Alfred Brockenbrough Williams. The Liberian Exodus. An Account of the Voyage of the First Emigrants in the Bark "Azor," and Their Reception at Monrovia, with a Description of Liberia--Its Customs and Civilization, Romances and Prospects.

The Liberian Exodus. An Account of Voyage of the First Emigrants in the Bark "Azor,"
and Their Reception at Monrovia, with a Description of Liberia--
Its Customs and Civilization, Romances and Prospects:
Electronic Edition.

Williams, Alfred Brockenbrough, 1856-1930

Funding from the Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition supported the electronic publication of this title.

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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
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Source Description:
(title page) The Liberian Exodus. An Account of Voyage of the First Emigrants in the Bark "Azor," and Their Reception at Monrovia, with a Description of Liberia--Its Customs and Civilization, Romances and Prospects.
A. B. Williams
62 p.
Charleston, S. C.
The News and Courier Book Presses
1878
Call number 1-1947 (Microforms Collection, Davis Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

        The electronic edition is a part of the UNC-CH digitization project, Documenting the American South.
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Library of Congress Subject Headings, 21st edition, 1998

Languages Used:

English
French
Latin

LC Subject Headings:

African Americans -- Colonization -- Liberia.
Free African Americans -- Colonization -- Liberia.
Monrovia (Liberia) -- Description and travel.
Liberia -- Description and travel.
Liberia -- Social life and customs.
Missions -- Africa.
Back to Africa movement.

Revision History:

2001-06-28,
Celine Noel and Wanda Gunther
revised TEIHeader and created catalog record for the electronic edition.
2000-08-01,
Jill Kuhn, project manager,
finished TEI-conformant encoding and final proofing.
2000-07-31,
Fiona Mills
finished TEI/SGML encoding
2000-07-26,
Apex Data Services, Inc.
finished scanning (OCR) and proofing.

THE LIBERIAN EXODUS.
AN ACCOUNT OF VOYAGE
OF THE
First Emigrants in the Bark "Azor,"
AND
THEIR RECEPTION AT MONROVIA,
WITH A DESCRIPTION OF LIBERIA--ITS CUSTOMS AND
CIVILIZATION, ROMANCES AND PROSPECTS.

A SERIES OF LETTERS FROM A. B. WILLIAMS,
THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE NEWS AND COURIER.

CHARLESTON, S. C.
THE NEWS AND COURIER BOOK PRESSES.
1878.

Page 1

THE LIBERIAN EXODUS.

CHAPTER I.

THE AZOR'S TERRIBLE TRIP--OUT ON THE DEEP, DEEP SEA--NINETY MILES THE FIRST DAY--SOCIETY ABOARD--ST. JAMES'S AND ST. GILES'S--PATIENCE OF THE DUSKY PASSENGERS IN THE THROES OF SEA-SICKNESS--PROVISIONS INSUFFICIENT AND OF BAD QUALITY--NO MEDICAL STORES OR STIMULANTS--WASTE AND DIRT--A MATRIMONIAL ROW--PRAYERS ABOARD--THE FIRST DEATH AND FIRST BIRTH--GEORGE CURTIS EXPOSED--THE FIRST STORM--A SCENE THAT BEGGARS DESCRIPTION--THE FATED SUNDAY--DECEPTION PRACTICED BY THE EXODUS ASSOCIATION--MEASLES ABOARD--CURTIS AND HIS WIFE FIGHTING--A SUDDEN DEATH--AND YET ANOTHER--MEASLES QUITE PREVALENT--FORMING A SUNDAY-SCHOOL--PERVERSITY OF THE EMIGRANTS--THEIR OBJECT IN LEAVING THE SOUTH--THE SIXTH DEATH--TWO MORE--A BROILING SUNDAY--SHIP FEVER CERTAINLY ABOARD--WATER RUNNING SHORT--HALF RATIONS ISSUED--MORE AND MORE DEATHS--A TERRIBLE TORNADO--FRESH PROVISIONS ALL GONE--MAKING FOR SIERRA LEONE--IN PORT AT LAST--OFF AGAIN FOR MONROVIA.

SIERRA LEONE, May 30, 1878.--You all know how the Azor, with her experimental load, left Charleston amid the sounds of "The Gospel ship is sailin' " and "We'r boun' for the promis' land,' " sung from the bark's decks, and re-echoed from the Pocosin and Allison. The last sound of Charleston heard by the emigrants were the notes of "The Sweet Bye and Bye" from the excursionists aboard the Pocosin. It is customary in letters similar to this to give over two or three pages of

"REFLECTIONS ON LEAVING OUR NATIVE
LAND."

as if anybody cared a snap what your reflections were. We aboard the Azor had our reflections, and very grave ones, on leaving our native land. We reflected whether or not we were destined to be sea-sick, and to what extent. Doubts on the point were speedily and decisively decided after crossing the bar. One by one the passengers fell until, with one or two honorable exceptions, everybody was down. But surely such a good natured and philosophical set of sick people was never before seen. The steerage passengers would each, between the intervals of his or her own attacks, laugh at, and imitate with grotesque gestures and words, some unfortunate comrade, amid the uproarious hilarity of the others. The few who were not affected seemed to witness the sufferings of their fellows with exquisite enjoyment. The hours passed thus until bedtime, when most of the passengers "turned in." A few, however, preferred catching what breeze there was by

Page 2

sleeping on the decks. There was little application for or dissatisfaction concerning the food that evening.

I think most of the passengers were much disappointed in the ocean. They had evidently expected to meet with waves about a hundred feet high, ornamented with piscatorial banquets of whales, leviathans, sharks, mermaids, sea cows, and all the real and mythical monsters of the deep. They were therefore somewhat disgusted at the ripples which sparkled in the sunlight in every direction, and the fish which declined showing themselves in any direction.

The morning of the second, regular, day found everybody languid, feeble and disposed to fasting. Despite sickness, however, amusement could be found, for one way, in watching the arrangement of society which even so soon began to take place. The cabin passengers composed the élite--the créme de la créme The quarter deck composed the "West end" of the Azor (she was steering east) and there the foot of the plebeian who lived and moved and had his being in the lower strata of the steerage could not tread. The captain, the two mates and I, the only white souls aboard, represented those frayed ends of society ashore who are tolerated everywhere, welcomed nowhere. At 12 o'clock on Monday, April 22, it was announced that we were

NINETY MILES FROM CHARLESTON BAR.

having been becalmed during a large portion of the night. All traces of land had faded from sight, and I felt some curiosity to see how the sentimental, or love of home, would display itself. Careful observation, however, failed to discover an indication of either of those feelings. When the strip of mist, representing the land of these people's birth and bringing up, which contained all the memories, sweet and bitter, of their past lives, and on which their friends and kin yet remained, was fading from their sight forever, there was no development of any feeling other than a slight interest in the distance from them at which it could be seen

Every witling and witless wight who has ever been to sea has exhausted his literary abilities in describing the developments of sea-sickness. It is unnecessary, therefore, for the description to be gone into, especially as my appreciation of the humorous features of the performance is as yet slight. Suffice it, therefore, to say that the affliction was generally remarkably well borne. The passengers of the Azor had been forewarned, and seemed to have made up their minds to submit with equanimity. I would take this opportunity to give notice that, having been rocked in the cradle of the deep, I am prepared to sell out my stock in that article of furniture on extremely moderate terms, the subscriptions having been (very) fully paid in, and no dividends having as yet been drawn.

The second nautical day terminates at noon on Tuesday. During that day we made 134 miles, having had a light wind nearly abeam, and steering northeast. This put us 224 miles from Charleston bar--the "miles" referred to being nautical ones, a fraction longer than the statute measurement. On this day the captain and mate went vigorously to work reducing

THE ISSUING OF FOOD AND WATER

to a system. Messes were formed among the 'tween decks passengers, containing from ten to twenty-five persons each. Some man was appointed to draw cooked provisions for each of these messes, two meals a day being allowed, at about 11 A. M. and 4 P. M. These provisions were taken from the general store, and cooked in the galley. One of the emigrants assisted the ship's cook each day, the African potentate engaged for that purpose having absconded in Charleston. As soon as the food was cooked, the name of the head of each mess was called from a list, and he was given prepared food sufficient for his party, which it was his duty to divide equally. The food was generally not good. There was a superabundance of meal, flour and rice and a good quantity of meat, the latter being pork and salt beef. The flour, however, was coarse and black, and the meal seemed to give general dissatisfaction, being freely stigmatized as "kiln-dried stuff, only fit for hogs to eat." The rice, too, was broken and dirty, requiring much cleaning. The meat was enough to last when carefully doled out. All of it, except five barrels, belonged to the "six months' stores," intended by the emigrants for their support in Liberia until the first crop is made, but it was of necessity used on the voyage. Of this

Page 3

matter I shall have more to say hereafter. The supply of molasses was so scant that it could only be issued occasionally as a treat. In the haste and confusion generally prevailing about the galley, the food was almost invariably ill cooked, causing much complaint, and, doubtless, suffering, to persons whose stomachs, made delicate by sea-sickness, loathed the coarse and badly prepared food which might have been eaten with tolerable relish at another time under the influence of exercise and health. A significant remark was that made by one of the emigrants: "I ate a piece of that fat bacon, sir, and hung over the ship's side for two days." Each steerage passenger received about a full pint of cooked rice, corn and wheat bread, of each about as much as is contained in an ordinary baker's loaf, and some two square inches of meat at each meal. There was therefore no danger of starvation. The supply of coffee was small, rendering an extensive dilution necessary. Tea there was in plenty, but the emigrants were not generally drinkers of that beverage. What are technically known as "medical comforts," consisting of small quantities of good spirits and wines, sago, arrowroot, &c., were entirely absent. When stimulants were needed for the sick, the slender private stores of the captain or myself had to be called on.

THE CABIN PASSENGERS,

of course, fared differently. They had their meals in the forward saloon, having a comfortable table, chairs, napkins, knives and forks, &c., while those in the steerage had nothing of the sort. The fortunate ones in the cabin had also cabin boy and steward to wait on them. Of course the ration system did not apply to them, they partaking of their food at a general table, as at a hotel. The captain, the two mates and I took our meals in the after saloon, getting the same food that the cabin passengers had. Indeed, I think some of them used to watch us closely to make sure that we did not have the advantage of them either in quantity or quality of "grub." Our salt beef was usually made into hash, (known among seafaring folk as "mystery,") while our bacon was carefully boiled, cooled and sliced. We had also an occasional roast or broiled fowl, generally good biscuit or bread, butter, potatoes, codfish, mackerel, baked beans, curry, every now and then, and rice, with an invariable dessert of pies, pudding, or hot cakes and syrup. We had two meals a day. Other advantages that the aristocracy of the Azor possessed were pickles, vinegar, a limited supply of fresh water to wash in and a plenty to drink. There should have been a good supply of vinegar for everybody, for it would have rendered much of the food and the water greatly more palatable; but there was only a small cask aboard, and it was a scarce luxury among the people in the steerage. The latter were required to perform their ablutions in salt water, (when they did perform them,) and were allowed three quarts of the beverage per adult. From this was subtracted a sufficient quantity with which to make coffee and tea. Each adult received about a quart and a half a day. It was issued as early as possible in the morning. Capt. Holmes tried all imaginable ways to make the food "go" as well as possible, having it made into general stews, &c. Now, I expect that most of us have seen the time when rice, meat, meal and other etceteras, well boiled together and seasoned, would have been relished; but these people took a curious antipathy to it, and would have none of the mess. However bad the supplies may have been, it seems as if any sane person, out at sea with all the possibilities of a long voyage before him, would refrain from wasting them. Yet I've seen nearly enough bread, meat and rice which would have looked eatable enough to a starving man, thrown carelessly or angrily over the Azor's side, to feed all aboard of her for a week.

