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