"This was the pleasantest year of all the life I led in this place.
Friday began to talk pretty well and understood the names of almost all
the things that I called for and of all the places which I wished to
send him. I was careful to teach him all the things I knew. I showed him
how to plant and harvest corn, how to gather fibre, spin yarn and to
weave it into cloth. He learned these things quickly and became very
skillful in making pots. He knew something about this because at home he
had seen the women make them. He ornamented them with figures of birds
and flowers. I taught him about the true God. But as for writing he
could never do much with this. I had no books and could not make him
understand the importance of writing. He began to talk a great deal to
me. This delighted me very much. I began to love him exceedingly. He was
so very honest and faithful.
"After I had taught him English I tried one day to find out whether he
had any wish to return to his own country and as I talked to him about
it I saw his face light up with joy and his eye sparkle. From this I had
no doubt but that Friday would like to be in his own country again. This
for a time made me sad, to think how eagerly he would leave me to be
among his savage friends. 'Do you not wish you were back in your own
country, Friday?' I said to him one day. 'Yes,' he said, 'I be much O
glad to be back in my country.' 'What would you do there,' said I?
'Would you turn wild again and do as the savages do?' He shook his head
and said very gravely, 'No, no, Friday tell them to live good. He tell
them to plant corn and live like white mans.'
"One day when we were on the top of a hill on the west side of the
island, Friday suddenly began to jump and dance about in great glee. I
asked him what the matter was. 'O, joy, O glad,' he said; 'there my
country!' The air was so clear that from this place, as I had before
discovered, land could be distinctly seen looking westward.
"I asked him how far it was from our island to his country and whether
their canoes were ever lost in coming and going. He said that there was
no danger. No canoes were ever wrecked and that it was easy to get back
and forth. I asked him many things about his people and country. He told
me that away to the west of his country there lived 'white mans like
you.' I thought these must be the people of Central America, and asked
him how I might come from this island and get among these white men. He
made me understand that I must have a large boat as big as two canoes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account