On this second nautical day of the voyage, Tuesday, the "good order" of the quarter deck was treated to that most cherished and relished of all things by good society everywhere, a mild scandal involving matrimonial infelicity. Among the good society aforesaid was a light colored missionary of youthful aspect, who wore a meek expression of countenance and a tall hat. He had a wife of about his own age and color, and from the first there were indications of war between them. On this evening he summoned her to attend with him a prayer meeting in the steerage, and upon her declining, went below into the forward saloon, from whence, in a few moments, his voice came through the skylight in dismal groans and fervent prayers, to be delivered from the power of this "tormenting woman." After this he rushed up, and stamping wildly about the deck, speaking bitter words of his spouse, and fiercely clutching his hair, like an Othello with the black partially washed off. This incident, of course, furnished material for much gossip and grave

Page 4

moralizing, and was a perfect windfall in the way of a social event. I went down to

THE PRAYER MEETING

and wished, for the first time, that THE NEWS AND COURIER was a "picture" paper, that I was an artist, and that the scene could have been reproduced in all of its strange picturesqueness, even were the other two conditions fulfilled. The long, low apartment, with its crowded bunks, was dimly lighted. About each of the three lamps, placed against the two hatches and the foot of the foremast, was clustered a group of men bending over tattered hymn books, and singing with full strength. From the semi-darkness around came voices of all varieties, joining in the camp meeting refrain, while the half dressed forms of men and women were dimly to be seen, leaning forward, listening and participating, the benches were crowded with others similarly engaged, and the children slept soundly through it all, bundled up in a wonderful diversity of ways in bed. The ladder and doors and windows of the main batch-house were crowded with other faces and forms, and at the foot of the former stood the preacher. When the hymn was over all heads were generally bent in prayer, the devotions being led either by the minister or some prominent man in the congregation (for this is but a sample of scenes often repeated). The preaching was launched into the darkness when the time came, most of the preacher's audience being invisible to him. On almost all of these occasions I was fervently prayed for, one brother revealing by a little extra plain language the probable inspiration of this portion, when he said, in tones of passionate pleading, "Bless the Reporter. Oh, help him not to write any lies to Thy glory, and the advancement of Thy work." Though the grammatical construction of this sentence rendered it somewhat dubious, it was easy to discern its meaning.

The minister brought along in charge of the A. M. E. congregation is a fair specimen of his class. I think, from close observation, that he is a man of really earnest piety, who does his best according to his lights. But the lights are so dim. He lacks entirely the education and training which many colored ministers--especially in the cities--possess. He seems barely able to read and write, mispronouncing the simplest words, and producing painfully ludicrous effects at the most solemn moments. With crude, twisted and half developed ideas and reasonings on subjects, he covered up and hopelessly confused what meaning he had, with a flood of misapplied, miscalled, and confounded words.

To the observer who thinks a moment there is something peculiarly saddening in this. This man is a representative of those chosen expounders of the plan of salvation who taught, and doubtless believed, in '76 that servants of God could only work and vote for Chamberlain, and that his political opponents constituted the world, the flesh and the devil. Is not this most literally the leading of the blind by the blind? Heaven only knows what diverse, tangled and mistaken ideas and theories these poor darkened minds do extract from the shapeless mass of confused words, sentences and metaphors hurled upon them by their teachers. The negro's intensely devotional nature is distracted and wanders until nearly every one acquires a separate belief and doctrine, some of them as horrible and gross as can be. It seems to me that the managers of the L. E. A. could do better than feed these unfortunate involuntary prodigals on theological and doctrinal husks, which satisfy the natural craving for a religion without strengthening the spiritual life which is to be the negro's greatest incentive and aid to civilization. For a preacher who can teach his people sound, simple Christianity, there is work to do among these emigrants. While we are told that from the mouths of babes and sucklings shall proceed wisdom, I don't believe it was ever intended that those persons or their grown-up prototypes, should furnish a steady intellectual diet for men and women.

The third nautical day closed at 12 o'clock on Wednesday, April 24. The Azor has made good use of the preceeding breeze of the twenty-four hours, and scored 214 knots, or miles, thus bringing her total run to 438 miles in the three days, and putting her on the average required to make Monrovia in twenty-five days--144 miles per diem. On this day the captain and mates raided on the steerage and had every piece of bedding brought on deck and spread out in the sun and wind to be aired and ventilated. The quarters were then

THOROUGHLY CLEANED OUT,

the floors being scraped, and everything thrown open to admit fresh air. The selection of officers for the Azor really seems providential, for not one sailor in a hundred would have taken the unceasing pains to secure health and cleanliness that Capt. Holmes and his mates, Messrs. Horne and Thatcher, did. One of the greatest obstacles that they had to contend against was the wonderful indifference displayed by the passengers themselves on the subject. It was only by the most unremitting begging' and driving that they could be induced to "clean up", around their own berths, and in many instances even those means failed. So it was throughout the passage. They were not rebellious or ill-natured, but their inaction appeared to result solely and simply from a profound indifference and aversion to trouble. Of course there were some honorable exceptions. The Shaw and Reeves families from Georgia, Clement Irons of Charleston, who voluntarily surrendered his cabin passage for which he had paid, and went in the steerage to make room: William Adams from Lancaster, and a few others set examples worthy of imitation, cheerfully doing whatever seemed necessary to make the voyage a success;

Page 5

never grumbling, and always looking at the best side. Early on the trip the steerage had begun to assume the appearance of the plantation quarters so familiar to all Southerners. Scraps of rags, bones, pieces of bread and "chunks" of rice lying about; dirt and grease about the floors, and "piccannies" crawling about over it all; and the old man or woman sitting around, munching, smoking and "jawing." Against all of these things did the officers perpetually war.

On the evening of the third day the missionary and his wife fought on the quarter-deck. The skirmish culminated in a running battle, lasting to their cabin door. Here the affair was stopped, good society gathering in a body on the field, where Mrs. Missionary gave in panting tones an account of the fray, while her spouse contemplated her visage with his head on one side, wearing a critical air, as if he rather thought that another thump on the left eyebrow and a touch of a scratch on the starboard side of the nose would lend the work an artistic finish. The pair were reconciled, however, and retired on their laurels.

At noon on Thursday we had made 206 miles, making the total for the four nautical days 614, giving a full average and something to spare. A number of craft were sighted, although none came near enough to speak. The eager outlook for marine monsters was rewarded by the sight of a whale blowing away off to windward. He did not, however, create half the excitement that a poor, tired little land bird, which had probably been blown off shore, did. It alighted on the spanker boom, and flew about the ship amid many expressions of wonder and delight. The idea that it was a good omen sent especially by Providence seemed to strike the popular mind at once. The little creature was assiduously fed and petted, but disappeared during the evening. Probably not one of the passengers had ever read or heard of "Ye rime of ye Ancient Mariner," but the mysterious taking off of the little visitor was received with as much genuine gloom probably as was displayed by the companions of Mr. Coleridge's hero. Always afterwards, whenever there was a prospect of anything like "dirty" weather, this matter was generally recurred to with solemn head-shakings, expressive of evil forebodings. My own theory is that the bird was taken for food to the "mariner's hollow," but which mariner's hollow it is difficult to say, all the mariners appearing to me to be in a habitual state of hollowness, albeit well fed. The only Moses of the exodus, however, a huge black cat of the captain's bearing that cognomen, was generally suspected of the crime, getting into bad odor thereby, and being regarded as an emissary of the devil.

During the day ending at noon on Friday, April 26th, we made 155 miles. Total distance 799 miles northeast of Charleston, 79 miles ahead of the required average. During most of this time there had been fresh breezes, and as we were steadily working northward, there had been no suffering from heat after the first two nights, which had been very unpleasantly close and hot in the steerage. Sea sickness still lasted, although

A GENERAL RECOVERY

from that malady had begun. The weather had been generally fine and sunshiny, and the general health was good. It was announced, however, that two children were dangerously sick below. The decks and the tops of the different houses made splendid lounging places, and the emigrants, having begun to feel better, and being tired of looking at the water, usually lay about in a confusion by no means beautiful, most of the men sleeping on their backs the entire day. As recovery progressed, the Exodites, like their exemplars of Israel, became more and more discontented with food, water and surroundings, and murmured especially when certain developments, which this narrative will hereafter develop, were made. I myself could not but confess a longing for the flesh-pots of Egypt as embodied in the soft boiled eggs, buttered toast and beefsteak of the Pavilion, also remembering with regret that at that hostelry, there was no necessity for holding fast to your soup plate to prevent its drifting down to leeward, and becoming a nameless and shapeless wreck against the butter dish.

During Friday night the wind shifted to the cast, and finally dead ahead, driving the Azor to the north. She, however, made 112 miles, bringing her total to 911, and keeping her still ahead of her average. The head winds continued all during Saturday, still driving her north, and occasioning many relapses to the sick, dashing bright hopes, and reducing victims to the depths of despair. There was one man, however, who was not reprostrated. That was the man who owned and operated the accordeon. On Saturday evening he produced the article and opened up. He was not particularly well acquainted with its manipulation, and his music was mostly of an experimental nature. He would grind along at random until some note was stumbled upon that bore the semblance of something he had heard before. Carefully learning how this was done, he would feel around until he found something to fit it, and so go on building up a tune, a note, a bar and key at a time. Sometimes the foundation, or some other important part, would be forgotten, and then the entire structure would tumble, with a wild squeak or a hollow groan, a diastrous and melancholy ruin. During Saturday night the force of the head wind increased, obliging the furling of all light sails, aud keeping the vessel constantly careened, and still driving her north of her course. On Sunday morning

THE FIRST DEATH

occurred, being that of a four year old daughter of William Johnson. The child had been ailing when brought aboard in Charleston, and had steadily grown worse during the

Page 6

whole time. A few moments before its death, the minister was summoned, and it was baptized "Amelia Johnson." Very soon after breath had left the little body, it was prepared for burial, and that saddest of all funerals, a funeral at sea, was arranged for. A plank seven feet long by two wide was laid across the end of a barrel, one end projecting over the lee (port) gangway rail. A folded American flag was knotted around this plank, and that much of the simple preparation was complete. One by one and in knots the emigrants gathered about this suggestive object, until all were crowded around it, observing a profound silence, and watching with curious eyes for the completion of the, to them, novel ceremony. The cabin passengers gathered on the poop overlooking the scene, and the neighboring shrouds and rigging were filled with other spectators. In a few minutes two sailors came up from the steerage, replacing their needles in their cases with a business-like air, and then two or three men stumbled up the ladder bearing the shapeless canvas bundle containing the corpse and the large stone wrapped with it at its feet. The body in this sea coffin was laid upon the plank and the flag spread over it, a sailor standing at each side. One by one the men who stood about took off their hats, and the crowd clustered closer as the minister came forward and proceeded to read the Methodist burial services. At the words, "We commit this body to the deep," the flag was lifted, the inside ends of the plank tilted up by the sailors, and the body slid off into the water, which boiled and surged against the vessel's side, sinking immediately to its resting place "till the sea gives up her dead." Then the crowd slowly dispersed.

