Chapter II

The ship sails again — Capture of a Spanish schooner with Slaves — The natives of the coast come on board — Vessel anchors at Papoe — Sails from thence and captures another slave vessel — Arrives at Whydah, where Mr. Dickson lands — His progress through the country and reported death — The Brazen comes to an anchor in Badagry Roads — The Gentlemen of the Mission give a last farewell to the officers on board, and proceed on shore.

The Brazen sailed from Cape Coast on the 17th, and on the following day pursued a fine Spanish brigantine, which was waiting to receive a cargo of slaves from the coast. After a short chase the vessel was captured, and taken to Accra the same evening. There were only five or six Europeans at Accra; but the town, as at Cape Coast, is chiefly inhabited by Fantees, and is very populous. We had an opportunity of seeing the king of the Fantee nation during our short stay. His majesty, dressed in a shabby uniform of an English military officer, was supported on the shoulders of four men, and paraded through the town, preceded and followed by a number of people, who, by clapping of hands, and beating on _tom-toms!_ created a loud and most discordant noise, which might have been heard at a considerable distance from the spot.

On the 20th the Brazen departed with her prize from Accra, and came to an anchor at Papoe the day after. From that place the brigantine was to have taken in her cargo, and the slaves selected were confined in the town. As soon as the officers landed from the ship, they were demanded, but the king, obstinately refusing at first to deliver them up, was told that unless they were immediately produced, his town would be cannonaded, he himself and his son taken prisoners, and the slaves seized by main force; on which the royal personage seemed to pay a little more respect to the imperious summons of the Englishmen; and the unfortunate people were shortly after ordered to be liberated. These slaves at length made their appearance, and exhibited a long line of melancholy faces and emaciated frames, wasted by disease and close confinement, and by having suffered dreadfully from scantiness of food, and the impure air of their prison-house. They were 231 in number, men, women, and children, in a complete state of nudity, and heavily manacled; several of them were lamed by the weight of their irons, and their skin sadly excoriated from the same cause. All of them appeared in the deepest misery, and one little boy in particular was greatly distressed, and cried much and bitterly. He had been seized whilst at play with his young companions from before the threshhold of his parents’ hut, and immediately driven to Papoe with his thoughtless playmates. The poor things evinced the liveliest joy on being made acquainted with the favorable turn in their affairs, and the gratitude they displayed to their deliverers was natural and sincere. Arrangements were speedily made for their accommodation on board the prize; and that vessel, which was to have borne them to perpetual slavery in a remote region, was employed to convey them to hundreds of their countrymen at Sierra Leone.

Papoe lies close to the sea, and consists of an assemblage of irregularly-built mud huts; a number of lofty cocoa-trees growing in its immediate vicinity conducing greatly to the apparent freshness and pleasantness of the place. Slavery is carried on to an alarming extent by the inhabitants, every one of whom is at all times prepared to accompany a slave expedition. They are said to be more ferocious in their manners than most tribes on the coast; and if one may be allowed to judge from the savage expression of their countenances, the people are eminently entitled to this character. The aspect of the country presents the same unvaried uniformity of thick forests and extensive savannas, intersected with rich plains, that is everywhere observable from the sea.

The brigantine having been sent to Sierra Leone with the emancipated slaves, the Brazen sailed from Papoe on the morning of the 23d, and arrived at Whydah the same evening. Seven sail were at anchor off the coast fronting the town, the greater part of which were supposed to be waiting for a favourable opportunity to embark slaves. Captain Clapperton and Dr. Morrison landed on the following morning, and were conveyed in hammocks to the town of Whydah, situated about two English miles from the beach. After making observations, and obtaining the information they sought, the gentlemen returned the same evening to the ship.

On the 25th Dr. Dickson landed to proceed into the interior. The parting interview between Capt. Clapperton and the warm-hearted Doctor was singularly tender and pathetic. The latter gentleman entertained a presentiment that they should never meet again, and his endeavours to suppress or disguise his emotion entirely failed in their effect. “Study the character of the natives well,” said the Captain to Dr. Dickson, as he yet lingered on the deck; “respect their institutions, and be kind to them on all occasions; for ’tis on paying proper respect to these rules, and these only, that you must ground your hope of being successful in your progress through the country; and the conduct of the people to you will be guided solely by your behaviour towards them. Set a guard over your temper, my dear Dickson, and never let it lead you into error.” “We meet at Jennah, then,” said the Doctor, with an inquiring eye, and anxious, half-doubting look: “We meet at Jennah,” answered Captain Clapperton, solemnly. “Once more adieu, my dear Dickson, and may God bless and protect you.” The Doctor then tore himself from the deck, and we saw him no more.

