Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua, a Young Black Man, Recounts His Enslavement in Africa and Shipment to Brazil, mid-nineteenth century
[The following document is one of the few available testimonies from a Latin American slave or former slave. Its author, Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua, a former Moslem turned Christian, lived in an area south of the great bend of the Niger River, perhaps in the region now known as Upper Volta. A privileged attendant of the local king or "massa-sa-ba," Baquaqua was seized, he claimed, by envious persons, sold as a slave, and forced to travel, mostly on foot, to the west African coast. From this place, probably a Portuguese possession, Baquaqua was shipped to Brazil, where he arrived in Pernambuco in the 1840s. This account of his ordeal, told to a publisher named Samuel Moore, includes details of every phase of the slave trade, from seizure in Africa to illegal sale in Brazil.
Baquaqua's story would not have been published had he not traveled to New York, still in the capacity of a slave, on a Brazilian merchant vessel. There, evidently with the aid of some sympathetic free blacks and other abolitionists, he gained his freedom and sailed to Haiti. In Haiti he was aided by American Baptist missionaries, eventually returning to the United States where he studied for several years under Baptist tutelage. Source: Biography of Mahommah G. Baquaqua, A Native of Zoogoo, in the Interior of Africa . Written and Revised from His Own Words, by Samuel Moore (Detroit, Geo. E. Pomeroy & Co., 1854), pp. 34-45.]
[Early Life] Its has already been stated, that when any person gives evidence of gaining an eminent position in the country, he is immediately envied, and means are taken to put him out of the way; thus when it was seen that my situation was one of trust and confidence with the king, I was of course soon singled out as a fit object of vengeance by an envious class of my countrymen, decoyed away and sold into slavery. I went to the city one day to see my mother, when I was followed by music (the drum) and called to by name, the drum beating to the measure of a song which had been composed apparently in honor of me, on account of, as I supposed, my elevated position with the king. This pleased me mightily, and I felt highly flattered, and was very liberal, and gave the people money and wine, they singing and gesturing the time. About a mile from my mother's house, where a strong drink called Bah-gee, was made out of the grain Har-nee; thither we repaired; and when I had drunk plentifully of Bah-gee, I was quite intoxicated, and they persuaded me to go with them to Zar-ach-o, about one mile from Zoogoo, to visit a strange king that I had never seen before. When we arrived there, the king made much of us all, and a great feast was prepared, and plenty of drink was given to me, indeed all appeared to drink very freely.
[Betrayal and Capture] In the morning when I arose, I found that I was a prisoner, and my companions were all gone. Oh, horror! I then discovered that I had been betrayed into the hands of my enemies, and sold for a slave. Never shall I forget my feelings on that occasion; the thoughts of my poor mother harassed me very much, and the loss of my liberty and honorable position with the king grieved me very sorely. I lamented bitterly my folly in being so easily deceived.
[Forced March to the African Coast] The man in whose company I found myself left by my cruel companions, was one, whose employment was to rid the country of all such as myself. The way he secured me, was after the following manner: He took a limb of a tree that had two prongs, and shaped it so that it could cross the back of my neck; it was then fastened in front with an iron bolt; the stick was about six feet long.
Confined thus, I was marched forward towards the coast, to a place called Ar-oo-zo, which was a large village; there I found some friends, who felt very much about my position, but had no means of helping me. We only stayed there one night, as my master wanted to hurry on, as I had told him I would get away from him and go home. He then took me to a place called Chit-a-chur-ee, there I also had friends, but could not see them, as he kept very close watch over me, and he always stayed at places prepared for the purpose of keeping the slaves in security; there were holes in the walls in which my feet were placed (a kind of stocks). He then took me on to a place called Cham-mah (after passing through many strange places; the names of which I do not recollect) where he sold me. We had then been about four days from home and had traveled very rapidly. I remained only one day, when I was again sold to a woman, who took me to Efau; she had along with her some young men, into whose charge I was given, but she journeyed with us; we were several days going there; I suffered very much traveling through the woods, and never saw a human being all the journey. There was no regular road,' but we had to make our passage as well as we could.
