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all ages and conditions, not only without occasion, but even as if
they were indulgences and pleasure.
At one of our trips to St. Kitt's I had eleven bits of my own; and my
friendly captain lent me five bits more, with which I bought a Bible.
I was very glad to get this book, which I scarcely could meet with any
where. I think there was none sold in Montserrat; and, much to my
grief, from being forced out of the Ζtna in the manner I have related,
my Bible, and the Guide to the Indians, the two books I loved above
all others, were left behind.
While I was in this place, St. Kitt's, a very curious imposition on
human nature took place:--A white man wanted to marry in the church a
free black woman that had land and slaves in Montserrat: but the
clergyman told him it was against the law of the place to marry a
white and a black in the church. The man then asked to be married on
the water, to which the parson consented, and the two lovers went in
one boat, and the parson and clerk in another, and thus the ceremony
was performed. After this the loving pair came on board our vessel,
and my captain treated them extremely well, and brought them safe to
Montserrat.
The reader cannot but judge of the irksomeness of this situation to a
mind like mine, in being daily exposed to new hardships and
impositions, after having seen many better days, and having been as it
were in a state of freedom and plenty; added to which, every part of
the world I had hitherto been in seemed to me a paradise in comparison
of the West Indies. My mind was therefore hourly replete with
inventions and thoughts of being freed, and, if possible, by honest
and honourable means; for I always remembered the old adage; and I
trust it has ever been my ruling principle, that honesty is the best
policy; and likewise that other golden precept--to do unto all men as
I would they should do unto me. However, as I was from early years a
predestinarian, I thought whatever fate had determined must ever come
to pass; and therefore, if ever it were my lot to be freed nothing
could prevent me, although I should at present see no means or hope to
obtain my freedom; on the other hand, if it were my fate not to be
freed I never should be so, and all my endeavours for that purpose
would be fruitless. In the midst of these thoughts I therefore looked
up with prayers anxiously to God for my liberty; and at the same time
I used every honest means, and endeavoured all that was possible on
my part to obtain it. In process of time I became master of a few
pounds, and in a fair way of making more, which my friendly captain
knew very well; this occasioned him sometimes to take liberties with
me: but whenever he treated me waspishly I used plainly to tell him my
mind, and that I would die before I would be imposed on as other
negroes were, and that to me life had lost its relish when liberty was
gone. This I said although I foresaw my then well-being or future
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