THE SAME SCENE

was repeated later in the same day, Shellevy Adams, an infant son of William Adams, dying that evening. He also was christened a few minutes before his death, which was attributed to dysentery. Apropos of these deaths, I must speak of a matter that strikes me as being an outrage. In giving the particulars of the arrangement for the first voyage of the Azor, the managers of this Exodus distinctly stated that a physician from Washington would accompany her, and that statement was published in THE NEWS AND COURIER.

NO PHYSICIAN

from Washington or anywhere else could be found among her passengers. The law requires the presence of one aboard emigrant ships, and George Curtis was used to clear with. I am informed that the Rev. B. F. Porter assured the Customhouse authorities that Curtis understood the practice of medicine, having studied it in his youth. He knows about as much of medicine as a street car mule. During the whole voyage he was prowling around 'tween decks with a small book called "the mariner's medical guide" in one hand, and all sorts of compounds extracted from the medicine chest in the other. Even the book was given him by the captain. I feel very confident that he was unacquainted with the symptoms of the simplest diseases, and my idea is that he went almost entirely by guess-work. When he had formed some opinion as to what the disorder was, he would refer to the book, and treat it thereby. He used continually to be consulting the captain as to what he should do. I was called in to one or two of these consultations, but my medical knowledge being acquired principally from a fence somewhere, and consisting of a vague idea that Tutt's liver pills were good for something or another, I was subsequently, and wisely, ignored. This thing seems to me to have been either a deliberate crime, and a very grave one, or equally criminal carelessness on the part, of the managers of this exodus. It is horrible to think of

A BLUNDERING IGNORAMUS

like this man having charge of the health of some three hundred people, a large majority of whom were women and children. It is only Heaven's mercy that there are not even more deaths to record. Capt. Holmes, while possessing considerably more knowledge of the simpler diseases than Curtis, of course could not be expected to be able to cope with anything of a complicated nature. So there we all were, entirely at the mercy of any pestilence that might arise. I am certain that the more intelligent of the passengers agreed with me in my estimate of this "Doctor's" skill. I don't think he was ever allowed to experiment on any one in the cabin, and I know that his practice (and it literally was practice) was a laughing stock on the quarter deck, where he was generally known as "calomel and jalap," that being his favorite prescription. He administered it to Johnson's child, which died in convulsions. Its death was attributed to worms, although he was in doubt as to whether it was that or cerebro spinal meningetis. Of Dr. Curtis, too, I shall have more to say hereafter.

The log showed on Sunday at noon that we had made 144 miles that day, making a total of 1,033, and leaving us still ahead of the necessary average. In addition to the funeral services already mentioned, regular services were held twice on Sunday, being largely attended. On Monday, 28th, the log scored 125 miles, a total of 1,180. Still slightly ahead of the average. On this day

THE FIRST BIRTH

took place, being that of a boy, (reported to be a fine one,) to the wife of Ned Clark, a steerage passenger. Mother and child both flourished from the first. We had by this time been driven into about 39 north latitude, being about the latitude of Cape May, and two degrees further north than the captain had intended going, he having proposed to run only as far up as Baltimore, latitude 37. As soon as the head wind abated the vessel's course was changed, and she went into her long southeast stretch.

Page 7

On Tuesday, 29th, we made two hundred and fourteen miles, gaining a trifle south, the wind having shifted somewhat, and making a total for the nine days of one thousand three hundred and ninety-four miles. We were still ahead of the required average, but lost considerably by being becalmed during Tuesday night, only making seventy-two miles to Wednesday at 12 o'clock. The sea during nearly all of Wednesday lay like a sheet of flexible glass, only disturbed by a heavy but quiet swell, which rolled abeam, producing, as heavy swells generally do a most unpleasant effect, keeping the vessel rocking violently. During the evening, however, a brisk breeze came up, just forward of the quarter, and the Azor went bowling along before it, running on her port side, keeping everybody and everything drifting to leeward, making the holding of one's self in a bunk a process requiring considerable science, and adding to the difficulty of the problem how to stow six feet of anatomy comfortably in five feet eight inches of bunk, which I had been endeavoring to solve from the beginning. The wind continued to freshen until it became

A LIGHT GALE,

and the vessel tossed on the waves at a great rate. The royals, and stay, top gallant and upper topsails were taken in one by one, and the pumps were set to work. Wednesday was the regular "bed-airing" day, but the spray and wind obliged the hasty taking in of all such furniture. The emigrants had great fun at first coaxing their unwary fellows to stand near the windward gangway, and get well "soused" by the water which now and then came dashing over the rails. Much diversion was also caused by the loss of several hats, which took to themselves wings and flew away, that being the only thing about them suggesting riches even in the most remote manner. (By the way, I believe nearly every man aboard the Azor lost head gear at some stage of the voyage, and a collector of curiosities in the way of ancient and dilapidated tiles might have reaped a rich harvest had he been in our wake.) Towards night, however when the vessel careened so much as to dip up water through her lee scuppers, and the wind still freshened, many of the passengers became first anxious, then timind, and finally thoroughly frightened. The doors of the batch houses were closed and everybody sent below. A driving rain had set in, and neither in the lowering sky above nor in the rushing water beneath was any comfort.

I took a walk through the steerage on Wednesday night and found everybody nervous and disposed to be sick. The nervousness and sickness both increased, and on Thursday morning they had become almost universal. We scored 213 miles to Thursday at noon with what sail we carried, bringing the total run to 1,679 miles. Daylight brought some comfort, but the wind still blew freshly, with occasional light squalls, which brought rain and kept everybody indoors. Thursday night the blow had reached its height, and there was

GENERAL DARK FOREBODING

and dismay. The minister organized a prayer meeting 'tween decks, and another scene was presented which beggars description. While the wind whistled and howled through the rigging, and the water surged against the sides, and waves now and then came down on the decks with a "swish-h-h," the people sat in the dim light below, listening and shivering. They evidently supposed that they were going through a great storm, and asked many questions based on that belief, greatly to the amusement of the sailors. When service was begun, fear gave place to or combined with religious enthusiasm, and some persons in the congregation became perfectly frantic, rolling about the floor, shrieking, calling out hoarsely that they were prepared for death, and professing their willingness to be taken at once, ejaculating over and over, "Jesus, come now! come right now!" A few really displayed courage of a high order for they were firmly persuaded that they were menaced by great danger. They took matters very coolly, saying that as they had to die sometime, they were willing to do it then if necessary. In the midst of the shouting, leaping, clapping and rolling, the Captain came down, and by a few words of quiet assurances stilled the excitement which seemed becoming wilder every moment. During the night a squall blew the jib from the bolt ropes, tearing it to tatters.

On Friday morning the sun shone out genially, and everybody cheered up and quieted down. At noon the log shewed 216 miles run--total, 1,895--still ahead of the average. The wind kept up briskly, though not too much so to allow the setting of all sail. Then there was a great comparing of experiences, thoughts and feelings during the blow of the previous two days. One man said that what he feared was that "the boat would turn over," while another had apprehended that if "she kept rocking so much she'd burst open." Of course many funny things could be told of the sayings of the passengers, but such things lose their flavor without a reproduction of the negro dialect, and that has always seemed to me in bad taste. While on this subject think a minute. Suppose any of you had, intentionally or unintentionally, broken a man's spine, wouldn't it be a horrible thing to wince and laugh at the unfortunate cripple's contortions and gestures? We white people are certainly responsible in a great measure for the deprivation of the negro of his educational backbone, and, aside from the general broad rule that it is not a genteel thing to ridicule the misfortunes and deformities of others, this mimicry of the darkey seems to come with especially bad grace from us. I know that this aside is a sort of cross between a sub-editorial and a Sunday-School story, but it's true nevertheless.

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The second Saturday out passed off without any particular incident. The fore deck was enlivened during the morning by a fight between the cook and an emigrant, during which the former doused the latter with hot water. This was the second affair of the kind that the chef de cuisine had been engaged in, and both parties were severely reprimanded by the captain. Nobody was hurt. As usual, several craft were sighted at greater or less distances. It may be mentioned here, that throughout the voyage the Azor never failed to pass any craft steering in her course, thus demonstrating that her sailing capacities are at least considerably above the average. At 12 o'clock on Saturday the log registered 200 miles. Total 2,093 in the thirteen days, an average of 161 miles and a fraction per diem. Sunday seemed to be

A FATED DAY.

On this third Sunday died Anna Maria Sigler, an unmarried daughter of Boatswain Sigler, of Edgefield. She was another of George Curtis's patients. He attributed her death to a cold caught while suffering from measles. The unfortunate woman had certainly been imprudent, having gone on deck a few days before her death with what was apparently a case of measles on her. On the morning of her death she was administered coffee with an infusion of ginger, a Dover's powder, and Friar's Balsam. What before, it is hard to say. After her death, it was ascertained that she had been confined only a day or two before coming aboard, and had exposed herself to the dangers and discomforts of the embarkation while in that delicate condition. This, with the meazles, probably formed a complication of disorders with which Curtis coped about as intelligently and effectively as I could have done. Of course, there is no telling how far the three deaths are attributable to his malpractice. I know that after this affair, Capt. Holmes put his veto on any further independent practice by this "physician," and refused to allow him to dispense any more medicines except under his supervision. THE NEWS AND COURIER has always given this scheme a perfectly fair showing before the community. I hope therefore that the colored people will heed what is said now, and believe that it is dictated by no prejudice, but by a knowledge of facts. President B. F. Porter wilfully and

DELIBERATELY MISLED THE COLLECTOR

by assuring him he "knew" that George Curtis was capable of acting as ship's physician, and he also wilfully and deliberately sent the Azor to sea with the health of her three hundred passengers in the keeping of a man of whose competency he either knew nothing, or knew enough to doubt. The same person and some of his assistants sent the Azor to sea having reason to believe that she had measles aboard of her, and they assiduously sought to conceal, and did conceal, that matter from the Customhouse authorities. I have said nothing, and, in any charges or statements that I may make hereafter, will say nothing, except what I can establish in a court of justice if need be.

The dead woman was buried with the usual ceremonies on the day of her death, her young infant being taken charge of by its grand-parents. This Sunday was the first that the existence of

MEASLES ABOARD

was definitely known, although there had come rumors of it from the steerage on previous occasions. Indeed it had been suspected before we left Charleston, but the matter was promptly hushed up. The intelligence caused no panic, every one seemed to realize immediately that there was no escape, and to resign themselves to whatever might come. The log Sunday showed 136 miles. Total 2,231. The weather was now beautiful, and

EVERYBODY WAS RECOVERING

from sickness and despondency. The emigrants became more cheerful and active as they felt better and had grown more accustomed to their new surroundings. Appetites also improved, and, arrangements for assisting the cook being perfected, the cooking became more tolerable, and the issue of rations better regulated. It was now a source of pleasure and amusement to go to the galley and watch the distribution of food. The bread, if made of black flour, was now thoroughly cooked and sweet, a little molasses was mixed with the corn bread rendering it quite a dessert, and every means was taken to gratify the varying tastes of those who respectively preferred "fat" or "lean," and beef or pork. The mate, Mr. Horne, would sit at the galley door, and call out his list, the mess system being abolished, and each head of a family would come up with a pan, plate or bucket, and have his alloted portion rapidly served to him as it was passed out. First would come into the utensil a large portion of boiled rice, from the big iron pots; on top of that great "hunks" of meat as specified, and then the appropriate quantities of corn and wheat breads and molasses cake, with occasionally a taste of molassés for everybody in a separate cup, and always a potfull of coffee of varying strength. A perfect jewel of a mate this was too, with a pleasant word of badinage for everybody, producing many broad grins and guffaws, and casting a cheery influence over the whole performance. There is no doubt that the almost uniform good humor which prevailed through all the discomfort was largely due to the never failing pleasantry and inexhaustible good temper and spirits of this officer. From this time cheerfulness was the prevailing order of things. After their meals were completed the emigrants generally dispersed

