The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African: Written By Himself — John Shaqi
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African: Written By HimselfEquiano, Olaudah
History
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African: Written By Himself
Equiano, Olaudah
Enslaved persons -- Great Britain -- Biography; Enslaved persons -- United States -- Biography; Equiano, Olaudah, 1745-1797
unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you? Is it
not enough that we are torn from our country and friends to toil for
your luxury and lust of gain? Must every tender feeling be likewise
sacrificed to your avarice? Are the dearest friends and relations, now
rendered more dear by their separation from their kindred, still to be
parted from each other, and thus prevented from cheering the gloom of
slavery with the small comfort of being together and mingling their
sufferings and sorrows? Why are parents to lose their children,
brothers their sisters, or husbands their wives? Surely this is a new
refinement in cruelty, which, while it has no advantage to atone for
it, thus aggravates distress, and adds fresh horrors even to the
wretchedness of slavery.
CHAP. III.
_The author is carried to Virginia--His distress--Surprise
at seeing a picture and a watch--Is bought by Captain
Pascal, and sets out for England--His terror during the
voyage--Arrives in England--His wonder at a fall of snow--Is
sent to Guernsey, and in some time goes on board a ship of
war with his master--Some account of the expedition against
Louisbourg under the command of Admiral Boscawen, in 1758._
I now totally lost the small remains of comfort I had enjoyed in
conversing with my countrymen; the women too, who used to wash and
take care of me, were all gone different ways, and I never saw one of
them afterwards.
I stayed in this island for a few days; I believe it could not be
above a fortnight; when I and some few more slaves, that were not
saleable amongst the rest, from very much fretting, were shipped off
in a sloop for North America. On the passage we were better treated
than when we were coming from Africa, and we had plenty of rice and
fat pork. We were landed up a river a good way from the sea, about
Virginia county, where we saw few or none of our native Africans, and
not one soul who could talk to me. I was a few weeks weeding grass,
and gathering stones in a plantation; and at last all my companions
were distributed different ways, and only myself was left. I was now
exceedingly miserable, and thought myself worse off than any of the
rest of my companions; for they could talk to each other, but I had no
person to speak to that I could understand. In this state I was
constantly grieving and pining, and wishing for death rather than any
thing else. While I was in this plantation the gentleman, to whom I
suppose the estate belonged, being unwell, I was one day sent for to
his dwelling house to fan him; when I came into the room where he was
I was very much affrighted at some things I saw, and the more so as I
had seen a black woman slave as I came through the house, who was
cooking the dinner, and the poor creature was cruelly loaded with
various kinds of iron machines; she had one particularly on her head,
which locked her mouth so fast that she could scarcely speak; and
could not eat nor drink.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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