After passing through the woods, we came to a small place, where the woman who had purchased me, had some friends; here I was treated very well, indeed, during the day, but at night I was closely confined, as they were afraid I would make my escape; I could not sleep all night, I was so tightly kept.
After remaining there for the space of two days, we started on our journey again, traveling day after day; the country through which we passed continued quite hilly and mountainous; we passed some very high mountains, which I believe were called the mountains of Kong. . . ; At length we arrived at Efau, where I was again sold; the woman seemed very sorry to part with me; and gave me a small present on my leaving them. Efau is quite a large place, the houses were of different construction to those in Zoogoo, and had not so good an appearance.
The man to whom I was again sold, was very rich, and had a great number of wives and slaves. I was placed in charge of an old slave; whilst there a great dance was held and I was fearful they were going to kill me, as I had heard they did in some places, and I fancied the dance was only a preliminary part of the ceremony; at any rate I did not feel at all comfortable about the matter. I was at Efau several weeks and was very well, treated during that time; but as I did not like the work assigned me, they saw that I was uneasy, and as they were fearful of losing me, I was locked up every night. . . .
After leaving Efau, we had no stopping place until we reached Dohama; we remained in the woods by night and traveled during the day, as there were wild beasts in great abundance, and we were compelled to build up large fires at night to keep away the ferocious animals, which otherwise would have fallen upon us and torn us to pieces; we could hear them howling round about during the night. . . . Dohama is about three days journey from Efau, and is quite a large city; the houses being built differently to any I had previously seen, . . . When we arrived here I began to give up all hopes of ever getting back to my home again, but had entertained hopes until this time of being able to make my escape, and by some means or other of once more seeing my native place, but at last hope gave way; the last ray seemed fading away, and my heart felt sad and weary within me, as I thought of my home, 'My mother! Whom I loved most tenderly, and the thought of never more beholding her added very much to my perplexities. . . .
We then proceeded to Gra-fe, about a day and half s journey; the land we passed was pretty thickly settled and generally well cultivated; but I do not recollect that we passed any streams of water after entering upon this level country. At Gra-fe, l saw the first white man, which you may be sure took my attention very much; the windows in the houses also looked strange, as this was the first time in my life that I had ever seen houses having windows. They' took me to a white man's house, where we remained until the morning, when my breakfast was brought in to me, and judge my astonishment to find that the person who brought in my breakfast was an old acquaintance, who came from the same place; . . . his name was Woo-too, and had come from Zoogoo, having been enslaved about two years; his friends could never tell what had become of him. ...
Woo-too seemed very anxious that I should remain at Gra-fe, but I was destined for other parts; this town is situated on a large river. After breakfast I was taken down to the river and placed on board a boat; the river was very large and branched off in two different directions, previous to emptying itself into the sea. The boat in which the slaves were placed was large and propelled by oars, although it had sails as well, but the wind not being strong enough, oars were used as well. We were two nights and one day on this river, when we came to a very beautiful place; the name of which I do not remember; we did not remain here very long, but as soon as the slaves were all collected together, and the ship ready to sail, we lost no time in putting to sea. Whilst in this place, the slaves were all put into a pen, and placed with our backs to the fire, and ordered not to look about us, and to insure obedience, a man was placed in front with a whip in his hand ready to strike the first who should dare to disobey orders; another man then went round with a hot iron, and branded us the same as they would the heads of barrels or another inanimate goods or merchandise.
[Aboard Ship: The Middle Passage] When all were ready to go aboard, we were chained together, and tied with ropes round about our necks, and were thus drawn down to the seashore. The ship was lying some distance off. I had never seen a ship before, and my idea of it was, that it was some object of worship of the white man. I imagined that we were all to be slaughtered, and were being led there for that purpose. I felt alarmed for my safety, and despondency had almost taken sole possession of me.
