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"Hall, James, M.D., "Abolition of the Slave Trade of Gallinas." In Annual Report, The American Colonization Society, vol 33 (1850), pp. 33-36.
Abolition of the Slave Trade of Gallinas;
By James Hall, M. D.
The advices from Africa, published in our last number, contain the gratifying and
important intelligence, that, the long blockade of Gallinas by the British cruisers,
has induced the slavers at that place to break up their barracoons, deliver up their
slaves to the commodore and to take passage for themselves and effects on board Her
Majesty's vessels for Sierra Leone. This is the initiative step to the entire abolition
of that traffic on the windward coast; the next, and not less important, is, the
purchase of the territory by the Government of Liberia. That the slaves are given
up, the barracoons destroyed, the slavers themselves removed and every vestige of
this accursed traffic obliterated, avails nothing, unless proper and sure measures
are taken to prevent a re-establishment of the business, the moment the coast guard
is abandoned; and we doubt not, from the tenor of the advices above referred to,
that ere this, either by purchase or conquest, Gallinas and its dependencies are
a part and parcel of the commonwealth of Liberia—this measure, only, will ensure
it against a reenactment of the scenes of distress and horror which have heretofore
rendered that place so infamous.
To enable those, not familiar with the slave marts on tho West coast of Africa, to estimate the importance of the annexation of Gallinas to Liberia, it is necessary to give a brief sketch of their location and extent and of the late history of Gallinas. Previous to the founding of the colonies of Liberia, the slave trade was rife throughout the whole of what is termed the Grain Coast; in fact,from the Gambia to Cape Palmas, an extent of over 1,500 miles of coast line, excepting only, Sierra Leone and its immediate dependencies. The very heart of this extensive slave mart was Gallinas, to which only, Cape Messurado was second in importance. That the small band of colonists, which boldly located themselves on this beautiful headland in 1821, should have been able to maintain their position amidst the powerful combined influence and action of slavers' gold and savage natives will ever remain a marvel in the history of that Colony. But they did maintain, not only their existence but their integrity and fair fame, and although it required many years in its accomplishment and all of blood and treasure which they had to give, the Liberians succeeded effectually in eradicating this traffic from the limits of thcir territory. After the firm establishment of the colony, the slave trade on the windward coast, or to the North and West ot Cape Palmas, was mainly confined to some Portuguese settlements at Bissaos, the Rio Grande, the Nuez and Pongos, Gallinas and its vicinity, Grand and Little Bassa, New Cesters and Trade Town. The Bissaos and the river factories to the windward of Sierra Leone were never very prosperous, the slavers finding it extremely difficult to escape from them without being intercepted by the British cruisers. The small factories at the Bassas were much interrupted by the colonies and finally extirpated by the purchase of Grand Bassa in 1832, while those at New Cesters and Trade Town were more or less connected with and dependent upon those at Gallinas.
The Gallinas river enters the Atlantic in latitude about 7 1/2 °, between Grand Cape Mount and Cape St. Ann, near one hundred miles northwest of Cape Messurado or Monrovia. The name of the river is given to the cluster of slave factories near its mouth. This place possesses no peculiar advantages for any species of commerce, and derives its importance, exclusively, from the establishment of the slave factories there. The land in the vicinity is very low and marshy,the river winds sluggishly through an alluvion of Mangrove marsh, forming innumerable small islands. The bar at its mouth is one of the most dangerous on the coast, being impassable at times in the rainy season. It is located in what is termed the Vey Country, the people of which, are distinguished for their cleanliness, intelligence, and enterprize in trade. How long Gallinas has maintained its importance as a slave mart, we are unable to say, but at the time of our first visit to Liberia in 1831, its reputation was very extended and its influences most deeply felt in the colony. It was estimated that near 1O,OO0 slaves were, about that period, annually shipped from this place alone. The business was done, mainly, through the agency of several merchants or factors established there, the principal of which, was Pedro Blanco, a Spaniard. This man's influence was unbounded among the native tribes on that section of the coast, and we fear, at one time extended to members of the colony of considerable respectability. He was a man of education, having the bearing and address of a Spanish Grandee or Don, which was his usual appellation. He lived in a semi-barbarous manner, at once, as a private gentleman and an African prince. He had at one tine a sister residing with him. He maintained several establishments, one on an island near thc river's mouth which was his place of business or of trade with foreign vessels, that came to Gallinas to dispose of merchandise; on another island, more remote was his dwelling-house,where he kept his private office, his books, dined, took his siesta, slept, &c.; here, we believe, his sister also resided. On a third, was his seraglio of native wives, each in their several dwellings, after the manner of native chiefs. Independent of all these were his barracoons of slaves, of greater or less extent, as circumstances required. It may readily be supposed that with the wealth accruing from a long and successful prosecution of the slave trade, his power among the natives was equal to that of any despot; and the following incident related to us by one his partners proves that he occasionally exercised it. Having occasion one day to travel on the sea beach some distance from Gallinas, near the island of Sherbro, where he was unknown, he approached the hut of a native with a view of taking rest and refreshment. He asked the owner of the house, who was squatted in the door, to hand him fire to light his cigar. The man bluntly refused, upon which, Blanco drew back, took a carbine from one of his attendants and shot him dead upon the spot. The narrator of the story apologised for Blanco by saying, that to deny a Spaniard fire, for lighting his cigar or pipe is the grossest insult that can be offered him.