ABOUT THE DECKS

in the sun. Probably one-half could read and about a fourth write. These fortunate ones

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would lie about poring over bibles, learning hymns by heart, or studying over old geographies, histories, newspapers or slates. Pleasant to relate, some would gather around them a few of their uneducated fellows and laboriously instruct them in the rudiments of the three "R's." Others would lie on their backs staring at the blue sky and white clouds, constructing nobody knows what grotesque castles in the air, doubtless, however, enjoying the atmospheric architecture as intensely as those whose buildings, similarly erected, are more symetrical and fair to look upon. Then there were others who would gather about the rails, and alternately look out for sails, whales, Portuguese men-of-war, bunches of sea weed, flying fish, and the fragments of old wrecks which now and then floated by, and indulge in repartee and jest, which, if not polished, were generally harmless and provocative of much mirth. The women and children generally sat about gossiping, laughing and plaiting, combing and arranging each other's hair. This last seemed to be a favorite amusement, and before we reached the end of the voyage every head was decked with countless little pig-tails tied up with strings and drawn so tightly that it was a matter of wonder to me how the possessors managed to shut their eyes. The sick, too, generally revived under the improving influences, and matters looked decidedly better in every way. Good society on the quarter deck passed its time in very much the same way; even the one or two chronic grumblers there having at last agreed to give the others "a rest." The younger portion of good society usually gathered about the wheel in the evening and amused itself by singing Sunday-school and other hymns: "The ninety and nine," " 'Tis done," "In the sweet bye and bye," "Rescue the perishing," &c., the music sounding very sweetly when heard at a little distance. The log showed on Monday 61 miles, the bark having been becalmed nearly the entire 24 hours. Total 2,292.

About this time a Baptist congregation was organized 'tween decks, the Methodists having previously had it all their own way. Robt. Williams seemed to take lead in this movement, and generally on one or two nights in the week he and his assistants used to be heard below exhorting, praying and singing. The Methodist leader took the pains to come and state to me that a discourse, delivered on the previous evening, was from one of the Baptists, and not any of his flock's doings. He evidently thought that I intended burlesquing the whole affair. That persons have burlesqued, and in a feeble way attempted to make "fun" of, the utterances of a man striving to teach the Word of the Almighty is one of the shames of the Press, and shows what a false, vulgar and insane idea some of its contributors have in mistaking irreverence for wit, and idiotic imitations of well-meant words for humor. The remarks already made regarding the Methodist leader will apply equally to this other. A particularly loud and enthusiastic singing, a night or two after the formation of this congregation, was caused, I was told, by a woman present having professed conversion. I looked anxiously thereafter to see how the ordinance of immersion could be performed aboard a ship running at an average of six knots per hour, expecting to be furnished a choice "Fatal Accident" thereby, but it was postponed. On Tuesday we made 145 miles. Total, 2,437.

On Wednesday George Curtis distinguished himself in another role by having a violent altercation with his wife, during which she claimed that he struck her. The cabin boy with wide opened eyes summoned the captain with the announcement, "Dr. Curtis and his wife fighting," and good society was stirred to its very depths. The wife had certainly, as far as I could see, conducted herself in the most exemplary manner, and I am inclined to think that the gorgeous fraud of a "Doctor" was in fault. I earnestly urged at that time, as a measure of public safety, that the Doctor be thrown overboard with a jar of calomel and jalap suspended from his neck. The captain, however, contented himself with a reprimand and caution. It seems unfortunate that the Missionary and the "Doctor" sent out with this first expedition should each have seen fit to beat his wife. During Wednesday we made 172 miles. Total, 2,609. On Thursday the usual weekly sweeping, cleaning and airing was had. On this day, May 9th, and the eighteenth day out, while in north latitude 32 deg, 4 min., and longitude 29 deg, 28 min.,

A SUDDEN DEATH

occurred. Charlotte Mason, aged 43 years, the wife of William Mason, of Abbeville, had just recovered from her sea sickness, and had left her bunk for almost the first time. Upon returning to it, she suddenly fell in a fainting fit, but was subsequently revived. In about half an hour, however, she began to sink rapidly, and soon passed into a state of insensibility, from which it was impossible to rouse her. The body retained its warmth for an hour or two after action of the heart had ceased, and hopes were entertained that death had not actually occurred, These were subsequently given up, however, and the body was lowered into the sea that evening with the usual ceremonies. Death was attributed to some affection of the heart. It seems a curious fate that this woman, who for forty-three years had passed her life in the quiet of the country, knowing no world beyond the precincts of the township or county, should find her grave beneath the waves of the Atlantic three thousand miles from anywhere previously within her ken. Her husband was generally sympathized with as he was a hard working and amiable man. He acted as assistant cook during all the latter portion of the voyage, and performed the duties very satisfactorily. On Thursday the log scored

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139 miles. Total 2,768, in eighteen days. Still ahead of the average necessary to make Monrovia in the time promised. On Friday, nineteenth day, we made 144 miles, the exact average. On this day

THE FIFTH DEATH

occurred being that of Whitfield Smallwood, aged 23, the son of Jackson Smallwood, of Edgefield, S. C. His death was attributed to measles, that disease having become quite prevalent between decks. He also was buried with the usual ceremonies.

Saturday, May 11th, was the twentieth day out, and the log showed 132 miles, the wind having been light and variable. It was the habit every day when the solar observation was taken at noon, to gather around and get the exact time of eight bells, or 12 o'clock. All who had watches had carefully set them by St. Michael's clock before leaving Charleston, and kept them at that time, the object being to note the difference between the time of Charleston and Monrovia. As we progressed eastward, we, of course, gained, and the change was watched with much interest. Indeed, these watches did seem a sort of connecting link with the shore left behind. The owners would look at them when the ship's clock, for instance, indicated 10 o'clock A. M., and say "its 7 o'clock in Charleston, and so and so's doing so and so." Then when the sun set, the time in Charleston would be noted with much curiosity. This was a sweet comfort. I could sit on the Azor's quarter deck and think at certain hours of friends and familiars far away. When the bell tolled midnight, on Saturday night, I could think, "Now its 9 o'clock in Charleston, and two policemen are lugging Rachæl Mazyck out of Elliott street to the Guardhouse to recover from her regular weekly drunk: the Orderly Sergeant has just given orders to put all the tramps together in cell 8, so as to make room for a pickpocket, two inebriates and an amateur pugilist, with a club slash across his head: and there'll be a gorgeous "Clubs and Stars" report for THE NEWS AND COURIER on Monday." Such are the sweet reminiscences and delightful reveries of a newspaper man. The event of Sunday, May 12th, was the

FORMATION OF A SUNDAY- SCHOOL,

a young man named Moultrie taking charge as superintendent. Quite a number of the children attended, and were divided off into classes. A considerable number of tracts, papers, &c., were distributed among them. Services were also held by the two different denominations at different times during the day, the Baptists appearing rather to out-number their Methodist brethren. With a strange persistency they one and all refused to heed suggestions that the services be had on deck, but seemed to prefer crowding down into the narrow, close and dark space below. Indeed, there were some who, I verily believe, did not come on deck during the entire voyage, but lolled in their bunks all the time. The log this day showed only 72 miles, the Azor being on the verge of the trade winds, and encountering the light winds generally prevailing there.

On Monday the log showed sixty-one miles. Total in twenty-two days 3,177 miles, being just a fraction ahead of the required average. All hands had by this time begun to look forward to the speedy termination of the journey, and calculations were made that Monrovia would be reached by Thursday. These bright hopes were dashed, however, by the captain, who, in answer to eager inquiries, informed the passengers that the vessel had been driven so far, and kept so long, northward of her course by the almost continual headwinds that she was still a full thousand miles from "the haven where she would be," and could not be reasonably expected to reach that point before Saturday. From this point I believe the passegers were

COUNTING THE MINUTES.

The longing for the sight of some green thing; for some break in the weary monotony of "sea and sky, sky and sea; the dreary sea and sky again;" for something solid on which to rest the foot, seemed to be most intense. Some gratified this feeling in a simple way by posting themselves up in the bow, sitting there all day long, and straining their eyes before them to catch the first glimpse of the shore. On Tuesday the log showed 125 miles. About noon, however, the wind came in briskly, almost abeam, and the bark responded well, skimming smoothly along with all her sails well filled. The Azor, by the way, is a remarkably easy runner, pitching very little, and going through the waves with a motion that can only be described by the word "sliding." The weather was now becoming decidedly warm again, and the steerage was unpleasantly close. While the passengers had "waked up" on some subjects, their indifference on others was discouraging in the extreme. Some of them, as I said before, would persist in lying around below, and keeping their children there, thus making the atmosphere continually close and disagreeable instead of going on deck and allowing the air to be purified against the inevitable pollution of the night. The captain had disinfectants and various substances of a fumigating nature distributed about in the steerage quarters several times during each day and night, thus keeping the atmosphere what seemed to me to be barely endurable, but which many of the passengers seemed to find very comfortable. Not even the glorious tropical moon, which made us seem to be floating down an endless track of mellow, sparkling, liquid light, could tempt these people from the dark stifling quarters below. The very demon of perversity seemed to have taken possessien of them. Then again, none of them seemed to have the slightest desire for or appreciation of exercise. They seemed to regard my walks

Page 11

on deck as caused either by a terrible restless and uneasy conscience, or a mild form of lunacy. They couldn't understand it. I never saw, of all that 300, a single one higher in the rigging than the foot of the ratlines, and only one or two there, except one young man whose leg beecame entangled in a rope, causing his elevation about twenty feet up the foremast. Some lusty yelling proclaimed the situation of this unlucky emigrant, and he was released, while his fellow passengers fairly fell down and rolled over and over in their spasms of laughter at the mishap: I interviewed the emigrants quite generally on

THE OBJECTS OF EMIGRATION

as soon as they were strong enough to undergo the process. My conclusion is that there is no cause or reason which can be called general. The grievances complained of and the hopes entertained were almost invariably of a local or personal nature. Some were going because they thought they would have a better chance to "rise in the world" with a generous and cheaply procured soil and perfect social equality with their neighbors; others were tired of "renting" or "working out," and wanted to be their own masters; others complained that the farmers were banding more and more firmly together to keep down the wages of the laborer; others could give go good reason for going, falling back on the old talk of "Ku-Klux," "Night Hawks" and "political persecutions." Some assigned nearly all of these reasons, others some, others one. One of the most intelligent of the Georgia emigrants said that it was becoming such a general practice for farmers in that State to avail themselves of the homestead exemption laws, that the laborer had no security for his earnings, and, therefore, no inducement to work. To other persons with whom they talked, the emigrants ground the "Outrage mill" much more freely. One of them, while in Charleston, implored Capt. Holmes to give up a contemplated trip to Columbia, assuring him that if he went there the white men would find out who he was, and certainly murder him. I have often thought that these people tell such lies so frequently that they get to believe them themselves, and this instance helps to confirm me in that belief. I have heard them tell what I knew to be most infamous falsehoods in a matter-of-fact, simple manner that would almost convince a man against the evidence of his senses. I never wondered that Northern correspondents and visitors were deceived. The fact is, I think, the "Outrage" has taken the place of the gruesome "Spook" or "Big snake" story of the olden time, each darkey trying to raise his listener's hair the highest with the most horrible story, and allowing his imagination to run away with him. During the campaign of 1876 I heard an honest looking colored man in Columbia tell to a knot of listeners that he had seen about a week before five colored women tied to trees and disembowelled with bowie knives by Democrats just above the city, and I really, think he had repeated the story so much that he had begun to believe it. By constant repetition of and additions to these tales of horror they get to put implicit confidence in them, and such groundless fears have probably really something to do with this movement. It seems though that in the main various and widely differing opinions and views brought the emigrants to Charleston. Once there they were soon rallied under the general watchwords of "Political persecution" and "Social equality." On this day (Tuesday)

THE SIXTH DEATH

occurred, being that of Stephen Johnson of Ninety-Six, aged 64 years. He died quite suddenly in the evening, a few moments after having eaten dinner and declared himself better. He, too, had been ailing ever since coming aboard. His death was attributed to congestion of the lungs, as he had been suffering from cold and hoarseness. There was, thanks to the managers, no one on board capable of deciding what the old man's death really was caused by. He was buried about dark with the usual ceremonies. There had been developed by this time a large number of cases of sore throat, pain in the lungs, &c., which seemed almost an epidemic. The captain was unremitting in his attentions to the sick, going regularly through the steerage several times every day and night, and prescribing, as far as he safely could. George Curtis had about relinquished the practice of medicine. His last exploit was a somewhat peculiar one. Ambling around the deck one day, as usual, with both hands full of villanous compounds, he met a steerage passenger's wife who was coming on deck for the first time after a long spell of sea sickness. He promptly administered to her a dose of something, subsequently tersely described as "d--d pison," which speedily made her terribly sick again. He stumbled around for awhile and then ambled back, coolly announcing that he had given the woman a dose intended for somebody else. Whatever it was, it kept the victim sick for several days with nausea and pain, "loosening her teeth" and making her mouth sore.

