Captain Canot | Page 3

families; to acquire the bearing of freemen; to
abandon their imitation of the whites among whom they had lived; and
thus, by degrees, to consolidate a social and political system which may
expand into independent and lasting nationality. Instead, therefore, of
lamenting the slowness with which the colonies have reached their
vigorous promise, we should consider it a blessing that the vicious did

not rush forth in turbulent crowds with the worthy, and impede the
movements of better folks, who were still unused to the task of
self-reliance.
Men are often too much in a hurry to do good, and mar by excessive
zeal what patience would complete. "Deus quies quia æternus," saith St.
Augustine. The cypress is a thousand years in growth, yet its limbs
touch not the clouds, save on a mountain top. Shall the regeneration of
a continent be quicker than its ripening? That would be miracle--not
progress.
Accept this offering, my dear Willis, as a token of that sincere regard,
which, during an intimacy of a quarter of a century, has never wavered
in its friendly trust.
Faithfully, yours,
BRANTZ MAYER.
BALTIMORE, 1st July, 1854.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] MORETUM,--Carm. Virg. Wagner's ed. vol. 4, p. 301.

CONTENTS.
PAGE CHAP. I.--My parentage and education--Apprenticed at
Leghorn to an American captain--First voyage--its
mishaps--overboard--black cook--Sumatra--cabin-boy--Arrival in
Boston--My first command--View of Boston harbor from the
mast-head--My first interview with a Boston merchant, WILLIAM
GRAY 1
CHAP. II.--My uncle tells my adventure with LORD
BYRON--CAPTAIN TOWNE, and my life in Salem--My skill in
Latin--Five years voyaging from Salem--I rescue a Malay girl at

Quallahbattoo--The first slave I ever saw--End of my
apprenticeship--My backslidings in Antwerp and Paris--Ship on a
British vessel for Brazil--The captain and his wife--Love, grog, and
grumbling--A scene in the harbor of Rio--Matrimonial
happiness--Voyage to Europe--Wreck and loss on the coast near Ostend
10
CHAP. III.--I design going to South America--A Dutch galliot for
Havana--Male and female captain--Run foul of in the Bay of
Biscay--Put into Ferrol, in Spain--I am appropriated by a new mother,
grandmother, and sisters--A comic scene--How I got out of the
scrape--Set sail for Havana--Jealousy of the captain--Deprived of my
post--Restored--Refuse to do duty--Its sad consequences--Wrecked on
a reef near Cuba--Fisherman-wreckers--Offer to land cargo--Make a
bargain with our salvors--A sad denouement--A night bath and escape
19
CHAP. IV.--Bury my body in the sand to escape the insects--Night of
horror--Refuge on a tree--Scented by bloodhounds--March to the
rancho--My guard--Argument about my fate--"MY UNCLE" RAFAEL
suddenly appears on the scene--Magic change effected by my
relationship--Clothed, and fed, and comforted--I find an uncle, and am
protected--MESCLET--Made cook's mate--Gallego, the cook--His
appearance and character--DON RAFAEL'S
story--"Circumstances"--His counsel for my conduct on the island 31
CHAP. V.--Life on a sand key--Pirates and wreckers--Their
difference--Our galliot destroyed--the gang goes to Cuba--I am left
with Gallego--His daily fishing and nightly flitting--I watch him--My
discoveries in the graveyard--Return of the wreckers--"Amphibious
Jews"--Visit from a Cuban inspector--"Fishing license"--Gang goes to
Cape Verde--Report of a fresh wreck--Chance of
escape--Arrival--Return of wreckers--Bachicha and his clipper--Death
of Mesclet--My adventures in a privateer--My restoration to the
key--Gallego's charges--His trial and fate 41
CHAP. VI.--I am sent from the key--Consigned to a grocer at
Regla--CIBO--His household--Fish-loving padre--Our dinners and

studies--Rafael's fate--Havana--A slaver--I sail for Africa--The
Areostatico's voyage, crew, gale--Mutiny--How I meet it alone--My
first night in Africa! 57
CHAP. VII.--Reflections on my conduct and character--Morning after
the mutiny--Burial of the dead--My wounds--JACK ORMOND or the
"MONGO JOHN"--My physician and his prescription--Value of
woman's milk--I make the vessel ready for her slave cargo--I dine with
Mongo John--His harem--Frolic in it--Duplicity of my captain--I take
service with Ormond as his clerk--I pack the human cargo of the
Areostatico--Farewell to my English cabin-boy--His story 68
CHAP. VIII.--I take possession of my new quarters--My household and
its fittings--History of Mr. Ormond--How he got his rights in Africa--I
take a survey of his property and of my duties--The Cerberus of his
harem--Unga-golah's stealing--Her rage at my opposition--A night visit
at my quarters--ESTHER, the quarteroon--A warning and a sentimental
scene--Account of an African factor's harem--Mongo John in his
decline--His women--Their flirtations--Battles among the girls--How
African beaus fight a duel for love!--Scene of passionate jealousy
among the women 76
CHAP. IX.--Pains and dreariness of the "wet season"--African rain!--A
CARAVAN announced as coming to the Coast--Forest paths and trails
in Africa--How we arrange to catch a caravan--"Barkers," who they
are--AHMAH-DE-BELLAH, son of the ALI-MAMI of
FOOTHA-YALLON--A Fullah chief leads the caravan of 700
persons--Arrival of the caravan--Its character and reception--Its
produce taken charge of--People billeted--Mode of trading for the
produce of a caravan--(Note: Account of the produce, its value and
results)--Mode of purchasing the produce--Sale over--Gift of an
ostrich--Its value in guns--Bungee or "dash"--Ahmah-de-Bellah--How
he got up his caravan--Blocks the forest paths--Convoy duties--Value
and use of blocking the forest paths--Collecting debts, &c.--My talks
with Ahmah--his instructions and sermons on