| Page iii
To the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal, and the Commons
of the Parliament of Great Britain.
My Lords and Gentlemen,
Permit me, with the greatest deference and respect, to lay
at your feet the following genuine Narrative; the chief
design of which is to excite in your august assemblies a
sense of compassion for the miseries which the Slave-Trade
has entailed on my unfortunate countrymen. By the horrors of
that trade was I first torn away from all the tender
connexions that were naturally dear to my heart; but these,
through the mysterious ways
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page iv
of Providence, I ought to regard as infinitely more than
compensated by the introduction I have thence obtained to
the knowledge of the Christian religion, and of a nation
which, by its liberal sentiments, its humanity, the glorious
freedom of its government, and its proficiency in arts and
sciences, has exalted the dignity of human nature.
I am sensible I ought to entreat your pardon for
addressing to you a work so wholly devoid of literary merit;
but, as the production of an unlettered African, who is
actuated by the hope of becoming an instrument towards the
relief of his suffering countrymen, I trust that such a man,
pleading in such a case, will be acquitted of boldness and
presumption.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page v
May the God of heaven inspire your hearts with peculiar
benevolence on that important day when the question of
Abolition is to be discussed, when thousands, in consequence
of your Determination, are to look for Happiness or Misery !
I am,
MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,
Your most obedient,
And devoted humble Servant,
OLAUDAH EQUIANO,
OR
GUSTAVUS VASSA.
Union-Street, Mary-le-bone,
March 24, I789.
Page 4
That part of Africa, known by the name of Guinea, to
which the trade for slaves is carried on, extends along the
coast above 3400 miles, from the Senegal to Angola, and
includes a variety of kingdoms. Of these the most
considerable is the kingdom of Benen, both as to extent and
wealth, the richness and cultivation of the soil, the power
of its king, and the number and warlike disposition of the
inhabitants. It is situated nearly under the line, and
extends along the coast about 170 miles, but runs back into
the interior part of Africa to a distance hitherto I believe
unexplored by any traveller; and seems only terminated at
length by the empire of Abyssinia, near 1500 miles from its
beginning. This kingdom is divided into many provinces or
districts: in one of the most remote and fertile of which,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 5
called Eboe, I was born, in the year 1745, in a charming
fruitful vale, named Essaka. The distance of this province
from the capital of Benin and the sea coast must be very
considerable; for I had never heard of white men or
Europeans, nor of the sea: and our subjection to the king of
Benin was little more than nominal; for every transaction of
the government, as far as my slender observation extended,
was conducted by the chiefs or elders of the place. The
manners and government of a people who have little commerce
with other countries are generally very simple; and the
history of what passes in one family or village may serve as
a specimen of a nation. My father was one of those elders or
chiefs I have spoken of, and was styled Embrenche; a term,
as I remember, importing the highest distinction, and
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 6
signifying in our language a mark of grandeur. This mark is
conferred on the person entitled to it, by cutting the skin
across at the top of the forehead, and drawing it down to
the eye-brows; and while it is in this situation applying a
warm hand, and rubbing it until it shrinks up into a thick
weal across the lower part of the forehead. Most of the
judges and senators were thus marked; my father had long
born it: I had seen it conferred on one of my brothers, and
I was also destined to receive it by my parents. Those
Embrence, or chief men, decided disputes and punished
crimes; for which purpose they always assembled together.
The proceedings were generally short; and in most cases the
law of retaliation prevailed. I remember a man was brought
before my father, and the other judges, for kidnapping a
boy;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 7
and, although he was the son of a chief or senator, he was
condemned to make recompense by a man or woman slave.
Adultery, however, was sometimes punished with slavery or
death; a punishment which I believe is inflicted on it
throughout most of the nations of Africa*:
Page 23
.... I remember an instance or two wherein this happened.
This common is often the theatre of war; and therefore when
our people go out to till their land, they not only go in a
body, but generally take their arms with them for fear of a
surprise; and when they apprehend an invasion they guard the
avenues to their dwellings, by driving sticks into the
ground, which are so sharp at one end as to pierce the foot,
and are generally dipt in poison. From what I can recollect
of these battles, they appear to have been irruptions of one
little state or district on the other, to obtain prisoners
or booty. Perhaps they were incited to this by those traders
who brought the European goods I mentioned amongst us. Such
a mode of obtaining slaves in Africa is common; and I
believe more
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 24
are procured this way, and by kidnaping, than any other.