On Wednesday we made 220 miles. This was the twenty-fourth day out. Sickness was rather on the increase, the sore throats and slight fevers becoming apparently more of an epidemic. The captain continued night and day to attend the wants of the sick, which were as numerous and varied as they well could be. These emigrants are certainly the most extraordinary people! It was the general habit to send the sick soups, puddings, &c., from our table. This day, as a great treat; we had soup made of canned fresh meat, which we enjoyed hugely. A portion being sent into the steerage it was rejected scornfully, with the remark that they "couldn't eat that stuff."

Thursday was the 25th day out, and the

Page 12

one on which we had hoped to have concluded our journey. The log showed 213 miles, a total run of 3,735 miles, and an average of 149 10-25 miles per day, with several calms and almost constantly unfavorable winds. Had it not been for that unfortunate three days of southwesterly gales, the Azor would have made Monrovia in the time promised. On Friday the wind was somewhat slack, but we made 190 miles. That evening the Cape Verde light was sighted, about ten miles distant, and the bow was pointed out a little for the run down the coast. The light was the first indication of land seen since the departure from Charleston, and it infused new cheerfulness into everybody. On Saturday

THE SEVENTH DEATH

occurred, being that of Pressley Hood, aged 19, son of Alfred Hood, of Meeklenburg County, N. C. He died at 3 o'clock in the morning, and was buried at 8. He had fever of some sort, but its exact nature could not be defined, there being, as before stated, no one on board possessing any medical skill worth speaking of. On this day the sailors were removed into a tent erected on the roof of the forecastle, and the forecastle was converted into a hospital, in which all the sick were placed. A large tent was erected on the poop, in which two or three families of the steerage passengers were moved, they being thereby made greatly more comfortable, and more room being obtained below. Awnings were also spread over the fore and quarter decks, affording shelter from the sun, which was becoming very hot. Under these awnings the passengers were generally gathered, although a few would still persist in remaining below. On Saturday we made 101 miles. During the night occurred

THE EIGHTH DEATH,

being that of Mattie Tyler, aged 30 months, daughter of Howell Tyler of Barnwell County, South Carolina. Her disease was attributed to the measles, being probably another illustration of the beauties of the economical policy of the managers of the L. E. A. J. S. S. S. Co. Another instance of this same thing was furnished by the food provided for the cabin which by this time had settled down to a business basis. The bill of fare was about like this:

Breakfast.

Baked beans, Codfish,

Meal cakes, Bread,

Hash.

Dinner.

Bean soup, Codfish,

Boiled beans, Rice cakes,

Cold beans, Boiled rice.

Rice pudding, Hash.

I think I ate a billion of beans during the trip. I never "hankered" much after beans either. On Sunday morning Tyler's child was buried.

Phew-w-w! how hot it was that Sunday! There was heat everywhere; heat, scorching, burning heat, in the sun's rays; heat in the mirror-like, flashing expanse of water; heat rising in quivering clouds from the decks; heat glared from the white sails which flapped to and fro like the wings of some great bird, too utterly prostrated with heat to move; heat, heat heat, expressed in every object in the great oven on the bottom of which we rested, and the arched cover of which seemed to shut out every breath of air, and slowly to be roasting us. It was a day compared with which the memorable 28th of June, 1876, in Charleston was cool and refreshing. We slowly drifted and rocked, and rapidly perspired all through it, while tantalizing visions of rolling on long grass beneath green trees among breezy Virginia hills; of fishing lazily in clear, placid streams under drooping willow trees; of the drinking of iced lemonades and cobblers behind cool venetian blinds; of the eating of cold watermelons in shady back piazzas; of all the delightfully cool and refreshing things ever done or thought of, would intrude themselves and add to the torments. On that day everybody joined with languid ardor in singing that part of the hymn about Greenland's lcy Mountains, but the most enthusiastic missionary turned with disgust from the consideration of Afric's sunny fountains or India's coral strands, with their horrible suggestiveness of hot weather, and seemed resigned to allow the heathen of those countries to bow down to wood and stone all they wanted to during the summer. Between decks it was terribly hot, but still some of the emigrants would remain there!

The Sunday-school did not flourish as had been hoped for. Even in the narrow precincts of the steerage denominational intolerance manifested itself. The Baptists, who were largely in the majority, refused to allow their children to attend a school taught by Methodists. Clement Irons, who showed throughout as much good sense, conscience and general zeal as the rest of the boat-load put together, succeeded in organizing one tolerably good meeting for religious exercises in the evening. I had expected to find the Azor's passengers colored Pilgrim Fathers, straight-laced, pious and continually at prayer. But this idea was not realized. Some as vigorous swearing as, in the course of a long and varied experience I have ever heard, was done on the fore decks by emigrants, and the public prayer meetings were by no means universally attended. I do not mean to say that these emigrants were worse than other emigrants. On the conttrary the proportion of people trying to be religious (which is about all that the best of us can do) is probably much larger than usual. But I merely mention as a fact that the Azor's passenger's were by no means all model Christians.

Monday, May 20.--I have written up the account of this voyage, so far, in narrative form. Intelligence received this morning,

Page 13

however, casts a general shadow of doubt over the termination of the present picnic, and I shall therefore unfold the remainder of the tale in journal form. This day affairs assume a serious phase. The captain informs me that ship fever is certainly aboard. Though in a mild form, so far, it is liable to break out into the virulent one at any time. One of its unpleasant characteristics is, that it removes its victim on short notice, and gives him little time to complete unfinished letters in. We are a good four days from Monrovia, partially becalmed, beneath a tropical sun, living on salt meat, beans and rice, provisions are getting bad, and ship fever and measles are spreading. All of which is pleasant. This morning we buried two persons who died during the night, making a total, thus far, of

TEN DEATHS.

They were Grant Williams, aged 3 years, son of Brum Williams, of Burke County, Ga., and Simpson Matthewes, aged 16 months, son of Matthieson Matthewes, of Edgefield County, S. C. Both of these deaths are attributed to the fever. The measles has reached the cabin, one of ex-Senator Gaillard's children being down with it. On Sunday we made 112 and to this morning 78 miles. While conversing with the missionary sent out to teach the heathen, to-day, he informed me as a fact, that I could remove an eruption from my hand by binding on it a piece of black bacon skin, provided I stole the remedy and kept the fact of its possession and use a profound secret.

I do not wish to be understood as "running down" these people or their project. I will say now, what I had intended leaving for the summing up, for fear of an accident. The emigrants have generally behaved themselves excellently. They have uniformly easily been managed, obedient and accommodating. They have complained much, it is true, but when it is considered that they were suddenly brought into unaccustomed surroundings, with manifold discomforts insufficient, poor and generally novel food, and with no physician, this can not be wondered at. They have showed themselves as helpless as babes, but it must be remembered that landsmen are generally so at sea. The only real trouble has been their indifference to their own comfort and cleanliness, which proceeded probably from a lack of appreciation of the importance of those matters. While all are lamentably, some grossly, ignorant, that is hardly their own fault. Altogether, despite the many reprehensible characteristics displayed by some, I have been favorably impressed with the mass of these emigrants. Most of them will make good citizens; some will be invaluable acquisitions to the new country. I don't think there is a really bad or viciously disposed person among their number. I cannot, however, find terms strong enough in which to denounce the conduct of the managers of the expedition, in deliberately sending the Azor to sea without a competent physician. It was a crime against the Almighty, statute laws and humanity. The deaths of a large proportion of the deceased emigrants lie directly at their door. The stain of innocent blood is as deep on their hands as on Cain's. If I should never write another line, my last earnest advice to the colored people interested in this movement would be to rigidly investigate this matter, and cast out every man, participant in or cognizant of, this great iniquity.

May 21.--We are nearly becalmed, having made but 70 miles during the past 24 hours. In the middle of the night a great routing of seamen from bed, pulling and hauling at ropes and stumbling of sailors over sleeping emigrants, the latter being accompanied by much profane language, roused everybody. The turmoil was caused by the approach of a squall, of which, however, we got only the tail end.

The sick are generally progressing tolerably well, no deaths having occurred to-day. Good society has been engaged in delightful but unsuccessful angling for fresh shark meat. Hot? Don't mention the word!

Another development of George Curtis's medical skill was made to-day. He has been bathing the sore eyes of a passenger's child with warm salt water, reducing the little suffer's optics to a distressing condition. Practice suspended.

May 22.--Becalmed. We have made twenty-one miles during the past twenty-four hours. Distance from Monrovia computed to be 379 miles. So near, and yet so far. The fever spread no more, but two sick men in the forecastle are expected to die. The water is beginning to run short, and half rations are being issued all around. Fearfully hot! The emigrants seem generally comparatively happy and contented. They absolutely take no thought whatever for the morrow. The Methodists and Baptists are holding enthusiastic meetings on alternate nights in the bow.

Beans! beans! beans! at every meal beans. In my dreams I am pursued by the genius of Famine over endless deserts of baked beans, with an occasional "chunk" of salt pork by way of an oasis. If I ever get back to Charleston, I'll go voluntarily before a full court of judicial and ministerial trial justices and make solemn affidavit never to eat a bean again. Beans! faugh! Beans will ever hereafter he associated in my mind with colored emigrants, and I'd as lief eat one as the other. Then, besides the beans, there are the babies. Every emigrant has one of the latter. They squall and yell by detachments from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, and when the evening shades prevail the night squad comes on duty. My friend Horne (that's the mate) deposes and says that when the innocents run down for a season, their parents, without provocation, wind them up again with a strap, (with which every parent aboard, foreseeing the scarcity of peach switches, has provided

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him or herself.) Oh, shades of good Kings Herod and Pharaoh!

