Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1853-09-10

But the most unhappy are those who are doomed
to be sent deserts, TO be sold in distant cit
les, and scattered far over the earth in strang,
4 lands Regular cprasans are formed TO take then
; across the Sahara, to the market Of the COAST
They are either sold or coufded to the dealers aud
] marched in the heat of the day oYer the desolate
; wastes Of sand aud rock, with no alleviation to
their toll except the lightness Of their hearts
, and the cheer Of their own songs.
The train is ready4-it starts little time s given
for odeus and the links ofblood, and the bonds Of
love- and all the dear anitics Of the heart arc bro
ken for everl And who shall say that such pangs
do not burn as deeply into the beson Of the negro
sudden and hopeless partings--"sueh as breah
young hearts'--burn in the bosoms Of the most
youthful and delicate In England9
u A number Of cames, with Gle Of armed men,
march with the weary oavaleade Of slaves. They
may be seen struggling along the brown desert sone
crawling and scarcely able to move, others urged
suddenly with threats or blows, Lately, trav.
eller fell in with Of these melancholy caravans
tconsisted Of abonttwenty eamels laden with ivory
and thirty girls, who had been seventy days their
lnonotonous, mournful way. Most Of these poor
young creatures had performed journies their
road FROM their own happy villages to captivity,
which would acquire for any European. traveller who
should perform them, on unequalled renown. Some
of them had little children slung on their backs.
They met an old woman WHO was returning free to
her own country, under the protection Of party Of
white men. No envy filed their sad breasts. They
fell upon her aged neck, weeping aud Kissing her,
aud blessing 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 unmoaspred
desert the cameIs pacing along in strings, being
tied to another, and resembling, in the distance,
moving mass of troops, especially when the mirage
multpes their long piles to the eye. solid bed of
rock constitutes the basis of the region scattered
with fine dry sand, or blue pebbles except when
a fountain splashes amid its little green paradise,
like smile ON tho face Of desolation Occasionally,
vast assembloge of rocks appears ON the horizon,
aud seems to the believing eye Of the Moslcm some
abandoned city of the Jinn. Then u small lake
shines like paich of silver under some palms, and
pretty rel and yellow wild flowers art scattered
along the track aud the wanderer, unaccustomed TO
beauty amid all this drcarness,-
In barren deserts, with surprise,
! Sees lilies spring. aud sudden yerdufc rise;
And starts amid th thirsty wds to hear
New falls Of water murmuring in his ear"
The slaves they march wear scarcely any 4
clothes and are treated much like merchandise as
it spossible for human beings to be- Three or four
arc often made into "paIcel"-a young woman, /
young man, and two children. Their condition
varies, of course with the characerof their drivers
Some are grossly and savagely used, whipped along
by day, and made the toy Of their masters in the
camp; others kindly treated, well fed, and per-
t.I al ,,t Il. r. = !
arms arc behaved to with tenderness and even re.
spect-respcct mean, Of the sort which is paid to
women in this part of the earth. Generally females
are not believed to possess souls they have no
moral motives TO tirtue, no family or feminine PRIDE
no liberty Of the affections, and are expected to do
wrong if they can. From women in such position I
what can be anticpated2 Sultan Eunoor, Of the
uncxpored kingdom of Aheer, told Richardson his I
ideas on this subject "The opinions of his highness
Of women does not natter the ladies. he recon-
mended US never 10 listen to the advice of our wives
il we did We should he lost. The women were I
very well to fetch water pOand ghaseb, and cook
the supper but for nothing else. lie never himself
paid any attention to what they said they were
awful takers" So much for the old savage
However, women in bonds are not likely to be the
best representatives of their sex.
Happy is it for the poor savo-sirls ON their
march over the Sahara that they have light hearts.
They sing touching and plantiye songs, laden with
memories Of home, laden with thoughts Of former
joys laden with rccollections of the fields and huts
where they spent their happy youth, and SO they
beguile their way. As soon las the place of cncamp-
ment is reached, they arrange everything aud light
fires first for their masters and then for themselves
I H., Ior.l, =. ..--l. a
wretched creature wear little or no clothing
Their rations offood are then served to them; and
too often tho barlcy-moal and water which would
be scarcely sufficient for one is divided among ten
Of the famshed and squald slaves.
They may have been on foot fourteen hours thoy
may be still hungry, thirsty, weary yet, as the ey-
enng deepens, they rise one by one to the dance s
and trip upon the sand until the moon grows pale.
They beat their uncouth drums, and tho young
slaves fly ronud, often in very modest and graceful
measures though cften too, in figures quite of an
other character peculiar, hopping step much
in practice among them and it is by no means an
uncurious circumstance thatwe can trace many OF |
the fayorite negrodanees in America TO their orr
gin in the remote kindoms Of the Sahara, They (
have even preserved some Of the most singular Of
the movements and evolutions, as well as many ma
tive airs that the spirit Of Africa is breahed
gain among the sugar-capes and cotton-felds Of AL
ALBANIA and Carolina. In such festivities the un-
happy creatures fall into forgeIfulness Of their lot
and seom as though lost by an Indifference, which
however, only la5ts while the merriment gees on.-
See them next morning setting out, with unwilling
steps their heads bent, their eyes downcast and
dull, their faces marked with sorrow and all the it,
lsioV of tho nnoonlit rovalrv naseas away and sla
very becomes again as eheerless and desolate
thing as the Sahara itself.
And so the caravan tolls along, now winding in
irregular files along the plain, now crawling up a
mountain, now byvouacing near well, and on the
green fields Of an oasis As it goes some Of the
victims fail in atyength, and qink aaa pe,ipk CT tie