When a trader wants slaves, he applies to a chief for
them, and tempts him with his wares. It is not
extraordinary, if on this occasion he yields to the
temptation with as little firmness, and accepts the price of
his fellow creatures liberty with as little reluctance as
the enlightened merchant. Accordingly he falls on his
neighbours, and a desperate battle ensues....
Page 26
fighting for a considerable time with great fury, and after
many had been killed our people obtained the victory, and
took their enemy's Chief prisoner. He was carried off in
great triumph, and, though he offered a large ransom for his
life, he was put to death. A virgin of note among our
enemies had been slain in the battle, and her arm was
exposed in our market-place, where our trophies were always
exhibited. The spoils were divided according to the merit of
the warriors. Those prisoners which were not sold or
redeemed we kept as slaves: but how different was their
condition from that of the slaves in the West Indies! With
us they do no more work than other members of the community,
even their masters; their food, clothing and lodging were
nearly the same as theirs, (except that they were not
permitted
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 27
to eat with those who were free-born); and there was scarce
any other difference between them, than a superior degree of
importance which the head of a family possesses in our
state, and that authority which, as such, he exercises over
every part of his household. Some of these slaves have even
slaves under them as their own property, and for their own
use...
Page 45
CHAP. II.
The author's birth and parentage--His being kidnapped
with his sister--Their separation--Surprise at meeting
again--Are finally separated--Account of the different
places and incidents the author met with till his arrival on
the coast--The effect the sight of a slave ship had on
him--He sails for the West Indies--Horrors of a slave
ship--Arrives at Barbadoes, where the cargo is sold and
dispersed.
Page 48
.... One day, when all our people were gone out to their
works as usual, and only I and my dear sister were left to
mind the house, two men and a woman got over our walls, and
in a moment seized us both, and, without giving us time to
cry out, or make resistance, they stopped our mouths, and
ran off with us into the nearest wood. Here they tied our
hands,....
Page 50
....and the only comfort we had was in being in one
another's arms all that night, and bathing each other with
our tears. But alas! we were soon deprived of even the small
comfort of weeping together. The next day proved a day of
greater sorrow than I had yet experienced; for my sister and
I were then separated, while we lay clasped in each other's
arms. It was in vain that we besought them not to part us;
she was torn from me, and immediately carried away, while I
was left in a state of distraction not to be described. I
cried and grieved ....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 51
....At length, after many days travelling, during which I
had often changed masters, I got into the hands of a
chieftain, in a very pleasant country. This man had two
wives and some children, and they all used me extremely
well, and did all they could to comfort me; particularly the
first wife, who was something like my mother. Although I was
a great many days journey from my father's house, yet these
people spoke exactly the same language with us. This first
master of mine, as I may call him, was a smith, and my
principal employment was working his bellows, ....
Page62
....I was again sold, and carried through a number of
places, till, after travelling a considerable time, I came
to a town called Tinmah, in the most beautiful country I had
yet seen in Africa. It was extremely rich, and there were
many rivulets which flowed through it, and supplied a large
pond in the centre of the town, where the people washed.
Here I first saw and tasted cocoa-nuts,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 69
.... Thus I continued to travel, sometimes by land,
sometimes by water, through different countries and various
nations, till, at the end of six or seven months after I had
been kidnapped, I arrived at the sea coast. ....
