Part 3 (1/2)

The maternal affection was not, however, long absorbed in the conjugal; and the half frantic Imihie recollected, that Samboe was not enfolded with her in the arms of Tumiah. She loosened herself with difficulty from his embrace, to restore her child to his wonted protection within her own; but, at the moment she arose for the purpose, a tumultuous cry resounded through the s.h.i.+p, of ”fire! fire! Loosen the slaves! loosen the slaves!” The fire, however, spread with such violence, bursting from the spirit-room, that the sailors, apprehending that it was impossible to extinguish it before it would reach a large quant.i.ty of gunpowder on board, concluded it necessary to precipitate themselves into the sea, as offering the only chance of saving their lives.

However, they did first endeavour to loose the chains by which the slaves were fastened to the deck; but in the confusion the key could not be found, and they had but just time to loosen one of the fastenings, by wrenching the staple, before the vehemence of the fire so increased, that they simultaneously jumped overboard; when immediately, the fire having gained the powder, the vessel blew up, with every slave that was confined by the unloosened chain, and such others as had not possessed the power to follow the example of the sailors.

We hardly know whether to style it fortunate, that any circ.u.mstance should save these victims of avarice from a watery grave, after escaping that which, to the sense, seems more terrible. Providence, however, ordained that there should be some vessels in sight; which, putting out their boats, took up about two hundred and fifty of the poor souls that remained alive; but the most of them being those who had been fastened together with shackles, had, from the violence of the shock, and the confinement of the irons, experienced dreadful fractures of the limbs; which, inflamed by the struggles they had instinctively made, the heat, and the agitated state of the blood, quickly mortified, and ere they were scarcely sensible of their increase of calamity, released them, for ever, from all fear of it more. Among the number who thus yielded up his manly spirit, was Tumiah, rejoicing in the belief that his Imihie and Samboe were also removed to a land of spirits--a land where no man-stealer can enter, no treachery gain access, no violence invade. He might have adopted the words of the poet:

”Now, Christian, glut thy ravish'd eyes; I reach the joyful hour: Let, let the scorching flames arise, And these poor limbs devour.

”O Death, how welcome to th' opprest!

Thy kind embrace I crave; Thou bringst to Misery's bosom rest, And freedom to the slave!”

The fond belief, however, of the expiring Tumiah, that his wife and child had escaped the horrors of bondage, was fallacious. Previously to the calamity, the feelings of the wretched Imihie had been wrought up nearly to their utmost height; the sight of the quick-advancing flames, therefore, was sufficient to augment them to frenzy, and with a strength which frenzy only could impart, to a frame exhausted by want of nourishment and continual grief, she s.n.a.t.c.hed the infant Samboe from the deck, upon which he had fallen, and where, unheeded by one pitying eye, he remained, without uttering any cry or attempting to move; for, overcome by terror of the noise and brutality of the crew, the sight of the immense ocean, and the want of that nourishment which he in vain sought from the exhausted bosom of his wretched mother, the suffering child seemed unable to move, or even to utter any sound.

Imihie pressed him closely to her breast, turned a momentary and frenzied glance upon her enchained husband, and uttering a faint cry of terror, cast herself and precious burden into the foaming deep. But it was not decreed to become her tomb. Almost by miracle, she was thrown near a boat which had put off from a Spanish slave-vessel, and was picked up by the crew, with Samboe still closely entwined within her arms; without, however, exhibiting the smallest appearance of remaining life. But the vital spark was not yet extinct. She was immediately put on board the s.h.i.+p, and means of resuscitation used with both her and her child, as well as several other equally miserable victims of avarice. Heaven decreed these efforts to be effectual: and thus was the widowed mother transferred, by the sudden calamity, from one set of mercenaries to another, yet still doomed to slavery! The vessel had taken in her cargo at Rio Pongos, and was bound for the Havannah; but her stowage was too small to allow her, with impunity, to keep the increase occasioned by the casualty of the fire. She therefore put into a port, and disposed of them to a s.h.i.+p bound for Jamaica. This occasioned considerable delay; in consequence of which, when the transferred slaves were at length on their pa.s.sage, they were subjected to all the evils of improper seasons; water failed, provisions became spoiled and scanty, and many of the slaves the victims of disease, ere they entered the magnificent harbour of Port Royal.

Arrived at Kingston, they were put in store, until notice should be given of sale, which was immediately done by advertis.e.m.e.nt: ”On Tuesday next will be put up for sale, in their store, fifty superb negroes of the coast; to the purchasers of which will be afforded all the facilities wished.”

