fieldston american reader volume i – fall 2007 - Ethical Culture ...

I came to converse with different Africans, I found they hadmany horses amongst them, and much larger than those Ithen saw. We were not many days in the merchant’s custody,before we were sold after their usual manner, which isthis:—On a signal given, (as the beat of a drum,) the buyersrush at once into the yard where the slaves are confined, andmake choice of that parcel they like best. The noise and clamorwith which this is attended, and the eagerness visible in thecountenance of the buyers, serve not a little to increase theapprehension of terrified Africans, who may well be supposedto consider them as the ministers of that destruction to whichthey think themselves devoted. In this manner, withoutscruple, are relations and friends separated, most of them neverto see each other again. I remember in the vessel in which Iwas brought over, in the men’s apartment, there were severalbrothers, who, in the sale, were sold in different lots; and itwas very moving on this occasion, to see and hear their criesat parting. 0, ye nominal Christians! might not an African askyou—Learned you this from your God, who says unto you, Dounto all men as you would men should do unto you? Is it notenough that we are torn from our country and friends, to toilfor your luxury and lust of gain? Must every tender feeling belikewise sacrificed to your avarice? Are the dearest friends andrelations, now rendered more dear by their separation fromtheir kindred, still to be parted from each other, and thusprevented from cheering the gloom of slavery, with the smallcomfort of being together, and mingling their sufferings andsorrows? Why are parents to lose their children, brothers theirsisters, or husbands their wives? Surely, this is a new refinementin cruelty, which, while it has no advantage to atone for it,thus aggravates distress, and adds fresh horrors even to thewretchedness of slavery.Crèvecoeur: Letter IX Description ofCharles-Town; Thoughts on SlaveryThe following scene will I hope account for these melancholyreflections, and apologize for the gloomy thoughts with whichI have filled this letter: my mind is, and always has been,oppressed since I became a witness to it. I was not long sinceinvited to dine with a planter who lived three miles from-----,where he then resided. In order to avoid the heat of the sun, Iresolved to go on foot, sheltered in a small path, leading througha pleasant wood. I was leisurely travelling along, attentivelyexamining some peculiar plants which I had collected, whenall at once I felt the air strongly agitated; though the day wasperfectly calm and sultry. I immediately cast my eyes towardthe cleared ground, from which I was but at a small distance,in order to see whether it was not occasioned by a suddenshower; when at that instant a sound resembling a deep roughvoice, uttered, as I thought, a few inarticulate monosyllables.Alarmed and surprised, I precipitately looked all round, whenI perceived at about six rods distance something resembling acage, suspended to the limbs of a tree; all the branches of whichappeared covered with large birds of prey, fluttering about, andanxiously endeavoring to perch on the cage. Actuated by aninvoluntary motion of my hands, more than by any design ofmy mind, I fired at them; they all flew to a short distance, witha most hideous noise: when, horrid to think and painful torepeat, I perceived a negro, suspended in the cage, and left thereto expire! I shudder when I recollect that the birds had alreadypicked out his eyes, his cheek bones were bare; his arms hadbeen attacked in several places, and his body seemed coveredwith a multitude of wounds. From the edges of the hollowsockets and from the lacerations with which he was disfigured,the blood slowly dropped, and tinged the ground beneath. Nosooner were the birds flown, than swarms of insects coveredthe whole body of this unfortunate wretch, eager to feed on hismangled flesh and to drink his blood. I found myself suddenlyarrested by the power of affright and terror; my nerves wereconvulsed; I trembled, I stood motionless, involuntarilycontemplating the fate of this negro, in all its dismal latitude.The living spectre, though deprived of his eyes, could stilldistinctly hear, and in his uncouth dialect begged me to givehim some water to allay his thirst. Humanity herself would haverecoiled back with horror; she would have balanced whether tolessen such reliefless distress, or mercifully with one blow toend this dreadful scene of agonizing torture! Had I had a ballin my gun, I certainly should have dispatched him; but findingmyself unable to perform so kind an office, I sought, thoughtrembling, to relieve him as well as I could. A shell ready fixedto a pole, which had been used by some negroes, presenteditself to me; I filled it with water, and with trembling hands Iguided it to the quivering lips of the wretched sufferer. Urgedby the irresistible power of thirst, he endeavoured to meet it,72 fieldston american reader volume i – fall 2007