May 23d. In the language of Old Jack, it's "wusser and wusser." We have only made twelve miles during the past twenty-four hours, and the sea is a sea of molten, scorching blue glass. Early this morning, within a few minutes of each other, occurred

TWO MORE DEATHS,

being those of Stanford Smallwood, aged eight years, son of Jack Smallwood of Edgefield County, S. C., and Samuel Hadley of Burke County, Ga., aged sixty-four years. The poor creatures were given the usual hasty sea burial and scantly ceremonial, in place of the peace and plenty and halcyon days on sunny shores for which they were journeying, respectively, to pass in comfortable tranquillity the remaining years of an old life, and in bright prosperity the many promised ones of youth. Smallwood's death was attributed to measles, and Hadley's to the fever. The people are very hard to manage in sickness. Just as they are with infinite trouble being brought around, they gorge themselves with fat pork, and down they go again. It is a subject for wonder that we haven't more sickness. Very few of the steerage passengers have changed their clothing, and many have not even washed their hands and faces, since leaving Charleston. They watch the mate, the captain and I, taking salt water shower-baths, with awe, and vow that they are afraid of it. Not one of them has limited us. Two more men are expected to die.

May 24.--A ray of comfort came last night in the shape of a light and shifting breeze, in which we managed to scuffle 63 miles. We are 310 miles from Monrovia at noon to-day.

TWO MORE DEATHS

this morning, making a total of fourteen so far. They were Bermille Clarke, aged 15 months, daughter of Ned Clarke, of Clarendon County, S. C., and Laura Williams, aged 22 years, wife of Brian Williams, of Burke County, Ga. The death of the former was attributed to convulsions, and that of the latter to the fever. Several more deaths are expected. The captain is barely able to get about, being completely knocked up with fatigue and anxiety. Still very hot. We have probably gotten into the current setting along this coast, which will help us some.

Yesterday the people drank their half rations of water all at once, and there was much suffering in consequence. In some instances one portion of a family would rob the others of what of the fluid was reserved. To-day they seem to have learned more prudence. It is a curious fact that our efforts to catch fish from the stern are defeated by the scraps and other food continually being thrown overboard. We can see the fish turn contemptuously from our bait and snap up these drifting provisions. Everybody in the steerage seems to have a cold, and the coughing is continuous. The emigrants have become so used to seeing funerals that they fail to attend them, and the putting of a body overboard seems to create no excitement whatever.

May 25.--The prospect to-day is gloomy enough. With all sails set we have only made seven miles during the past twenty-four hours; the wide circle of sea surface is smooth, except when now and then a wide irregular swell heaves restlessly up as if the water were panting under the heat which beats down fiercely from the blazing sun hung in a cloudless sky; the Azor rocks sleepily, her head swinging aimlessly about, and her sails flapping lazily against the yards. The passengers huddle about, crouching under the awnings, conversing occasionally in subdued tones, perfectly idle and listless; the vessel is becoming overrun with vermin, and the smell about the steerage is fearful. This morning we buried

THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CORPSES,

being those of persons who died during the night. They were Matilda Williams, aged 20, wife of Simon Williams, of Burke County, Ga., and Mary Ella Robinson, aged 14 months, daughter of Fred. Robinson, of Edgefield County, S. C. The death of the former is attributed to the fever, and that of the latter to measles. All amusement is denied. Yesterday I shot a sea gull and one or two bonitas, and this morning the oldest emigrant aboard came, cap in hand, on the quarter deck, and woke me from my hammock with the petition that I would shoot no more, as he felt convinced that it would bring us bad luck. The mortal remains of the slaughtered gull had, he said, been floating about the bark all night. Two "mare-maids" had also been seen to go by. "Ancient colored individual, said I,

                         "Where we lay
                         Were there 'lamentings heard i' the air: strange screams of death;
                         And prophesying with accents terrible.
                         Of dire combustions, and confused events
                         New hatched to the woeful time:' Did the
                         'Obscure bird clamor the livelong night?' "

He said that they were, and furthermore averred that an ancient dame, full well reputed for veracity, had seen a spectre dire backed like a shark, but very like a horse (probably having some connection with the mare maid) about the ship, which she supposed to be the disembodied and distorted spirit of the gull. This is an actual occurrence, and bears out what was said somewhere in the misty past of this letter about the negro's "ghost" and "Ku-Klux" factories. The latter is not available here, and they return to the former, repeating these horrible tales to each other.

I find on the sheets of my "copy" strange thumb marks, which lead me to believe that somebody is surreptitiously engaged in reading this communication. I sympathize heartily with whoever it is, as I've had that job to do myself.

May26.--Last evening, just before dusk, black clouds began to pile up above the western

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horizon. Before long the glassy surface of the sea was rippling into wavelets, and just as darkness was coming on a welcome and body and soul refreshing gust of wind came from the west, being immediately followed by a steady breeze, which filled the hanging sails, and awoke the vessel from her lethargy, and sent her gliding along "like a thing of life," leaving behind her in the phosphorescent water a long, shining trail extending into the night. The clouds promised rain, and arrangements were made to secure as much water as possible. Everybody seemed to be taking in great draughts of the fresh air, which went rushing down through the wind sails and doors, scattering the close and fetid atmosphere 'tween decks, and filling every place with the very elixir of life. Cheerfulness and activity replaced the apathy and languor engendered by the week's calm, and in a few minutes all hands had gathered about the decks, and the joyful noise of old-fashioned hymns and choruses was heard from a hundred voices. The breeze held until about 3 o'clock this morning, when it suddenly changed to the east, filling the sails the wrong way, ("taking her aback.") The helm was immediately put hard down, the vessel brought before the wind, and all hands put to work clewing up everything. In the twinkling of an eye, amid the bellowing and crashing of thunder, the howling of wind, and the flashing of lightning, which followed each other very rapidly,

THE TORNADO

broke upon us in all its grandeur. The excitement and exhilaration of the next few minutes amply compensated for the weary days of calm and discomfort. The wind roared, shrieked and whistled through the rigging, the thunder discharged itself in peal after peal, the sails beat with dull monotonous thuds or cracked like a thousand whip lashes, the rain pelted and rattled, and the cries of sailors and orders of officers could be heard faintly as the wind swept them away. The continuous vivid flashes of lightning brought out all the surroundings in momentary tableaux dark figure of a sailor far up in the rigging would be brought into startling relief--the captain at the helm standing out in a flash and swallowed up by the darkness--a group of sailors in the attitude of running or hauling at a rope, disappearing before the motion or gesture could be completed--a knot of passengers crouching under some shelter, with anxious, startled faces. All of these things would come and go with almost inconceivable rapidity, leaving themselves photographed on the mind with their background of intense, sudden light and surrounding of dense darkness. What added to the weirdness of the effect was that the storm had come so suddenly that there was no sea, and the Azor, amid all the crash and confusion above, ran as noiselessly through the water as if she were a phantom ship, the spectral effect being heightened by the balls of pale electric light which lodged on the end of each yardarm, and on the top of each mast, (a phenomenon very common in these regions.) The two outer jibs went as an attempt was being made to haul them in, a rope parting. A large piece of one of the sails (now become literally a "flying" jib) went flying away. This sight being witnessed by one or two of the steerage passengers who had come on deck, they rushed rushed down stairs and gave the alarm to their comrades, who awakened by the uproar, were gathered there in the darkness, that the sailors had lost control of the vessel, that the sails were all going to pieces, and that inevitable destruction awaited the entire party. Then to the other noises were added those of praying and wailing and shouting. The sailors, however, with wonderful selfdenial, calmed the excitement, and that much of the trouble was donself-deniale away with. In a few minutes everything was snug, and the Azor was running by the wind under bare poles. The sail arranged to catch the water had been torn loose and was lodged up in the rigging, and no entreaties or commands could get the passengers to go out and catch the gallons of the precious fluid pouring from the roof of the poop. So we got no more than two or three bucketsful. This may partly be accounted for by the experience of one of them. In the beginning of the storm, after catching a large bucketful on the quarter deck, I discovered that it was still slightly brackish and threw it out in the companion way. As I did so I heard a faint "whoo," like the catching of breath after a sudden submersion, and caught a second's glimpse of a dark figure. A few minutes afterwards I found a thoroughly saturated emigrant in the steerage telling how, just as he was going on the quarter deck, the rain struck him in a sheet "like 'twas poured out of a bucket." Put this and that together.

The wind really did "blow great guns," while it lasted, which was about three quarters of an hour, it being a genuine tornado. So quickly was the ship handled, however, that she lost nothing except the two jibs. When the violence of the gale had abated, it gave place to a steady breeze, which allowed the setting of all sail except the royals, the weather being too unsettled to allow their use. We made 68 miles by dead reckoning to noon to-day, putting us within 245 miles of Monrovia.

TWO DEATHS AND A BIRTH

marked to-day. The former were those of Mitchell Williams, aged 52, of Burke County, Ga., who died of the fever, and Cicero Daniel, aged 15 months, son of Scott Daniel, of Barnwell County, S. C., who died of diarrhoea. This brings the total number of deaths to 18. The birth, the second one on this voyage, was that of a son to the wife of Aleck Clark, of Clarendon County, S.C.

May27.--A succession of light tantalizing breezes and dead calms has lasted twenty-four hours, during which we have gained but two

Page 16

miles, being sailing across the current which drifts us to the north and west. We have only water to last for ten days on half allowance; the fever is likely to break out violently at any time, and there is an epidemic of sore throats and colds, somewhat resembling diptheria, which nobody aboard understands or can cope with. Fresh provisions all gone, and others becoming bad. This unprecedented calm may last a month; and the current is steadily losing us ground (or water;) a cheerful outlook. To-day's event was the catching of a shark, which was cooked and generously divided out as far as it would go.

Later.--The captain has decided to

PUT INTO SIERRA LEONE,

which is only 57 miles from us now, for water, fresh provisions and medical attendance. The announcement gives general satisfaction, and the people are gathered on the bow singing joyfully. This seems a most wise measure, for it would be running a fearful risk to pass the port and take the chance of being becalmed without water and a pestilence raging.

May28.--This morning

THE NINETEENTH DEATH

occurred, being that of an infant son of Scott Bailey, of --, aged fifteen months. Death is attributed to the fever. It seems as if we were getting in just in time. Two more persons sickened with the fever this morning. The hills about Sierra Leone came in sight at 9 o'clock, and now at 2 P. M. they are plainly to be seen with the naked eye. Everybody is singing, dancing and shouting, and people are constantly running to my cabin window or door, announcing that they can see houses and trees. Some seem almost wild with joyous excitement at seeing something besides sky and water. At 4 o'clock the town (Freetown) was in plain sight dead ahead.

The land, as seen from shipboard, consisted of a long, irregular range of hills, backed up by other and higher irregular hills. On one side, to the northeast, or on the left side going in, the range terminates in a steep incline, from which the coast runs low and flat, as far as the eye can reach. On the right, away off, there is a break in the hill chain, after which there are several abrupt hills (what in East Tennessee they call "knobs,") which apparently decrease in height as they run to the southwest. This is the general outline of the horizon. The town proper is apparently clustered in picturesque confusion on the side of the last hill to the left, just in the bend which the cape forms at its junction with the mainland.

As we slowly sailed in a British mail steamer was made out following us. The shore became more and more distinct as we approached, until we could plainly see the while lighthouse situate on the cape, built close to the water's edge and surrounded by deep green foliage. The hills looked like any other hills, with patches of red clay peeping out here and there, through the trees and grass, with the little water courses, or gullies, furrowing their face. Their appearance was very familiar to eyes accustomed to Southwestern and Northern landscapes. Many of the trees, however, were palms and cocoas, and all the others were strange to us. Several fishing boats, precisely similar in build, rigging and crew, to those plying in Charleston harbor sailed out past us, one or two coming quite close. Those aboard of them must have surmised that the Azor contained the inmates of a lunatic asylum out for an airing, from the scrambling, rushing, shouting and vociferous iaughing of the passengers, as well as from the variety of aprons, skirts, hats, rags and handkerchiefs waved at them. We couldn't make out much of the town, as it was covered by the trees, which seemed planted in great profusion all through it.

