Declaration of the first witness, DON BENITO CERENO.

Properties

description

# Declaration of the first witness, DON BENITO CERENO. ## Overview This is a section titled "Declaration of the first witness, DON BENITO CERENO," extracted from the text file [the_piazza_tales.txt](arke:01KG89J1F4D8P9BBX9AMGZ7TX7). It is part of the chapter "[Benito Cereno](arke:01KG8AJK1YEE5BMWT5SQRBKJ91)" within the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The section spans lines 4886-5009 of the source file. It contains the initial part of Don Benito Cereno's declaration, detailing the events of a slave revolt aboard the ship San Dominick. ## Context The section is preceded by an "[Introduction](arke:01KG8AK2X9P0E5X4X6Z77F9M13)" and followed by a section titled "[Deposition](arke:01KG8AK2X98NP6GCAH9WKGSRC6)" within the chapter "[Benito Cereno](arke:01KG8AJK1YEE5BMWT5SQRBKJ91)". The chapter "[Benito Cereno](arke:01KG8AJK1YEE5BMWT5SQRBKJ91)" is a part of the larger collection, [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW). ## Contents This section contains the beginning of Don Benito Cereno's sworn statement before Doctor Juan Martinez de Rozas. Cereno recounts his voyage from Valparaiso to Callao on the ship San Dominick, carrying cargo and 160 enslaved people belonging to Don Alexandro Aranda. He describes the composition of the ship's crew and provides a partial list of the enslaved people, including their names, ages, and skills. Cereno details the slave revolt that occurred seven days after leaving port, where the enslaved people, led by Babo and Atufal, attacked the crew, killing eighteen men and taking control of the ship. He recounts his interactions with Babo and the demands of the revolting enslaved people to be taken to Senegal or nearby islands.

description_generated_at

2026-01-30T20:48:58.229Z

description_model

gemini-2.5-flash-lite

description_title

Declaration of the first witness, DON BENITO CERENO.

end_line

5009

extracted_at

2026-01-30T20:47:52.603Z

extracted_by

structure-extraction-lambda

source_file

01KG89J1F4D8P9BBX9AMGZ7TX7

start_line

4886

text

null

title

Declaration of the first witness, DON BENITO CERENO.