The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 286 pages of information about The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 286 pages of information about The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African.
while the vessel sailed on with a fair wind a different way; so that they could not overtake me without tacking:  but even before that could be done I should have been on shore, which I soon reached, with many thanks to God for this unexpected deliverance.  I then went and told the other owner, who lived near that shore (with whom I had agreed for my passage) of the usage I had met with.  He was very much astonished, and appeared very sorry for it.  After treating me with kindness, he gave me some refreshment, and three heads of roasted Indian corn, for a voyage of about eighteen miles south, to look for another vessel.  He then directed me to an Indian chief of a district, who was also the Musquito admiral, and had once been at our dwelling; after which I set off with the canoe across a large lagoon alone (for I could not get any one to assist me), though I was much jaded, and had pains in my bowels, by means of the rope I had hung by the night before.  I was therefore at different times unable to manage the canoe, for the paddling was very laborious.  However, a little before dark I got to my destined place, where some of the Indians knew me, and received me kindly.  I asked for the admiral; and they conducted me to his dwelling.  He was glad to see me, and refreshed me with such things as the place afforded; and I had a hammock to sleep in.  They acted towards me more like Christians than those whites I was amongst the last night, though they had been baptized.  I told the admiral I wanted to go to the next port to get a vessel to carry me to Jamaica; and requested him to send the canoe back which I then had, for which I was to pay him.  He agreed with me, and sent five able Indians with a large canoe to carry my things to my intended place, about fifty miles; and we set off the next morning.  When we got out of the lagoon and went along shore, the sea was so high that the canoe was oftentimes very near being filled with water.  We were obliged to go ashore and drag across different necks of land; we were also two nights in the swamps, which swarmed with musquito flies, and they proved troublesome to us.  This tiresome journey of land and water ended, however, on the third day, to my great joy; and I got on board of a sloop commanded by one Captain Jenning.  She was then partly loaded, and he told me he was expecting daily to sail for Jamaica; and having agreed with me to work my passage, I went to work accordingly.  I was not many days on board before we sailed; but to my sorrow and disappointment, though used to such tricks, we went to the southward along the Musquito shore, instead of steering for Jamaica.  I was compelled to assist in cutting a great deal of mahogany wood on the shore as we coasted along it, and load the vessel with it, before she sailed.  This fretted me much; but, as I did not know how to help myself among these deceivers, I thought patience was the only remedy I had left, and even that was forced.  There was much hard work and little victuals on board,
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The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.