Doctor Dickson was met at Whydah by M. de Souza, a Portuguese, and Mr. James, an Englishman, who accompanied him to Abomey, the capital of Dahomy, where he was received both by the king and his subjects with a hearty welcome, and every mark of kindness and respect. He was attacked with fever shortly after his arrival in that metropolis; but on his recovery proceeded in high spirits, with an escort of one hundred men, furnished as a protection by his Dahoman majesty, to Shar, that monarch’s authority extending no further in that direction.

On my return from the interior I was told by a person at Jennah, that Dr. Dickson, having proceeded about two days’ journey into the country from Shar, (where he had arrived in safety,) for some reason, which was not correctly explained, had a serious misunderstanding with a party of the natives, and his life being threatened by its chief, he was so violently exasperated that he attempted to throttle that individual; which being observed by his followers, they fell upon the unfortunate doctor, overcame, and slew him.[1] Thus this gentleman was the first of the mission that fell a victim to the cause of African research.

On the 26th the ship departed from Whydah, and came to an anchor in Badagry Roads on the 28th.

The appearance of the coast from Sierra Leone to Badagry is, generally speaking, singularly beautiful and attractive. The soil differs in various districts, but consists chiefly of a rich reddish mould, intermixed with sand, which renders it wonderfully fertile. It yields in the greatest abundance most, if not all, of the necessaries of life, and many of its luxuries; and millet, Indian corn, yams, sweet potatoes, cassada, plantains, the banana, &c. are cultivated to a considerable extent by the natives. Trees in great number and variety, of magnificent dimensions and luxuriant foliage, adorn the face of the country, the apparent beauty of which is infinitely heightened by the number of small villages, embellished with lovely trees, dotting the borders of the sea; amongst which the stately palm, both on account of the peculiarity and elegance of its form, must ever hold a distinguished place. Thick forests are also spread over the landscape, the gloomy shade of which, contrasted with the smiling verdure of cultivated plains, pleasantly studded with clumps of cocoa and other trees, and enlightened by a brilliant sun, offers a variegated and unrivalled picture of rural beauty, which the eye feasts upon with peculiar pleasure.

It is melancholy to reflect, however, that a great portion of this delightful region is peopled with a race of savages and semi-barbarians, speaking a variety of languages, but all having nearly the same customs, and engaged in perpetual broils amongst each other. The manners and ceremonies of the people are indeed the same, essentially, as they were when the coast was first discovered by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century; neither time, nor their familiar intercourse with Europeans for so many ages, having apparently in the slightest degree either enlightened their minds, or out-rooted their unmeaning superstitions, which still retain all their original freshness and absurdity. It is much to be feared that, instead of copying and imbibing the virtues of their white visitants, they have only adopted their most odious vices. Intoxication, which in all probability was unknown, or at most but partially indulged in, by the aboriginal inhabitants, is followed to a beastly excess at the present time, and is the parent of a thousand irregularities.

Slavery, by far the most appalling evil that can befal the human race, is carried on in particular districts to a deplorable extent, and spreads like a pestilence through the country. It is impossible to contemplate this striking and peculiar feature in the African habits, without experiencing the most lively emotions of surprise and sorrow. It has insinuated itself so deeply into the very life and spirit of the laws and institutions of the people, that the period seems remote indeed when it may fairly be presumed it will be wholly eradicated from them. It has also produced the most baleful effects, causing anarchy, injustice, and oppression to reign in Africa, and exciting nation to rise up against nation, and man against man; it has damped all ardour for improvement, in the absence of every stimulus to industry and exertion, and infinitely sunk the character of the people in the eyes of the rest of the world; it has covered the face of the country with desolation, and filled the minds of its sorrowing inhabitants with mourning, lamentation, and woe: but above all, it has confirmed them in the darkest and most shameful ignorance, and rivetted them more closely than ever in the bonds of a ridiculous and abominable superstition, to the utter exclusion of a more amiable and rational belief. All these evils, and many others, has slavery accomplished; in return for which the Europeans, for whose benefit, and by whose connivance and encouragement it has flourished so extensively, have given to the heartless natives but ardent and intoxicating spirits, tawdry silk dresses, and paltry necklaces of beads!