A kind of feast was made ashore that day, and those who rowed the boats were plentifully regaled with whiskey, and the slaves were given rice and other good things in abundance. I was not aware that it was to be my last feast in Africa. I did not know my destiny. Happy for me that I did not. All I knew was, that I was a slave, chained by the neck, and that I must readily and willingly submit, come what would, which I considered was as much as I had any right to know.
At length, when we reached the beach, and stood on the sand, oh how I wished that the sand would open and swallow me up. My wretchedness I cannot describe. It was beyond description, then placed in that most horrible of places. Its horrors, ah! who can describe. None can so truly depict its horrors as the poor unfortunate, miserable wretch that has been confined within its portals! . . . We were thrust into the hold of the vessel in a state of nudity, the males being crammed on one side, and the females on the other; the hold was so low that we could not stand up, but were obliged' to crouch' upon the floor or sit down; day and night were the same to us, sleep being denied us from the confined position of our bodies, and we became desperate through suffering and fatigue.
Oh! the loathsomeness and filth of that horrible place will ever be effaced from my memory; nay, as long as memory holds her seat in this distracted brain, will I remember that. My heart even at this day, sickens at the thought of it. . , .
The only food we had during the voyage was corn soaked and boiled. I cannot tell how long we were thus confined, but it seemed a very long while. We suffered very much for want of water; but was denied all we needed. A pint a day was all that was allowed, and no more; and a great many slaves died upon the passage. There was one poor fellow so very desperate for want of water, that he attempted to snatch a knife from the white man who brought in the water, when he was taken up on deck and I never knew what became of him. I supposed he was thrown overboard.
When any one of us became refractory, his flesh was cut with a knife, and pepper or vinegar was rubbed in to make him peaceable (!) I suffered, and so did the rest of us, very much from seasickness at first, but that did not cause our brutal owners any trouble. Our sufferings were our own, we had no one to share our troubles, none to care for us, or even to speak a word of comfort to us. Some were thrown overboard before breath was out of their bodies; when it was thought any would not live, they were got rid of in that way. Only twice during the voyage were we allowed to go on deck to wash ourselves once whilst at sea, and again just before going into port.
[Arrival in Brazil] We arrived at Pernambuco, [Brazil] South America, early in the morning, and the vessel played about during the day, without coming to anchor. All that day we neither ate nor drank anything, and we were given to understand that' we were to remain perfectly silent, and not make any outcry, otherwise our lives were in danger. But when [night came], the anchor dropped, and we were permitted to go on deck to be viewed and handled by our future masters, who had come aboard from the city. We landed a few miles from the city, at a farmer's house, which was used as a kind of slave market. The farmer had a great many slaves, and I had not been there very long before I saw him use the lash pretty freely on a boy, which made a deep impression on my mind, as of course I imagined that would be my fate ere long, and oh! too soon, alas! were my fears realized.
When I reached the shore, I felt thankful to Providence that I was once more permitted to breathe pure air, the thought of which almost absorbed every other. I cared but little then that I was a slave, having escaped the ship was all I thought about. Some of the slaves on board could talk Portuguese. They had been living on the coast with Portuguese families, and they used to interpret to us. They were not placed in the hold with the rest of us, but come down occasionally to tell us something or other.
These slaves never knew they were to be sent away, until they were placed on board the ship, remained in this slave market but a day or two, before I was again sold to a slave dealer in the city, who again sold me to a man in the country,' who was a baker, and resided not a great distance from Pernambuco.
When a slaver comes in, the news spreads like wild-fire, and down come all those that are interested in the arrival of the vessel with its cargo of living merchandise, who select from the stock those most suited to their different purposes, and purchase the slaves precisely in the same way that oxen or horses would be purchased in a market; but if there are not the kind of slaves in the one cargo, suited to the wants and wishes of the slave buyers, an order is given to the Captain for the particular sorts required, which are furnished to order the next time the ship comes into port. Great numbers make quite a business of this, and do nothing else for a living, depending entirely upon this kind of traffic.
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