Olaudah Equiano
Equiano was first filled with astonishment, which was soon converted to terror when he was carried aboard the ship. He was immediately handled and tosses up to see if he was sound by some of the crew; at this point he was persuaded that he had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill him. Olaudah Equiano describes his captors as their complexions being very different from his, they had long hair and also the language they spoke was very different from anything he has ever heard. I don't believe Equiano really knows the purpose of his capture or it could be he believed he had a chance to return to his native country.
One whit man he had saw in particularly he saw, flogged so unmercifully with a large rope near the foremast, that he died in consequence of it; and they tossed him over the side. audah Equiano viewed the prospect of work as an unconceivable, horrible situation. I had never experienced anything of this kind before; and although, not being used to the water, I naturally feared that element the first time I saw it, yet nevertheless, could I have got over the nettings, I would have jumped over the side, but I could not; and besides, the crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained down to the decks, lest we should leap into the water: and I have seen some of these poor African prisoners most severely cut for attempting to do so, and hourly whipped for not eating". Some of Olaudah's conclusions about the civilization of his captors based on their behavior was Olaudah states "I know wished for the last friend, death to relieve me; but soon to my grief, two of the white men offered me eatables: and on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by my hands, and laid me across I think the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely. He afterwards learned it was called the iron muzzle; at this point Equiano was astonished and shocked. While he was at the plantation the gentleman to whom he was suppose the estate belonged to, being unwell one day Equiano sent to his dwelling to fan him; when he came into the room, where the gentleman was, Equiano was very much affrighted at some things he saw, and more so as he had seen a black woman slave, who was cooking dinner, and the poor creature was cruelly loaded with various kinds of iron machine; she had one particularly on her head, which locked her mouth so fast that she could not eat or drink.
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