus obtained; and, after I had swallowed the fetish, the before-named individuals communicated freely, and without suspicion, any thing connected with their religion or manners that I evinced the slightest wish to have explained.

Badagry being a general mart for the sale of slaves to European merchants, (who are now, I believe, almost exclusively confined to agents belonging to the Portuguese nation,) it not unfrequently happens that the market is either overstocked with human beings, or no buyers are to be found; in which case the maintenance of the unhappy slaves devolves solely on the government. The expense incurred by this means is oftentimes murmured against by the king, who shortly afterwards causes an examination to be made, when the sickly, as well as the old and infirm, are carefully selected, and chained by themselves in one of the factories, (five of which, containing upwards of one thousand slaves of both sexes, were at Badagry during my residence there,) and next day the majority of these poor wretches are pinioned, and conveyed to the banks of the river that runs up the country, where, having arrived, a weight of some sort is appended to their necks, and, being rowed in canoes to the middle of the stream, they are flung into the water, and left to perish by the pitiless Badagrians. Slaves who, for other reasons, are rejected by the merchants, undergo the same punishment, or are left to endure more lively torture at the sacrifices: by which means hundreds of human beings are annually destroyed.