Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

BECOMING AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE
seventeen hundred and ninety-nine, against the negroes of the ship San
Dominick, the following declaration before me was made:
Declaration of the rst witness, DON BENITO CERENO.
The same day, and month, and year, His Honor, Doctor Juan Martinez de
Rozas, Councilor of the Royal Audience of this Kingdom, and learned in the law of
this Intendency, ordered the captain of the ship San Dominick, Don Benito Cereno,
to appear; which he did, in his litter, attended by the monk Infelez; of whom he
received the oath, which he took by God, our Lord, and a sign of the Cross; under
which he promised to tell the truth of whatever he should know and should be
asked;—and being interrogated agreeably to the tenor of the act commencing the
process, he said, that on the twentieth of May last, he set sail with his ship from the
port of Valparaiso, bound to that of Callao; loaded with the produce of the country
beside thirty cases of hardware and one hundred and sixty blacks, of both sexes,
mostly belonging to Don Alexandro Aranda, gentleman, of the city of Mendoza;
that the crew of the ship consisted of thirty-six men, beside the persons who went
as passengers; that the negroes were in part as follows:
[Here, in the original, follows a list of some fty names, descriptions, and
ages, compiled from certain recovered documents of Aranda’s, and also from
recollections of the deponent, from which portions only are extracted.]
—One, from about eighteen to nineteen years, named José, and this was the
man that waited upon his master, Don Alexandro, and who speaks well the Spanish,
having served him four or ve years; * * * a mulatto, named Francesco, the cabin
steward, of a good person and voice, having sung in the Valparaiso churches, native
of the province of Buenos Ayres, aged about thirty-ve years. * * * A smart negro,
named Dago, who had been for many years a grave-digger among the Spaniards,
aged forty-six years. * * * Four old negroes, born in Africa, from sixty to seventy,
but sound, calkers by trade, whose names are as follows:—the rst was named
Muri, and he was killed (as was also his son named Diamelo); the second, Nacta;
the third, Yola, likewise killed; the fourth, Ghofan; and six full-grown negroes,
aged from thirty to forty-ve, all raw, and born among the Ashantees—Matiluqui,
Yan, Leche, Mapenda, Yambaio, Akim; four of whom were killed; * * * a powerful
negro named Atufal, who being supposed to have been a chief in Africa, his owner
set great store by him. * * * And a small negro of Senegal, but some years among
the Spaniards, aged about thirty, which negro’s name was Babo; * * * that he does
not remember the names of the others, but that still expecting the residue of Don
Alexandra’s papers will be found, will then take due account of them all, and remit
to the court; * * * and thirty-nine women and children of all ages.
[The catalogue over, the deposition goes on]
* * * That all the negroes slept upon deck, as is customary in this navigation, and
none wore fetters, because the owner, his friend Aranda, told him that they were all
tractable; * * * that on the seventh day after leaving port, at three o’clock in the
morning, all the Spaniards being asleep except the two ocers on the watch, who
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