page 70
.....The first object which saluted my eyes when I
arrived on the coast was the sea, and a slave ship, which
was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo. These
filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into
terror when I was carried on board. I was immediately
handled and tossed up to see if I were sound by some of the
crew; and I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world
of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me. Their
complexions too
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 71
differing so much from ours, their long hair, and the
language they spoke, (which was very different from any I
had ever heard) united to confirm me in this belief. Indeed
such were the horrors of my views and fears at the moment,
that, if ten thousand worlds had been my own, I would have
freely parted with them all to have exchanged my condition
with that of the meanest slave in my own country. When I
looked round the ship too and saw a large furnace or copper
boiling, and a multitude of black people of every
description chained together, every one of their
countenances expressing dejection and sorrow, I no longer
doubted of my fate; and, quite overpowered with horror and
anguish, I fell motionless on the deck and fainted. When I
recovered a little I found some black people about me, who I
believed were
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 72
some of those who brought me on board, and had been
receiving their pay; they talked to me in order to cheer me,
but all in vain. I asked them if we were not to be eaten by
those white men with horrible looks, red faces, and loose
hair. They told me I was not; and one of the crew brought me
a small portion of spirituous liquor in a wine glass; but,
being afraid of him, I would not take it out of his hand.
One of the blacks therefore took it from him and gave it to
me, and I took a little down my palate, which, instead of
reviving me, as they thought it would, threw me into the
greatest consternation at the strange feeling it produced,
having never tasted any such liquor before. Soon after this
the blacks who brought me on board went off, and left me
abandoned to despair. I now saw myself deprived
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 73
of all chance of returning to my native country, or even the
least glimpse of hope of gaining the shore, which I now
considered as friendly; and I even wished for my former
slavery in preference to my present situation, which was
filled with horrors of every kind, still heightened by my
ignorance of what I was to undergo. I was not long suffered
to indulge my grief; I was soon put down under the decks,
and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I
had never experienced in my life: so that, with the
loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became
so sick and low that I was not able to cat, nor had I the
least desire to taste any thing. I now wished for the last
friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of
the white men offered me eatables; and, on my refusing to
eat,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 74
one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across I
think the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other
flogged me severely. ...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 78
...The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so
intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there
for any time, and some of us had been permitted to stay on
the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole ship's
cargo were
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 79
confined together, it became absolutely pestilential. The
closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added
to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each
had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us.
This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon
became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome
smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which
many died, thus falling victims to the improvident avarice,
as I may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched
situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains,
now become insupportable; and the filth of the necessary
tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost
suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the
dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost
inconceivable. Happily perhaps
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 80
for myself I was soon reduced so low here that it was
thought necessary to keep me almost always on deck; and from
my extreme youth I was not put in fetters
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 83
....I was now more persuaded than ever that I was in another
world, and that every thing about me was magic. At last we
came in sight of the island of Barbadoes, at which the
whites on board gave a great
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 84
shout, and made many signs of joy to us. We did not know
what to think of this; but as the vessel drew nearer we
plainly saw the harbour, and other ships of different kinds
and sizes; and we soon anchored amongst them off Bridge
Town. Many merchants and planters now came on board, though
it was in the evening. They put us in separate parcels, and
examined us attentively. They also made us jump, and pointed
to the land, signifying we were to go there. We thought by
this we should be eaten by these ugly men, as they appeared
to us; and, when soon after we were all put down under the
deck again, there was much dread and trembling among us, and
nothing but bitter cries to be heard all the night from
these apprehensions, insomuch that at last the white people
got some old slaves from the land to pacify us. They
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 85
told us we were not to be eaten, but to work, and were soon
to go on land, where we should see many of our country
people. This report eased us much; and sure enough, soon
after we were landed, there came to us Africans of all
languages. We were conducted immediately to the merchant's
yard, where we were all pent up together like so many sheep
in a fold, without regard to sex or age. As every object was
new to me every thing I saw filled me with surprise. What
struck me first was that the houses were built with stories,
and in every other respect different from those in Africa:
but I was still more astonished on seeing people on
horseback. I did not know what this could mean; and indeed I
thought these people were full of nothing but magical arts.
Page 89
CHAP. III.
The author is carried to Virginia--His distress--Surprise
at seeing a picture and a watch--Is bought by Captain
Pascal, and sets out for England--His terror during the
voyage--Arrives in England--His wonder at a fall of snow--Is
sent to Guernsey, and in some time goes on board a ship of
war with his master--Some account of the expedition against
Louisbourg under the command of Admiral Boscawen, in 1758.
I NOW totally lost the small remains of comfort I had
enjoyed in conversing with my countrymen; the women too, who
used to wash and take care of me, were all gone different
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 90
ways, and I never saw one of them afterwards.