At about half-past 4 o'clock an ordinary ship's boat was seen pulling out containing five men. As it approached nearer, it was seen that all five were black as tar, and that four were dressed in a narrow cloth hung about the loins, and nothing else. The other was attired just about as the ordinary colored longshoremen or boatmen around Charleston usually are. As the boat came up on the port side of the Azor, there was a general break among the emigrants, who fled in every direction, scrambling over the hatch houses and tumbling over each other in their precipitate flight. The children seemed especially frightened, and fled below. The individual with the clothes on scrambled up the side, a rope, being thrown him, and proved to be a small, weazened and respectable-looking old black man. His companions stood up in their boat, slipped on loose blouses and pantaloons, put on their hats, and came aboard, excepting one philosophical savage, who remained in his boat and state of nudity with as much freedom from embarrassment as Adam ever did. The Azor's passengers rallied at the sight of the clothes, and crowded around the visitors, who held out their hands and suffered them to be shaken, and looked around them with natural surprise. The four strangers then went aft to the quarter deck, where the old man announced himself to the captain as a pilot.

I think if all the humbugs in the world could be collected and settled somewhere, that George Curtis would be king by natural right. As he did on all occasions, he eagerly embraced this opportunity of making an ass of himself, approached this old man with a book about the size of a common ledger, and proceeded to ask him questions and record the answers, as if he were taking a deposition. The pilot spoke a sort of cross between a Frenchman's English and a negro's, and answered the inquiries of "Pills" (Curtis's soubriquet) in a helpless sort of way, while his companions stared in open-eyed wonder. The captain finally got the victim away, and he proceeded to attend to piloting, while his three friends (one of whom was

Page 17

his son) wandered about, being so beset with questions and stared at that two of them finally took refuge in the rigging, where one immediately took off all his clothes again. The boat was meantime towed astern, and its solitary occupant proceeded to light a chalk pipe and smoke to the great delight of all beholders. The steamer passed us and went on in, and we dropped anchor about 100 yards from the landing. Very soon the lights in the town began to glimmer out, and a beautiful effect they produced shining brightly up the dark side of the hill from the water's edge.

Soon after dark the deputy harbormaster came out in a neat little gig, pulled by two black oarsmen in sailor dress. He himself was a tall, well-made and good looking quadroon, looking very officer-like, in spotless duck pantaloons and vest with brass buttons, loose blue coat and official cap. As he went into the captain's cabin the passengers clustered about the windows and knocked their heads together, trying to get a glimpse of this prodigy, and discussing warmly and audibly whether he was a "yellow fellow," or merely a white man tanned by tropical suns. The officer asked a few questions as to what was wanted, &c., touched his cap, and went back over the side. He was very respectful and polite, and didn't "put on style" half as much as the average Circuit Court tipstaff does. "Pills" had penned the pilot's son up in a corner, and proceeded to converse with him on the same principle pursued by Mrs. Somebody in "Little Dorrit," with a foreigner--talking broken English. Said Pills: "Me sabe one time several years ago, one, two, three much good men from here, and me sabe a man, he call Mr. Hazely, who was educated here." Then, his victim having made some remark in perfectly intelligible English, said Pills: Jah, yea, yes, oui, ce, me understand," evidently desiring to impress us all with his profound knowledge of the African dialect.

At about, 9 o'clock the deputy harbormaster returned, bringing with him a black policeman in a trim blue jacket with red trimmings and pewter buttons, armed with a familiar-looking club, wearing a guardsman's cap, and evidently a perfect martinet in the matter of discipline, as he immediately proceeded to pace the gangways, never for a moment unbending, replying to all questions with a stiff, official bow, holding his head up, and invariably touching his cap to the captain, mates and I. He is a West Indian, and speaks excellent English. He was put in charge, and the pilot and crew were ordered to stay aboard the Azor during the night. As I write, 10 P. M., the lights are gleaming ashore, and voices come now and then from land or passing boats which can be plainly distinguished as negroes, speaking negro. I could shut my eyes and easily imagine myself on the Battery in Charleston, with boats from the shore going by. The weather is delightful, there being a stiff sea breeze.

May29, 11 P. M.--Have been ashore all day "knocking around," and my note-book and head are both in an appalling state of plethora, from incidents, pictures, figures, &c. The captain has decided in view of the uncertain state of the weather and his passenger's health to be towed to Monrovia by the mail steamer. We will leave here at an early hour to-morrow.

TWENTY-THREE DEATHS IN ALL.

Two more deaths occurred on Thursday night, being those of Laura Clark, wife of Aleck Clark, of Clarendon, aged 25 years, of effects of confinement, and Hattie Brue, child, 10 years old, from Burke County, Ga., of fever. One occurred to-day, being that of -- Shaw, daughter of Wm. Shaw, of Georgia. Another took place at 10 o'clock to-night, being that of the wife of Wm. Johnson.

May 30--Off this morning in tow of steamer Ethiopia. Will be in Monrovia in thirty hours, (D. V.) from whence I will date my next.

Page 18

CHAPTER II.

A BRITISH CAPTAIN LEAVES THE EMIGRANTS IN THE LURCH--VISIT OF A DANDY DOCTOR--DANGER IN DELAY--THE CONTRACT FOR A TOW TO MONROVIA WANTONLY BROKEN BY THE MAIL STEAMER--VISITING THE TOWN--ITS ETHNOLOGICAL, POLITICAL, AGRICULTURAL AND SOCIAL PECULIARITIES--NO NEED THERE FOR THE XVTH AMENDMENT--ARRIVAL OF ANOTHER STEAMER--THE AZOR SAFE AT MONROVIA.

MONROVIA, Sunday, June 2--Midnight.--My last letter, dated Sierra Leone, May 30, was abruptly concluded with the anouncement that we were off for this place in tow of the steamer Ethiopia of the British mail line between Liverpool and the west coast of Africa. After posting that somewhat voluminous document. I hastened, in company with Capt. Holmes, to the landing, whence we discerned, to our astonishment and grief, the Ethiopia steaming away over the bar without the Azor, which lay anchored at her place. We hurried aboard the bark, and signals were vainly made to recall the steamer, which finally disappeared around the cape. This desertion of us was not only a breach of commercial contract and plighted word on the part of Capt. Simmons of the Ethiopia, but it was a piece of the most heartless cruelty. He had distinctly made an agreement with Capt. Holmes to tow the Azor to Monrovia for £150, ($750,) the latter promising to be ready by 11 o'clock A. M. We were ready by 10.45 A. M., at which time the Ethiophia was steaming away nearly out of sight. Capt. Simmons perfectly knew our situation. He had been informed of the opinion expressed by the physician--that should further delay occur in disembarking the Azor's passengers, a large number would certainly die. What his motives were I do not know. I do know that he has violated the rules held sacred by every merchant and sailor, not to speak of gentleman or man of honor. He is a disgrace to his company and his nation. His conduct was generally characterized in Sierra Leone as "dirty."

FORBIDDEN FRUIT.

My last entry in the "Journal" of any importance was on the 28th, the day of our arrival in Sierra Leone. Early next morning several bumboats were about the ship, most of them having plentiful stores of pineapples, bananas, oranges, mangoes, alligator pears and cocoanuts, which their owners clamorously offered for sale, speaking, like the pilot, a jabber apparently equally savoring of French and African English. One or two women were also on hand, vociferously soliciting orders for washing. The Azor people clustered like bees on the rails, and stared with open eyes on the visitors, and with watering mouths on the fruit. This latter, however, was rigidly excluded by the ship's officers. We had about 300 souls aboard, and had fruit been allowed as it was wanted, we should have had 300 severe stomach aches before night.

THE DANGER OF DELAY.

About 8 o'clock on this morning (29th) the colonial physician came out in the harbor-master's boat. He (the physician) is an octoroon with the white duck suit, cork hat, canvas shoes, side whisker and vocal inflection of the average Englishman in these parts. He was a little afraid of us, I think, and kept his boat at a safe distance, asking questions as to the disease aboard, its symptons, &c., and entering the answers in a morocco notebook with a gold pencil. He was rowed by black oarsmen, and spoke to them in a manner that showed plainly that universal social equality was by no means an accomplished fact there. Bye and bye the doctor came aboard, looked at the patients, prescribed for them, and promised to send medicines and disinfectants. He confirmed our previous impression that the sickness was a mild form of ship fever,

Page 19

caused by overcrowding, uncleanliness, insufficient medicines and inefficient medical attendance. He gave as his opinion that every day of delay in getting the emigrants ashore increased the danger of a violent and fatal outbreak. He was asked what the consequence would be should the Azor sail and be delayed for ten days longer. "From fifty to sixty deaths," was the ominous and significant answer. This proved the wisdom of putting in, for the sickness alone, omitting mention of the scarcity of food and water.

GOING ASHORE.

As soon as the doctor had gone, Capt. Holmes and I went ashore, in a boat propelled by two black oarsmen attired in cotton shirts and pantaloons and red skull caps. Our arrival at the landing seemed to create considerable excitement among the numerous loungers in that vicinity. We were immediately surrounded by about twenty black men and women, the former touching caps and the latter curtsying, and all offering to do all sorts of things--"for a consideration." Right here I will get through with describing the style of dress that prevailed.

THE LATEST AFRICAN FASHIONS.

The dress of the fishermen has been already spoken of as generally consisting of a rag about the loins. The habiliments of the boatmen and policemen have been also mentioned. The ordinary laborers, porters and longshoremen usually wear loose thin shirts and trowsers; although they frequently have only the latter, and in other instances what resembles a long bag cut open at the ends with two holes cut above for the arms. All are barefooted and most are barelegged below the knee. The almost invariable head covering is a skull cap of gaudy color. Clerks, messengers, store and shop keepers, and those belonging to that class, usually wear clothes of European cut and make, of different colors and fashionings, with shoes and hats, like anybody else. Then come the Mussulmans dressed in long pure white and flowing robes, not unlike an Episcopal minister's surplice, with sandals secured across the instep with huge buttons, and tall brimless linen or cloth caps. These are the fellows who come in from the country, and are "not at work today." Their humbler brethren who are at work (a condition of life in which a Mussulman never is if he can possibly help himself) wear gowns of coarse blue cotton, generally dirty, but of the same shape. Not only these followers of the prophet, but many others of the colored citizens of Sierra Leone have suspended around their necks leather pouches, bits of stone, &c., containing charms. The dress of the women is as diverse as the men's. Sometimes they wear a single long, loose garment of thin cotton gathered in at the waist. Others have a gaudily colored robe wrapped around their waists and falling below their ankles, with a spare piece hanging in front which they pull up over their bosoms when a strange man is approaching. Very frequently an infant is bound up in the folds of this garment, resting quietly behind and forming a bustle. The mother always looks profoundly unconscious of, and unconcerned about, this burden, which is invariably quiet. Everybody, unless engaged in commercial pursuits, manages to get some bright color introduced in his or her dress, except the aristocratic Mussulman in his spotless white, and even his cap is often a bright red or scarlet.

