“O Slavery—— Profuse of woes, and pregnant with distress, Eternal horrors in thy presence reign; Pale meagre famine leads thy horrid train; To each dire load subjection adds more weight, And pain is doubled in the captive’s fate: O’er nature’s smiling face thou spreadst a gloom, And to the grave dost every pleasure doom.” Years had elapsed since Irving had indited the letters from which we have extracted, and every passing one had seen an increasing tendency to suffer humanity to yield to interest: what had been the practice of official duty, became the actuating principle, and gold, the ”Insidious bane that makes destruction smooth, The foe to virtue, liberty, and truth,” absorbed the better feelings, which had at first recoiled from the scenes of cruelty and The order he had received from his employers, arrived at an opportune period; for he had, on that very day, been invited to attend the ceremony of the coronation of the king of WhidÁh, to take place in a few days, at Sabi. With the true spirit of gain, he calculated that this event might, by a little judicious policy, be rendered, not only subservient to his present pressing demand for slaves, but also might open greater facilities than he had hitherto possessed, of obtaining a choice. Interest, therefore, united with curiosity, in his determination of attending the ceremony; a few preliminaries of which we will name, ere we accompany him to it. On the demise of a king of WhidÁh, the As soon as the old king is dead, his successor is brought to the palace; but the period of his coronation is uncertain, resting with the grandees, with whom it becomes a political manoeuvre to keep the government, as long as possible, in their own hands; and they accordingly fix the period of the ceremony as best suits their respective interests. It is generally put off some months, and, sometimes, even years, but cannot be delayed beyond seven years. During this interval, the government is rather in the power of the grandees than the king; for they execute all the public acts and business, without consulting him. In every other respect he is treated as a prince, with only one restriction, viz. that, previously to his coronation, he cannot quit the palace. It may readily be imagined by our young readers, that, from the obscure state in which the young monarch is brought up, he has little notion of those qualities which are necessary to govern a people. On the contrary, the sudden transition from this obscurity, to the paths of ease and pleasure, and every facility of self-gratification, unfortunately gives a peculiar relish for those pursuits and pleasures, with which, had he become guardedly and progressively familiar, in all probability he would have been satiated. But this not being the case, the king of WhidÁh lives almost in a state of indolence; seldom going abroad, and only occasionally attending his grandees when they are assembled in the hall of audience, for the administration of justice: all the rest of his time is spent in the recesses of his seraglio, attended by his numerous wives, who are divided into three classes. When the period of the coronation has been fixed by the grandees, they give intimation of it to the king, who assembles them in the palace; and the council having deliberated on the The following morning, the grand sacrificer goes to the king, demanding, in the name of the great serpent, (their deity!) the offerings due on such a solemn and joyful occasion. These offerings consist of an ox, a horse, a sheep, and a fowl, which are sacrificed in the palace, and afterwards taken to the market-place. In the centre of this, the grand sacrificer erects a pole, nine or ten feet high, with a piece of linen attached to it like a flag, and around it are placed the victims, with small loaves of millet, rubbed over with palm-oil. After a few trifling ceremonies the company retire, leaving the victims exposed to the birds of prey; no person being permitted to touch them, upon pain of death. Arrived at the palace, about twenty of the king’s wives walk in procession to the place of sacrifice, the eldest, or chief, (Note G.) bearing a figure formed of earth, representing a child in a sitting posture: this she It was during the interval of these rejoicings, that Irving, with his attendants, arrived at Sabi, and was appointed to take up his quarters with a grandee high in favour with the new king. He had taken care to Soon after his arrival, the grandee with whom he resided was summoned, (as was customary,) as the one deputed to go to the neighbouring kingdom of Ardrah, with a magnificent retinue, in order to request one of the nobles of that kingdom (in whose family the right had existed time immemorial) to proceed to Sabi, to crown the king; and Irving, desirous of seeing the whole of the ceremonial, obtained ready permission to accompany the embassy. The greatest respect is paid, by all ranks, to this