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

BECOMING AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE
were the boatswain, Juan Robles, and the carpenter, Juan Bautista Gayete, and the
helmsman and his boy, the negroes revolted suddenly, wounded dangerously the
boatswain and the carpenter, and successively killed eighteen men of those who
were sleeping upon deck, some with hand-spikes and hatchets, and others by
throwing them alive overboard, after tying them; that of the Spaniards upon deck,
they left about seven, as he thinks, alive and tied, to manoeuvre the ship, and three
or four more, who hid themselves, remained also alive. Although in the act of revolt
the negroes made themselves masters of the hatchway, six or seven wounded went
through it to the cockpit, without any hindrance on their part; that during the act of
revolt, the mate and another person, whose name he does not recollect, attempted
to come up through the hatchway, but being quickly wounded, were obliged to
return to the cabin; that the deponent resolved at break of day to come up the
companion-way, where the negro Babo was, being the ringleader, and Atufal, who
assisted him, and having spoken to them, exhorted them to cease committing such
atrocities, asking them, at the same time, what they wanted and intended to do,
oering, himself, to obey their commands; that notwithstanding this, they threw, in
his presence, three men, alive and tied, overboard; that they told the deponent to
come up, and that they would not kill him; which having done, the negro Babo
asked him whether there were in those seas any negro countries where they might
be carried, and he answered them, No; that the negro Babo afterwards told him to
carry them to Senegal, or to the neighboring islands of St. Nicholas; and he answered,
that this was impossible, on account of the great distance, the necessity involved of
rounding Cape Horn, the bad condition of the vessel, the want of provisions, sails,
and water; but that the negro Babo replied to him he must carry them in any way;
that they would do and conform themselves to everything the deponent should
require as to eating and drinking; that after a long conference, being absolutely
compelled to please them, for they threatened to kill all the whites if they were not,
at all events, carried to Senegal, he told them that what was most wanting for the
voyage was water; that they would go near the coast to take it, and thence they
would proceed on their course; that the negro Babo agreed to it; and the deponent
steered towards the intermediate ports, hoping to meet some Spanish, or foreign
vessel that would save them; that within ten or eleven days they saw the land, and
continued their course by it in the vicinity of Nasca; that the deponent observed that
the negroes were now restless and mutinous, because he did not eect the taking in
of water, the negro Babo having required, with threats, that it should be done,
without fail, the following day; he told him he saw plainly that the coast was steep,
and the rivers designated in the maps were not to be found, with other reasons
suitable to the circumstances; that the best way would be to go to the island of Santa
Maria, where they might water easily, it being a solitary island, as the foreigners
did; that the deponent did not go to Pisco, that was near, nor make any other port
of the coast, because the negro Babo had intimated to him several times, that he
would kill all the whites the very moment he should perceive any city, town, or
settlement of any kind on the shores to which they should be carried: that having
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