THE LABORING PEOPLE OF BOTH SEXES

are generally very erect, and walk with what in a white man would be a swagger, but in them, with their free limbs, is merely a graceful independence. The business men have the business man's usual stoop, methodical walk and steady look, and generally carry an umbrella and wear a broad hat. I think these natives are usually very strong, and some of them are magnificently shaped, especially the women. The most beautiful and massive pair of female shoulders I have ever seen, I saw here. Their owner had a heavy load on her head, but walked under it as straight as an arrow, and the shoulders just spoken of were studies for an artist, being straight, square, clean cut and well rounded--altogether perfect. Almost all the overland transportation is done on human heads, there being only three horses in the entire colony. A woman will walk into town at a good pace from miles in the country, with a child swinging at her back, and from thirty to seventy pounds of produce on her head, carrying herself as well and showing as little fatigue as an average American or English woman would after a mile's unencumbered stroll. What the men can carry I am afraid to say. I saw one start home with two huge iron pots balanced on his head, weighing probably one hundred pounds, and he looked as if he hardly felt them. The laborers whom we met at the wharf bore two two-gallon demijohns of rum in each hand and another on their heads. I saw no woman whose dress would forbid her appearance on the streets of an American city. The children to about eight years old wear very little--very often nothing at all. Now you have the people as they appear on the streets.

LOOKS OF THE TOWN.

From the large stone dock on which we landed we walked probably half a block across a sort of court, on the right side of which was a large brick warehouse, in and about which demijohns and bales were being handled by a gang of black men. Here we reached a flight of broad steps made of heavy stone, in the interstices of which grew grass and weeds. On these steps we get up a short hill and are fairly within the town, which does not differ much so far as I can see from any small American seaport town. The town proper (Freetown) contains about 3,600 population, and the colony of Sierra Leone extends some thirty miles back of the coast,

Page 20

and contains between 30,000 and 40,000 people. Freetown is built more along the foot of the high hills than I thought, not running more than a third of the distance up them. The streets are of ordinary width, being unpaved. The soil is common red clay beaten hard by much treading, and the streets or roads are fringed on each side by a broad border of grass precisely similar to our American grass and weeds.

THE HOUSES

are generally one-story, and built of wood, with roofs made of reeds or rushes plaited. From the front of each of these houses projects a wide roof, covering where the pavement should be. The fences are also familiar, being the ordinary slat ones, the slats being boards or barrel staves. In the little gardens, which are generally about seventy-five feet square, grow short stalks of corn, yams and a few other vegetables, and in most of them a cocoanut tree or two towers up. At long intervals a more pretentious building is reached, there being several large two-story frame stores, the upper story surrounded with lattice work, a few brick stores, and probably half a dozen brick and wooden warehouses. A tin or tile roof is occasionally seen. The town is well laid off into streets, with English names, such as "Rawdon street," "Water street," "Oxford street," &c., painted at their corners. A short walk down several streets and around several corners brings us to the place of business of

THE AMERICAN CONSUL,

from which the "glorious gridiron" floats. Our guide has been a black man picked up from a boat, and on the way he succeeds in engaging himself to wait on the ship with his conveyance. We note en route that nearly every man we meet touches his hat and says "goo mornin !" We see only one white man--a squarely built Englishman, in a cork hat and his shirt sleeves, smoking a large pipe, and standing under a tree, superintending a gang of laborers--who eyes us superciliously as we pass. The American representative is a member of an English firm doing the largest business in Sierra Leone. On the first floor of his establishment is the retail store, a wide and deep apartment, stocked with bright prints, cotton, beads, hats, sandals, hardware, "notions," clothing and guns. The latter are the old flintlock, long barrelled, smooth bore musket. My idea is that the man who fires one of them thereby gives proof of courage of a very high order. The store has a counter, behind which stands the keeper, black--the head clerk, black--the junior clerks, black--porter, black--messenger, black. Back of this store is the warehouse, where gangs of laborers are at work. Up stairs are the offices, of which there is a large suite. Here are four white men, including proprietors, and several colored and black clerks, all working together.

THE BUSINESS STREET.

There is little difficulty in getting our American notes changed and drafts cashed here, and we sally out to see the town further. One of the junior salesmen is sent along to take care of me and my umbrella. My guide is European dressed, plodding, methodical and business-like. We go around a few more corners and get into the business street, which is lined on both sides with the one story shops with their broad porches in front. Under these porches are grouped samples of the wares for sale within--bright prints, painted china, clothing and so on--which gives the boulevard an extremely animated and picturesque appearance. Put in this street the people heretofore described with baskets, calabashes and trays on their heads, and you have Sierra Leone. Like everybody else on the Azor, I had lost head gear, and I went to buy a hat. None of the shops are deeper than four or five feet, being more booths than stores, and the stock can easily be reached by the proprietor without his having to move around much. The old heathen to whom I was taken reached down an old white article lined with cork, and shaped like the coal scuttle in a railroad car after a collision. He wanted to sell it for thirty-six shillings. After a little cyphering this came to $9. Then I looked at the hat.

"Colored person," I asked, "suppose I walked down King street in this fearfully and wonderfully constructed tile, how many hundred boys would sing out to me 'Shoot the hat,' between Line street and the Battery?"

He said he would take 34 shillings, and followed us out, falling rapidly in price to 28. This was a characteristic of Sierra Leone shopkeepers. They always charge about twice what they will take. I finally got a hat capable of effecting the most startling changes in one's appearance. It is a broad-brimmed felt, and, when turned down, makes its wearer look like a sullen Quaker. Turned up, it changes him immediately to a combination of Bloody-Nose Bill the Avenger, a stage-pirate, and Sir Walter Scott's Alsatian. Now you have the town and the people.

NO LIONS IN FREETOWN.

There are no lions to look at in Freetown. A regiment of soldiers is quartered there -- They are black, and dress in zouave uniform. There is a market which looks like a section of Charleston Market sawed off. There is a town hall which is an ordinary village courthouse. There are barracks for the soldiers, and that's all. The police are all colored, all dressed in blue, red and pewter, all have clubs, and are very frequently barefooted.

I did not see a flower in the town. The trees are mostly cocoanut, the others being non-fruit bearing. Some of them were very handsome, but nobody could tell me what they were called.

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.

Sierra Leone produces principally ginger,

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hides, palm oil and peanuts. She raises a few "nubbins" of corn for table consumption, rice, fruits, yams and plantains. Cocoanuts you all know, yams you all know, bananas you know; alligator pears are about the size of a large cucumber, soft inside, eaten with salt and pepper, and having a large stone. For a steady diet I would prefer mule meat to them. Mangoes are delightful, having an aromatic, spicy taste impossible to describe. The oranges are good. Pineapples sell at Freetown at a penny (two cents) each, cocoanuts about the same price, the pears ditto, mangoes at a half penny, oranges at almost anything. Palm wine is also sold here, but it tastes like hot water and bad molasses.

A SOUVENIR OF RICHMOND.

We procured fruits, onions, "greens," spinach, eggs, fresh meat and water at reasonable prices. The latter tasted more like the "Jeems River" fluid, so dear to the hearts of Richmond (Va.) people, than anything I have seen in a long time. The fresh meat comes from small, but sleek-looking and generally fawn colored cattle, which are raised in the country. It is excellent. I forgot, by the way, to mention that our old friends, the goats and hogs, perambulate the streets quite freely, and were quite as independent and greedy as in American towns.

PENNILESS PASSENGERS.

The captain of the Ethiopia was seen by Capt. Holmes on the occasion of this first visit, and an arrangement was made with him to tow the Azor out the next morning. When we got back aboard this announcement was made known, and it gave general satisfaction, as the steamer could tow us in thirty hours over the distance it might have cost days of time and many lives for us to have sailed. Capt. Holmes wished to make the expense as light as possible for the Liberian Exodus Association, and he proceeded to attempt the raising of half the amount from the passengers. I was elected treasurer. The Exodists raised $62 in cash among them. For the first time I got some idea of the extent to which these people have been drained to push the scheme. Several of the steerage passengers started from Charleston with actually not one cent. Others had sums varying from $1 to $10. One told me: "I gave the last $5 note I had, when they told me the ship couldn't start without more money." Another, who came away without a dollar in his pocket, holds claims for $1,200 against the Association. I don't think more than five of those aboard have over $50 in clear cash. The managers knew this too!

A DRAFT ON THE L. E. A.

These revelations induced Capt. Holmes to refrain from further drawing upon the pittances remaining, and he decided to draw on the Association for the full amount of $750, and restore what money had been paid in. Early on the morning of the 30th one of the sailors took it in his head to be stubborn, and a half hour's delay and hard work was required to get him in irons. Then we rushed ashore, where I finished and mailed my last letter. Our bitter disappointment I have already told you of.

A VAIN HOPE.

As the steamer disappeared everybody looked almost ready to cry for vexation and disappointment. My mortification and sorrow were doubled, for a hope of "Pills" Curtis being left ashore had arisen, when we, hurrying to the ship, caught sight of him on a distant corner, making an ass of himself in the presence of a number of the natives, and swelling around like a ridiculous old peacock without any feathers. This hope was, however, vain, as he came aboard about an hour after the time fixed for our departure. There was some consolation when we went ashore, for there we were informed that the Senegal and Bonnie (steamers) were due on Saturday, the former homeward and the latter outward bound, and that we would certainly get towing from one of the two.

KINDNESS OF GOVERNOR ROWE.

With this we were of necessity satisfied, especially as the Governor (Governor Rowe) had intimated very plainly that if we attempted sailing he would institute a rigorous investigation into the number of passengers aboard the Azor, and enforce the English laws on the subject. This gentleman was exceedingly kind to us during our stay, lending his own boats and breakers to facilitate our watering, and furnishing us large quantities of medicines gratuitously.

GOVERNMENT OF THE COLONY.

There is much information regarding Sierra Leone which was gleaned at odd times and places, which I will have to throw together in as much shape as possible. First, because the easiest disposed of, comes the politics. The Colony is ruled by a Governor and council appointed by the British Government. They are all white men, (or, as they are called there, "Europeans.") Some of the petty civil officers are colored, I believe. So here we see a happy people never troubled with elections, and they do seem the happier and better for it.

AN AFRICAN NEWSPAPER.

They have a newspaper in Sierra Leone, the existence of which is sporadic. The man who owns the press is strongly opposed to Governor Rowe's administration and policy, and wants to make a rowe with him on all occasions, while the man who owns the type is a strong Rowe man. Consequently there is always a rowe. When the paper supports Rowe the anti-Rowe man kicks up a rowe and takes away his press, and when the unfortunate sheet opposes Rowe there is a d--1 of a rowe, and the Rowe man takes off his type. Then there ensues a suspension until enough men, who want to see some "little thing" of theirs in print, get together to hire the portion of the

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outfit owned by the opposition. Then the sheet which is about the size of a pocket handkerchief, comes out, sometimes giving fits to Rowe, and sometimes to those who make the rowe with Rowe. There's politics and literature.

WAGES IN THE COLONY.

Now for society and the relations of the two races. The lower class of blacks, such as laborers, clerks and salesmen, are very much like our own negroes. A common day laborer earns a shilling (25 cents) per diem, a good clerk or shopman from &

Breakfast.
Baked beans,	Codfish,
Meal cakes,	Bread,
Hash.
Dinner.
Bean soup,	Codfish,
Boiled beans,	Rice cakes,
Cold beans,	Boiled rice.
Rice pudding,	Hash.

The Liberian Exodus. An Account of Voyage of the First Emigrants in the Bark "Azor," and Their Reception at Monrovia, with a Description of Liberia-- Its Customs and Civilization, Romances and Prospects: Electronic Edition.