* * * ”What man reading this, And having human feelings, does not blush And hang his head, to think himself a man?”

CHAPTER VIII.

”Authority usurp'd from G.o.d, not given.

He gave us over beast, fish, fowl, Dominion absolute. That right we hold By his donation: but men over men He made not lord; such t.i.tle to himself Reserving, human left from human free.”

Milton.

Had Irving now seen the once attractive Imihie, and her playful boy, as he even beheld them in the slave-room of the African courtier, he would scarcely have given credit to any a.s.surance that she was the same individual. She then, recently a captive, peculiarly displayed in her person the characteristic feminine traits of her country--perfect symmetry of proportion, and beautiful, in as far as it did not consist in colour. Modest, affable, and faithful, these sweet feminine qualities emanated from her softened eyes, and an air of winning innocence in every look and gesture; while every word was p.r.o.nounced with an inflection of voice so sweet, so soft, so tender, that cold indeed must have been the heart that could withstand its eloquent appeal, or listen, unmoved, to its modulations. Such was the young Imihie. Now, alas! how changed! Emaciated for want of food, sinking with illness, shrinking from exposure; almost frenzied with the recollection of the past, the misery of the present, and the dread of the future; bearing, with difficulty, her infant, she was conducted, with her companions in misery, to the vendue, in the bare hope that she might be purchased for the sake of the boy; who, though suffering from the effects of the voyage and want of his natural nutriment, still evidently displayed great intelligence, and much natural vigour. The first day of exhibition pa.s.sed, and no purchaser was found for the sulky negress, (for such is the feeling term applied to the desponding.)

On occasions like this, it is a common thing to speculate upon the purchase of what are termed the refuse negroes, or those left from the first day's sale. Some are frequently in so weak and miserable a state, as even to be sold as low as for a dollar; some are taken to the mart almost in the agonies of death; and some are even known to draw their last sigh in the piazzas of the vendue master. It was on the second day's sale that Imihie was purchased by a planter for a very low sum, and carried into the country, with some others, whom he intended to retail. The situation of these wretched captives was but little ameliorated, by becoming the property of this man, who was of that cla.s.s of managers, who think that the safety of the family to which they are subservient, and the interest of the proprietor, renders severity indispensable, and oppression the only mode of subduing the refractory spirit of the African, whom they regard with the most sovereign contempt. With souls lost to all sense of compa.s.sion, they believe there can be but one mode of enforcing obedience, that of fear; and in the exercise of their delegated authority, they put in action, to the utmost, this ign.o.ble stimulus, by every means which a spirit of cruelty and ignorance can suggest.

Short, indeed, would have been the existence of the miserable Imihie, had she continued the property of this semi-barbarian. Confined in a narrow and unwholesome hut, without a single comfort; a hurdle for a bed, which rather served to torture than to ease her pained and wearied limbs, with scarcely sufficient of a coa.r.s.e linen to secure her frame from the scorching heats of the day, and the dangerous dews of night; in the midst of the richest bounties of nature, and the abundant luxuries of art, fed on salt beef and salt cod, and roots, with the injurious flour of the ca.s.sava, imperfectly prepared, and these in quant.i.ty scarcely sufficient to support existence; deprived of every enjoyment; condemned to perpetual labour, under the rod of an unfeeling master, there could be no chance of amendment of health, or of reconcilement to her destiny. But Providence ordained she should yet feel the happiness of sympathy. Her tyrant master, finding that her labour was very inadequate to the expences of retaining her, would have separated her from her child, and sold her for the smallest possible sum; but a neighbouring proprietor of a small plantation offered a satisfactory price for them together, and they were removed to a comparatively comfortable situation, in the hope that, with rest and better food, she might be enabled to become a house-slave to the wife of the purchaser.

It has been remarked, by observing travellers, that the women of the West Indies possess great natural kind feelings; but that the habitual view of oppression, and the free exercise of power over the slaves, renders them very insensible to the sufferings of the negro women, and totally regardless of promoting their happiness, or of studying to ameliorate their hard lot; and that the instances are by no means uncommon, in which they treat and have them punished with the utmost severity: that they can raise, to no gentle tone, their soft voices, and exert, with no little energy, their spiritless frames, when provoked by the awkwardness, or jealous of the influence of their sable captives. Ah! much to be lamented is that state of oppression on the one part, and debas.e.m.e.nt on the other, which can convert the expression of that distinguis.h.i.+ng feature of beauty, of female beauty more especially, from that which indicates right feeling, to that which betrays a superiority the G.o.d of nature designed not. A woman's eye should melt with tenderness, sparkle with innocent animation, weep with those that weep, and beam with the rays of joy at the happiness of another.

