Windham County Democrat. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1836-1853, 1853-09-28

ken down the inside is ransuckod; the mk-bowls
and calabashes are taken with the bows, arrows,
and axes and the hut is next unroofed or set on
fire, while the cattle, sheep, and goats, swept
out of every field, to swell the general booty
Meanwhile in Finder the inhabitants await ca
gerly the return of the hunters. Some arc sent
out to different elevations near the city to watch
for the dust & shadow of the homeward-marchng
army. AT length, after an absence or less
prolonged, a cry is heard, The sarkee is coming
All the population throng out to learn the truth
If he is not himself within sight, the fruits OF his
achievements are visible. A single horseman pa
ces along, showing the way to q miserable train
of newly-made slaves. Here comes group of
little boys, naked, fearless, playing about as tho
it were holiday; then string OF mothers drag
ging themselves along with babes at their breasts
then girls of various ages, some scarcely bloomed
out of childhood, others ripened to maturity them
as Richardson describes in his wonderfully strik-
ing narrative, old men bent two-double with the
weight of years, their trembling chins dropping
towards the ground, their poor old heads covered
with white wool !; next come aged women, lettering
and helping themselves along with slaves, and af
ter them stout youths, chained neck and neck to-
gether who are huddled through the gateways,
never to pass them but in bonds.
There is Joy in Finder. All day long the tr-
umph is prolonged. Following this vanguard
the abject trophies of misery, come single cava-
Tiers, then lines of horsemen galloping over the
plain then cavalry with drums beating, and then
a body of mounted warriors, with helmets of brass
and padded coats, who march aorund the sarkee
or sultan AT length the mass of the hunting ar
my appears in sight, toiling along rolling cano-
Ply Of dust, and with it comes the spoil of the ex-
pedton, perhaps three thousand slaves. This is
the beginning of sorrow which is to end perhaps
with insults and lashes in plantation of Virgin
ia.
| Some of the captves taken are after the gen.
eral sale, domcsticated in Finder, or a neighbor-
! ing Bornou city. Almost every householder has
one or two trained, who, from the method in which
the irons are fastened on their limbs, cannot walk
but, when they obliged to go about, move a.
long with little jumps. No sight can be more
painful; but if the people will have slaves it is
necessary to fetter them, because there are so
many towns and retreats near, to which they cod
escape without difficulty and whence they could
not easily be brought back. They are exceeding
ly useful to their owners, who enjoy Incidence and
comfort through their industry; and for this rea-
son it is, that when the slave-hunting army re-
turns, so much delight fills the population that
they salute the army with the beautiful Arabic
word Alberka !-'blessingY In the same spirit
the italian bandit repeats an invocation to the
Virgin while he cocks his pistol!
The slaves cultivate the ground cook food,
sweep the huts, and do all kinds of mental offices
for their masters and when they offended, are
punished with awful severity by them. Yet they
are not on the whole inhumanly treated, and are
allowed to enjoy some Of their favorite amuse-
ments. On the might of power in which the
Koran is said to have descended from heaven, they
are permitted to have a feast, free dance, and
songs and then they forget for the moment, all
thought of suffering, and are as happy as under
their native shades. On certain days, too, they
cense over them, calling upon their names, and
praying to be restored 80 them and to liberty af-
ter DEATH They dress very gaily on holidays,
and derive from such occasions an enjoyment
which seems almost to compensate for the sadness
of the rest of the year. Many of them are pat
terms of fidelity, and after long period of service
will die for their masters.
But the most unhappy are those who are DOOM
ed to be sent across the deserts, to be sold in dis
tant cities and scattered far over the earth in
strange lands. Regular caravans are formed to
take them across the Sahara, to the market of the
coast. They are either sold or confided to the
dealers, and marched in the heat of the day over
the desolate wastes of sand and rock, with no al
deviation to their toll except the lghtness of their
own hearts, and the cheer of their own songs
The train is ready-it starts little time is given
for adieus, and the links of blood, and the bonds
of love, and all the dear ainies of the heart are
broken forever! And who shall say that such
pangs do not burn as deeply into the bosom of the
negro, as sudden and hopeless partings-"such as
break young hearts"-burn in the bosoms of the
most youthful and delicate in England?
"A number of cames, with file of armed men,
with the weary eayaGadf IF f fSNa da IefE
some crawling and scarcely able to move, others
urged suddenly on with threats or blows. Lately
a traveller fell in with one of these melancholy
caravans. 1t consisted of about twenty camels
laden with ivory, and thirty girls who had been
seventy days on their mournfu monotonous way
Most OF these poor young creatures had performed
Journies on their way from their own happy villa
ges to captivity, which would acquire for any Eu-
ropean traveller who should perform them, an
unequalled renown. Some of them had little chill
dren slung on their backs. They met an old wo-
man who was returning free to her own country.
UNDER the protection of party of white men,
No envy filled their sad breasts. They fell upon
her aged neck weeping and kissing her, and bles-
sing her in return for the kind wish she uttered,
that the same happiness might be in store for all
of them.
Away the caravan proceeds over the unmeas-
urea DESERT the cames pacing along in strings.
one being tied to another, and resembling in The
distance, moving mass of troops, especially when
the mirage multiphes their long piles to the eve.
solid bed of rock constitutes the basis of the re-
gion, scattered over with fine dry sand, or blue
pebbles, except when fountain splashes amid its
little green paradise, like smile on the face of
desolation. Occasionally, vast assemblage of
rocks appears on the horizon, and seems to tbe
believing eye of the Moslem some abandoned civ
OF the Jim. Then small lake shines like q