Captain Canot | Page 3

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 ?ternus," 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 Islamism--My geographical disquisitions, rotundity of the world, the Koran--I consent to turn, minus the baptism!--Ahmah's attempt to vow me to Islamism--Fullah punishments--Slave wars--Piety and profit--Ahmah and I exchange gifts--A double-barrelled gun for a Koran--I promise to visit the Fullah country 84
CHAP. X.--Mode of purchasing Slaves at factories--Tricks of jockeys--Gunpowder and lemon-juice--I become absolute manager of the stores--Reconciliation with Unga-golah--La