officiating nobleman; and all the expences of his journey are defrayed by the grandees of WhidÁh. When arrived at the last village next the capital, this nobleman and his retinue suspended their progress, remaining there stationary three or four days; during which time he received visits from the principal Among these ladies, Irving saw many whom, as a slave-merchant, he would have been happy to have obtained at a high price. Four days being elapsed, the grandees, with their usual train, and a great concourse of people, repaired to the village, to conduct the Ardrah nobleman, in great state, to Sabi; where he was received by a salute of the king’s guns, and the loud and continued acclamations of the multitude. He was then conducted to the apartments prepared for him near the palace, where he was splendidly entertained by the grandees, and received visits from the principal officers of the court. He continued here five days, but, at the close of the third, he entered the palace with the chief of his train, without taking off any part of his dress or ornaments. He remained On the evening of the fifth day, nine guns were fired, at the palace, to announce to the people that the king would be crowned on the following day, and that he would show himself in public, seated on his throne, in the court of the palace, the gates of which would be left open for the admission of all ranks of people. It was with the utmost astonishment that Irving beheld the immense population assembled in the streets of Sabi, on this occasion; every avenue towards the palace being completely crowded by the natives, to obtain a sight of their new monarch. On the evening of the following day, the king came forth from his seraglio, attended by forty of his favourite wives, dressed in the most sumptuous manner; being rather loaded than ornamented, with gold necklaces, laces, pendants, bracelets, foot-chains of gold and silver, and the richest gems. The king, who was a good-looking, but, apparently, very indolent young man, was magnificently The throne itself was something like a large armed chair, finely gilt, and elevated a little above the ground; the negroes choosing very low seats, not more than ten inches high, and six in diameter, and not unfrequently in the shape of an hour-glass. The most valuable and curious part of the throne we are now describing, was the seat, consisting of an entire lump of gold; not cast or formed by art, but a product of nature alone, weighing thirty pounds. It had been bored and fitted as a seat to the royal throne: upon this was a velvet cushion, richly laced and fringed with gold, and a foot-cushion to correspond. On the left were ranged the forty wives of the monarch, and on the right the principal grandees; and in a line with them, the Europeans from the English These ceremonies concluded, the grandee of Ardrah was summoned to attend. When arrived at the outer gate of the palace, the The rejoicings which followed the coronation lasted fifteen days, and the whole was closed with a grand procession to the temple of the great serpent. The grandee with whom Irving resided during the period of these ceremonies, was one of the principal officers of the palace, and possessed a disposition peculiarly open to the enticement of spirituous liquors, as well as dreadfully acted upon by the pernicious stimulus they gave to his passions. He also had such a propensity for their use, that Irving easily found, that, by supplying him well, he might render him subservient to his purposes; and, in fact, he He possessed several wives, of whom he was very jealous, and whom he treated as slaves. He had also several brothers, to whom he seldom spoke, or even permitted them to enter his presence; but when he did grant them admission, they were obliged to take off their caps, prostrate themselves at his feet, and throw dust on their heads. It may readily be imagined, that a disposition so cruel and arbitrary, would be stimulated almost to fury and madness by the powerful influence of ardent spirits; and the fact was, that his thirst for brandy was so insatiable, that, to procure it, he scrupled not to execute any act of oppression, cruelty, or treachery. He had even been known, in order to procure slaves, with which to purchase brandy, secretly to set fire to a village, and then send the ministers of his cruelty to seize the distracted people as they rushed from destruction, to bind and to send them to the European factories, or to the joncoes, (or black slave-merchants,) and sell them for brandy and rum; which he would continue to drink till expended, without any cessation but that forced upon him by stupefaction or sleep. It would not be consistent with the plan of our tale, to make any remarks upon the probabilities of what this man might have been, had not the slave-trade existed; or what direction his cunning and arbitrary disposition might have taken; but we may venture |