- end_line
- 4986
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T07:57:55.409Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 4927
- text
- Senegal, but some years among the Spaniards, aged about thirty, which
negro’s name was Babo; * * * that he does not remember the names of the
others, but that still expecting the residue of Don Alexandra’s papers
will be found, will then take due account of them all, and remit to the
court; * * * and thirty-nine women and children of all ages.
[_The catalogue over, the deposition goes on_]
* * * That all the negroes slept upon deck, as is customary in this
navigation, and none wore fetters, because the owner, his friend
Aranda, told him that they were all tractable; * * * that on the
seventh day after leaving port, at three o’clock in the morning, all
the Spaniards being asleep except the two officers on the watch, who
were the boatswain, Juan Robles, and the carpenter, Juan Bautista
Gayete, and the helmsman and his boy, the negroes revolted suddenly,
wounded dangerously the boatswain and the carpenter, and successively
killed eighteen men of those who were sleeping upon deck, some with
hand-spikes and hatchets, and others by throwing them alive overboard,
after tying them; that of the Spaniards upon deck, they left about
seven, as he thinks, alive and tied, to manoeuvre the ship, and three
or four more, who hid themselves, remained also alive. Although in the
act of revolt the negroes made themselves masters of the hatchway, six
or seven wounded went through it to the cockpit, without any hindrance
on their part; that during the act of revolt, the mate and another
person, whose name he does not recollect, attempted to come up through
the hatchway, but being quickly wounded, were obliged to return to the
cabin; that the deponent resolved at break of day to come up the
companion-way, where the negro Babo was, being the ringleader, and
Atufal, who assisted him, and having spoken to them, exhorted them to
cease committing such atrocities, asking them, at the same time, what
they wanted and intended to do, offering, himself, to obey their
commands; that notwithstanding this, they threw, in his presence, three
men, alive and tied, overboard; that they told the deponent to come up,
and that they would not kill him; which having done, the negro Babo
asked him whether there were in those seas any negro countries where
they might be carried, and he answered them, No; that the negro Babo
afterwards told him to carry them to Senegal, or to the neighboring
islands of St. Nicholas; and he answered, that this was impossible, on
account of the great distance, the necessity involved of rounding Cape
Horn, the bad condition of the vessel, the want of provisions, sails,
and water; but that the negro Babo replied to him he must carry them in
any way; that they would do and conform themselves to everything the
deponent should require as to eating and drinking; that after a long
conference, being absolutely compelled to please them, for they
threatened to kill all the whites if they were not, at all events,
carried to Senegal, he told them that what was most wanting for the
voyage was water; that they would go near the coast to take it, and
thence they would proceed on their course; that the negro Babo agreed
to it; and the deponent steered towards the intermediate ports, hoping
to meet some Spanish, or foreign vessel that would save them; that
within ten or eleven days they saw the land, and continued their course
by it in the vicinity of Nasca; that the deponent observed that the
negroes were now restless and mutinous, because he did not effect the
taking in of water, the negro Babo having required, with threats, that
it should be done, without fail, the following day; he told him he saw
plainly that the coast was steep, and the rivers designated in the maps
were not to be found, with other reasons suitable to the circumstances;
that the best way would be to go to the island of Santa Maria, where
they might water easily, it being a solitary island, as the foreigners
- title
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