We have ever understood, that Blanco was one of the kindest masters to his slaves, taking every care of their health and comfort, never suffering any improper intimacy between his numerous agents and the females, and permitting no flogging or harsh treatment.
We first visited Gallinas in 1837, at a time when the trade at this place was on the decline and Blanco was about leaving the coast. The first peculiarity we noticed in entering the river, was, the arrangements of watch-boxes, or look-outs, consisting of seats protected from the sun and rain, erected some fifty or one hundred feet from the ground, either on poles fixed in the earth, or on some isolated, high tree, from one of which the horizon was constantly swept by a good telescope, to give prompt notice of the approach of any vessel, and long experience rendered these men very expert in determining the character of any visitor, whether neutral, friend or foe.
About a mile from the river's mouth we found ourselves among a cluster of islands, on each of which was located the factory of some particular slave merchant. The buildings, generally, consisted of a business room, with warehouse attached, filled with merchandize and provisions, and a barracoon for the slaves; tbe whole built by setting rough stakes or small trees into the ground, these being wattled together with withes and covered with thatch. That, containing the slaves, being much the strongest and generally surrounded by,or connected with, a yard, in which the slaves were permitted to exercise daily. We think there were some ten or twelve of these establishments at that time, each containing from 100 to 500 slaves. We believe one contained near 1,000, which, it was expected, would be shipped daily. Each barracoon was in charge of from two to four white men, Spanish or Portuguese, and a more pitiable looking set of men we never met with. They had all suffered more, or less from the fever, were very weak, much emaciated or swollen by dropsy or diseased spleens, and none of them particularly clean. The slaves were as well taken care of as could be expected, when provisions were plenty in the country; but, in case of scarcity, they suffered severely. Many instances have occurred, wherein whole barracoons of slaves have been let loose for want of food; and it may well be supposed their owners would allow them to suffer severely before giving them up. For this reason, and because they can be stowed more closely in a vessel, children are generally preferred to adults. We recollect going into one yard where there were some 300 boys, all apparently between ten and fifteen years of age,linked together in squads of twenty or thirty. We never saw a more painfully interesting sight than the long rows of these bright-eyed little fellows, doomed to the horrors of a middle latitude passage, probably in a three and a half feet between decks. Another peculiar feature of the place was, the collection of long canoes and boats, all, kept ready for the dispatch of slaves the moment an opportunity should occur. Probably 1,000 slaves could be shipped in four hours, all things favorable. In case the coast is clear of armed vessels, and a slaver appears in the offing, her signal is at once recognized. She is signalised in return, to come in, and if she is watered and provisioned for the voyage, and deck laid, which is usually the case, she does not even come to anchor, but stands close in to the bar, where she is met by the whole fleet of canoes and boats, the contents of which are speedily put on board; she then stands off or up the coast again, the canoes return to the barracoon for more slaves, again to meet outside the bar as before. Sometimes, however, they are not so fortunate, even when not molested by a man-of-war. The bar at the river mouth is not unfrequently dangerous, even in the dry season, and in the anxiety to ship the slaves they run great hazards, and many a boat load of poor wretches becomes food for sharks, who always follow such boats and canoes in great numbers. We have heard from Kroomen, who perform the boat-work at Gallinas, many harrowing tales of shipping slaves from that place, too painful to report, or even to recall to memory. In fact, all connected with this trade is painful and distressing to humanity, and this Gallinas, of all other places on the coast of Africa, with which we have been acquainted, has been the scene of its greatest horrors. What imagination can conceive the thousandth part of the misery that has been endured by human beings of this little cluster of bushy islands? Of the five or ten thousand, who are annually brought to this place, each and every one has to mourn a home made desolate, a family dismembered, the blood of kindred flowing. Of this number, how many sink in these wretched barracoons from distress of mind at their wretched condition, from disease and famine; how many are sacrificed in their hurried shipment by the ravenous sharks; how many sink under the most protracted agonies in that confinement between decks, the air of which is putridity itself; and, of the miserable survivors, the attenuated, excoriated wretches, who are still destined for the shambles, how few but would exclaim, "Thrice and four times happy are those who sink under the knife of the midnight assassin, or were consumed in the conflagration of their palm-covered cottages?"
But Gallinas is destroyed; as a slave mart it has ceased to exist; from its marshy islets the fiat shall no more go forth to spread fire and sword throughout a peaceful land; the marauding chief has bound his last victim, the haggard, Lazarone slaver has riveted his last fetter; the shark at the bar mouth has fed on his last slave gang; and this land, heretofore detested and detestable, is henceforth to form a part of the free and independent Republic of Liberia. In the fall of Gallinas and the annexation of its territory to the Liberian Republic, we see the absolute extinction of the slave trade from Sierra Leone to the Cape Palmas. That the Liberian Government is competent to prevent its re-establishment, now, in the day of her strength and independence, fostered by powerful nations, we have a sufficient guaranty, by what she has done at Messurado, Bassa and Trade Town in time of her infancy and weakness.--Md.Col. Journal.