I stayed in this island for a few days; I believe it
could not be above a fortnight; when I and some few more
slaves, that were not saleable amongst the rest, from very
much fretting, were shipped off in a sloop for North
America. On the passage we were better treated than when we
were coming from Africa, and we had plenty of rice and fat
pork. We were landed up a river a good way from the sea,
about Virginia county, where we saw few or none of our
native Africans, and not one soul who could talk to me. I
was a few weeks weeding grass, and gathering stones in a
plantation; and at last all my companions were distributed
different ways, and only myself was left. I was now
exceedingly miserable, and thought myself worse off
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 91
than any of the rest of my companions; for they could talk
to each other, but I had no person to speak to that I could
understand. In this state I was constantly grieving and
pining, and wishing for death rather than any thing else.
While I was in this plantation the gentleman, to whom I
suppose the estate belonged, being unwell, I was one day
sent for to his dwelling house to fan him; when I came into
the room where he was I was very much affrighted at some
things I saw, and the more so as I had seen a black woman
slave as I came through the house, who was cooking the
dinner, and the poor creature was cruelly loaded with
various kinds of iron machines; she had one particularly on
her head, which locked her mouth so fast that she could
scarcely speak; and could not eat nor drink. I was much
astonished and shocked at
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 92
this contrivance, which I afterwards learned was called the
iron muzzle. Soon after I had a fan put into my hand, to fan
the gentleman while he slept; and so I did indeed with great
fear. While he was fast asleep I indulged myself a great
deal in looking about the room, which to me appeared very
fine and curious. The first object that engaged my attention
was a watch which hung on the chimney, and was going. I was
quite surprised at the noise it made, and was afraid it
would tell the gentleman any thing I might do amiss: and
when I immediately after observed a picture hanging in the
room, which appeared constantly to look at me, I was still
more affrighted, having never seen such things as these
before. At one time I thought it was something relative to
magic; and not seeing it move I thought it might be some way
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 93
the whites had to keep their great men when they died, and
offer them libation as we used to do to our friendly
spirits. In this state of anxiety I remained till my master
awoke, when I was dismissed out of the room, to my no small
satisfaction and relief; for I thought that these people
were all made up of wonders. In this place I was called
Jacob; but on board the African snow I was called Michael. I
had been some time in this miserable, forlorn, and much
dejected state, without having any one to talk to, which
made my life a burden, when the kind and unknown hand of the
Creator (who in very deed leads the blind in a way they know
not) now began to appear, to my comfort; for one day the
captain of a merchant ship, called the Industrious Bee, came
on some business to my master's house. This gentleman, whose
name was Michael
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 94
Henry Pascal, was a lieutenant in the royal navy, but now
commanded this trading ship, which was somewhere in the
confines of the county many miles off. While he was at my
master's house it happened that he saw me, and liked me so
well that he made a purchase of me. I think I have often
heard him say he gave thirty or forty pounds sterling for
me; but I do not now remember which. However, he meant me
for a present to some of his friends in England: and I was
sent accordingly from the house of my then master, one Mr.
Campbell, to the place where the ship lay; I was conducted
on horseback by an elderly black man, (a mode of travelling
which appeared very odd to me). When I arrived I was carried
on board a fine large ship, loaded with tobacco, &c. and
just ready to sail for England.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 95
I now thought my condition much mended; I had sails to lie
on, and plenty of good victuals to eat; and every body on
board used me very kindly, quite contrary to what I had seen
of any white people before; I therefore began to think that
they were not all of the same disposition. A few days after
I was on board we sailed for England. I was still at a loss
to conjecture my destiny. By this time, however, I could
smatter a little imperfect English; and I wanted to know as
well as I could where we were going. Some of the people of
the ship used to tell me they were going to carry me back to
my own country, and this made me very happy. I was quite
rejoiced at the sound of going back; and thought if I should
get home what wonders I should have to tell. But I was
reserved for another
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 96
fate, and was soon undeceived when we came within sight of
the English coast. While I was on board this ship, my
captain and master named me Gustavus Vasa.
Resources:
http://www.brycchancarey.com/equiano/
Gloria M. Boone 2002-2007 |