Such was the expression which shed its consolation on the desolated Imihie, upon the visit of her new mistress to her lowly hut. This amiable woman was young, but her mind had been early matured in the school of adversity: a hapless fate had fixed her residence in a remote part of Jamaica, but she had also learnt, from precepts which will never lead astray, ”in whatsoever situation she was, therewith to be content.” From the same Master who had inspired this lesson of the apostle, she had also learnt the only cure for the rebellion of the mind; that force defeated its object; that it was the interest of those who possessed power over their fellow-beings, that they should be attached to life, for nothing could be expected from them, the moment that they no longer feared death. Guiding her conduct by this principle of enlightened reason, derived from a far higher source, the most genuine sentiments of humanity were in constant exercise, by a corresponding course of action. She could not, indeed, as an obscure and solitary individual, break or remove the yoke which oppressed her fellow-creatures; but she could render it easier to be borne, and could, sometimes, even for a time, dissipate the cruel sense of it, by promoting and favouring the natural tastes of her poor slaves. Their lodging, clothing, and food, were all attended to by persons she could depend upon, and regularly inspected by herself. Far from regarding the occupation degrading, she persevered in it as a commanding duty; and she reaped her high reward, by the grateful affection of her poor servants. By various simple methods, she roused from the apathy of despair, and awakened the sensibilities. Little festivals conducted with judgment, innocent recreations, and simple rewards, preserved her slaves from the continual melancholy, which had too just a foundation. She sympathized with mothers, and delighted to share with them the caresses of the children.

Her husband, although possessing not her intelligence and elevation of mind, nor actuated by the principle that directed the energies of his amiable wife, yet was induced, by her unostentatious usefulness, and evident success in her plans, to accede to most of the humane innovations she proposed to him; convinced, by her arguments, that it would be his interest to be humane. Hence, their plantation exhibited a picture of comfort seldom seen, and their slaves had every appearance of health. They were allowed wholesome provision in ample quant.i.ty, with as much fruit as they wished; they had the liberty of keeping poultry, and to cultivate a piece of ground with esculent roots; their huts were comfortable, and when sick they experienced the kindest attention; and they were frequently suffered to a.s.sociate with each other in little parties, for recreation and amus.e.m.e.nt.

Such were the proprietors of the poor Imihie and her hapless boy, who soon began to find the benefit of kind treatment; and it is probable, had Providence ordained that it should have been enjoyed, immediately after landing on a foreign sh.o.r.e, that the miseries of the voyage, and even the horrors of bondage, might have been overcome by youth, and that wonderful buoyancy of the human mind, that seems to force itself above the swelling waves of misfortune. But the arrow had sunk too deep: its barb had been too powerfully poisoned, for human effort to withdraw, or to antidote it. Imihie was evidently the victim of that disease which hurries to an untimely grave, so many individuals of her hapless country; and which, throughout the world, may be termed, although not yet cla.s.sed, a broken heart. The first symptom of this disorder among negroes, became evident; namely, the black and glossy skin a.s.sumed an olive hue, the tongue became white, and the poor sufferer became overpowered by such a desire to sleep, that it was found impossible to resist it, a deadly faintness preventing the smallest exercise. In fact, a languor and general relaxation of the whole wonderful machinery of the human frame, seems to threaten death day by day, yet the sufferer still survives. So great is the state of despondency accompanying this distressing malady, that those afflicted will suffer themselves to be beaten, rather than attempt to move or walk. Happy was it for Imihie that she had not a task-master's whip to dread; and that the loathing which she had for mild and wholesome food, was not attributed to obstinacy, but to what it really was, a symptom of the disease which was insiduously undermining the vital principles of life. It made rapid advances upon her delicate and youthful frame: her respiration became laborious and painful, the extremities became swollen, and suffocation seemed frequently to impede the action of the heart. In this state she languished and suffered several months; but Imihie had her consolations, under an infliction, the natural consequence of melancholy upon the organs of the human frame.

We have said, that the humanity and enlightened reason of the excellent Mrs. Delany, were derived from a high source; even from that source which exalts feeling to a principle: the one is frequently as transient as the excitement, the other is founded upon a firm basis; offering a permanent and pure incentive to action, by adding a value to existence, as connecting it with a future. Such is one of the many blessed fruits of a Christian faith. Mrs. Delany felt its commanding power: she was a Christian in deed. Hers was not a speculative creed, but a practical code: it was her daily, hourly study to act upon.