CHAP. XI.--An epoch in my life in 1827--A vessel arrives consigned to me for slaves--LA FORTUNA--How I managed to sell my cigars and get a cargo, though I had no factory--My first shipment--(Note on the cost and profit of a slave voyage)--How slaves are selected for various markets, and shipped--Go on board naked--hearty feed before embarkation--Stowage--Messes--Mode of eating--Grace--Men and women separated--Attention to health, cleanliness, ventilation--Singing and amusements--Daily purification of the vessel--Night, order and silence preserved by negro constables--Use and disuse of handcuffs--Brazilian slavers--(Note on condition of slavers since the treaty with Spain) 99 CHAP. XII.--How a cargo of slaves is landed in Cuba--Detection avoided--"_Gratificaciones_." Clothes distributed--Vessel burnt or sent in as a coaster, or in distress--A slave's first glimpse of a Cuban plantation--Delight with food and dress--Oddity of beasts of burden and vehicles--A slave's first interview with a negro _postilion_--the postilion's sermon in favor of slavery--Dealings with the anchorites--How tobacco smoke blinds public functionaries--My popularity on the Rio Pongo--Ormond's enmity to me 107 CHAP. XIII.--I become intimate with "Country princes" and receive their presents--Royal marriages--Insulting to refuse a proffered wife--I am pressed to wed a princess and my diplomacy to escape the sable noose--My partner agrees to marry the princess--The ceremonial of wooing and wedding in African high life--COOMBA 110 CHAP. XIV.--JOSEPH, my partner, has to fly from Africa--How I save our property--My visit to the BAGERS--their primitive mode of life--Habits--Honesty--I find my property unguarded and safe--My welcome in the village--Gift of a goat--Supper--Sleep--A narrow escape in the surf on the coast--the skill of KROOMEN 118 CHAP. XV.--I study the institution of SLAVERY IN AFRICA--Man becomes a "legal tender," or the coin of Africa--Slave wars, how they are directly promoted by the peculiar adaptation of the trade of the great commercial nations--Slavery an immemorial institution in Africa--How and why it will always be retained--Who are made _home_ slaves--Jockeys and brokers--Five sixths of Africa in domestic bondage 126 CHAP. XVI.--Caravan announced--MAMI-DE-YONG, from Footha-Yallon, uncle of Ahmah-de-Bellah--My ceremonious reception--My preparations for the chief--Coffee--his school and teaching--NARRATIVE OF HIS TRIP TO TIMBUCTOO--Queer black-board map--prolix story teller--Timbuctoo and its trade--Slavery 129