The day after the arrival of the Brazen at Badagry (the 29th of November), the gentlemen of the mission, and the officers of the ship, assembled on the quarter-deck to take a final farewell of each other; and some of the latter were deeply affected, as with a faltering voice and agitated manner they breathed their hopes that success might attend the perilous undertaking to which their enterprising friends had so willingly devoted themselves. There was something so moving in the pathetic spectacle of Englishmen parting under a strong persuasion, almost amounting to a conviction, of meeting no more in _this_ world; in seeing the manly resolution and stubborn indifference of British officers combating with the tenderer and more amiable feelings of human nature, that I myself could with difficulty stifle my emotion; and to dispel the gloom which hung upon my mind, I bade the officers a hasty and respectful adieu, and shaking hands with many of the honest seamen on deck, I sprang into a canoe that lay alongside the Brazen; and as two of the natives were rowing it towards the shore, I took the opportunity of playing “_Over the hills and far away_,” on a small bugle horn which I had brought with me. This elicited the admiration of the sailors of the ship, and I landed amidst the hearty cheers and acclamations of them all.

Shortly afterwards Captains Clapperton and Pearce, and Dr. Morrison, with Pasko and Dawson,[2] also landed; but Columbus the mulatto, who had been ill almost from the period of his leaving England, was too weak to accompany them.

The landing was rendered extremely dangerous by reason of a tremendous surf, which rolled violently, and to a great height, for many miles along the coast, and the canoe in which Mr. Houtson (an English merchant, who was taken on board at Whydah, for the purpose of accompanying the mission,) was conveyed from the Brazen, with astronomical instruments, &c. was swamped when at some distance from the beach. This accident had nearly cost that gentleman his life; for after being tossed about on the foam and waves for a few minutes, his strength utterly forsook him, and he ceased to struggle with the waters. In this perilous state he was observed by two of the blacks who had been with him in the ill-fated canoe; and, at the imminent risk of their own lives, the men succeeded in conveying Mr. Houtson, although totally insensible, to the shore, where proper remedies having been administered, he shortly afterwards recovered. The natives subsequently dived after the instruments, &c. and were fortunate enough to regain the whole, although being seriously damaged by the water, many of them were of little, if any, use afterwards.

Neither an English boat, nor a canoe of the ordinary form, can possibly live, even a single minute, in this dreadful surf; and the natives have canoes of singular construction, and exceedingly strong, made purposely to brave its violence; yet, as the preceding casualty clearly shows, even these are insufficient to preserve the passenger from the danger apprehended. The canoes here spoken are of immense size and thickness, and manned by nineteen naked men, who are well skilled in the art of rowing. On every occasion a Fetish-man, covered from head to foot with _gris-gris_, stands in the bow invoking the “Spirit of the Waters” to be propitious, and quell the raging of the sea. He continues alternately watching the motion of the billows and praying in a low mournful tone till the boat reaches the shore or the vessel, when thanks are immediately returned to the water-divinity. When he fancies his petition has been heard, the Fetish-man, catching a favourable opportunity, suddenly claps his hands in a transport, and exclaims, with violent gesticulation and wildness of manner, “i yaw, i yaw!” (now is the time, now is the time,) which inspires his countrymen in the canoe with fresh energy, and dashing their paddles into the water, they propel their enormous bark through the foamy waves with the swiftness of lightning.

I must own, I was by no means sorry that Columbus did not proceed with us; he was a man of strong and easily excited passions, and was besides malicious and revengeful. He used to take offence at the most trifling accident in the world, and with oaths and bitter imprecations, curse the individual whom he conceived had been the author of it, vowing at the same time to be revenged. He frequently declared, during the voyage, that he himself would be the solitary survivor of the party: all the others, he affirmed, would die before they had been in the country many weeks, and he should have the _pleasure_ of returning alone; nevertheless he was himself the very first victim to the effects of that climate which he had proudly boasted could not be prejudicial to him,—for being subsequently landed at Whydah, and overtaking Dr. Dickson at Abomey, he proceeded with that gentleman on the road to Shar, but being attacked with fever, expired, I have been informed, before they had reached that place.

A day or two previously to our leaving the ship, I had by some means or other unintentionally offended Columbus; the next time he saw me, he exclaimed, grinning horribly, in a tone and gesture which could not be mistaken, and which I shall not easily forget, “I shall one day have the pleasure of seeing you parching with thirst on the back of a camel; and rather than give you one drop of water by —— you shall perish there; _that_ will be my revenge!”