Captain Canot

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--