A 19th century African explorer across four continents; the life and travels of Mohammed Ali Ben Said from the kingdom Bornu through Asia and Europe to the United States ca. 1849-1860. (Patreon)

"I did not rest a moment during our stay in Paris, but was here, and there and everywhere, seeing everything, and learning everything. I believe there is more wealth and more wretchedness, more learning and more vice, more cheerfulness and less virtue in Paris than in any other city in the world."

In 1860, an African traveller from the kingdom of Bornu in northern Nigeria arrived on the shores of the United states after a remarkable journey across Africa, Asia and Europe. This traveller, named Mohammed Ali ben Said, was a polyglot scholar who spoke over nine languages. He was employed by powerful aristocrats and diplomats and served in the Union Army during the American Civil war, before settling for a teaching career in Alabama and writing a 224-page autobiography in 1873 that documented his journey across over 20 countries on four continents.

Said spends a considerable portion of his autobiography vividly describing the locals and the landscape at each stop he takes from St. Petersburg to Dresden to Rome, and had an insider’s view of the politics of the top aristocratic families of Italy, Russia and Germany. He included detailed commentaries on the Italian reunification (which was on going at the time), an analysis of Haiti's triumphs and challenges, a comparative analysis of Islam and Christianity that dispels prejudices held by his American audience, and a description of his native country of Bornu and his continent of Africa which he says , is "so sadly misrepresented".

Said's autobiography is a precious document of African travel literature, that bridges the history of African-Americans and Africans through the eyes of a globe-trotter whose account demonstrates the agency of Africans in global history. Said was raised in Africa until about the age of 16 when he was briefly enslaved for about 4 years, he later became a free man employed by a wealthy Russian aristocrat and a Dutch abolitionist, which enabled him to travel across Europe, the Caribbean before he settled in the United States where joined the Union Army and later became a teacher. Said was actively engaged in promoting the advancement of African Americans in the south through education despite the virulent racism, including the threat of the Kuk-Klux clan and suspicions by former Confederates.

This article reproduces much of Said's travel account, it includes the relevant historical context of his descriptions and a few illustrations of the places mentioned.

Muhammad Ali ben Said's home city of Kukawa in Nigeria.

A brief background on Muhammad Said life and travels.

"Africa has been, through prejudice and ignorance, so sadly misrepresented, that anything like intelligence, industry, etc., is believed not to exist among its natives"

Mohammed Ali Ben Said

Said was Born in the west African kingdom of Bornu around 1836 to an important military officer named Barca Gana (who was met by the explorer Dixon Denham in the 1820s) and a woman whose home country of Gulagu was on the margins of Bornu's the neighbouring kingdom of Mandara. Said spoke nine languages—Kanuri , Mandara, Arabic, Turkish, Russian, French, French, Italian, and English, the first three of which he learned in his home country, before learning the rest, which included abit of Armenian. He was excellent in learning languages noting that it didn't take him long to master a 'difficult' language like Russian, because he possessed "a superior aptitude for languages". This would help him alot once he became enslaved and later as a free man traveling across the world.

Map of the Bornu empire in the 17th-18th century

The account of Said's early life, his father's status as a powerful military official who was likely of slave origin, and the politics of Bornu during the time of the famous scholar-turned-general Muhammad al-Kanemi is provided in the excellent introduction of Dean Calbreath. Said provides a fairly balanced account of his early life, including the social upheavals that characterised early 19th century west Africa during the 'revolution period' that indirectly led to his enslavement around the age of 15-16. His initial experience as a slave was anything but pleasant, especially between Katsina (in Nigeria) and Murzuq (in Libya), but once he reached Tripoli, his situation improved.

Said spent about four years as a slave from around 1849 to around May of 1853 (the time period mentioned in his autobiography adds up to about 37 months not including travel time in between). During which he mostly served as a shopkeeper for a wealthy resident of Tripoli who he accompanied through Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Oman and Arabia; before he was later sold to Faud Pasha, a powerful Ottoman official in Istanbul (Turkey), who was also an envoy. It was he that he later came under the service of a Russian envoy Prince Menshikov and as a consequence of the Ottoman-Russian conflict that led to the Crimean war, he was sent to Russia where he became free once he reached Russia where non-citizens couldn't be serfs, and couldn't remain slaves.

As a free man, Said left Menshikov's family because the head servant maltreated him, so he quickly found a new employer who was also an important Russian aristocrat. The latter belonged to the Trubetskoy family who also treated him well and whom he accompanied across Europe. Said parted from his employer while in London, intending to return to Bornu, and despite Prince Trubetskoy reminding Said that "was no longer an African but a citizen of Europe", he gave him 300 pounds in exchange for a promise to return to Russia after a year. Said would however, cancel his trip to Bornu once he received a good job offer to be a valet for a wealthy Dutchman named Ruchesen whom he accompanied across Canada, the US, Bahamas and Haiti, but the Dutchman, who was apparently living well beyond his means, abandoned him, leaving Said penniless in New York.

Said was compelled to take up odd jobs as a teacher and deck hand in Detroit, before he joined the Massachusetts 55th Infantry Colored Regiment in the Upion Army from 1863-1865 as both a corporal and a sergeant, something which he neglects to mention. A passenger list from Maine also noted Said's arrival in 1860, rather than the 1867 he claims, suggesting that he conveniently skipped over nearly ten years of history to after the Civil War, so that he could avoid controversy of serving in the Union Army since he now lived in a former confederate state (he does mention that southerners suspected him of being a spy).

After the end of the Civil War, Said found agency in starting schools for Blacks in the American south, eventually settling in Alabama where he wrote this manuscript after writing a 4-page article in the Atlantic Monthly dated October 1867 titled: “A Native of Bornoo” that contained a summary of the text which appears in his 1873 publication.

On Muhammad Said's autobiography, his observations of European, Carribean and American society, people and politics.

"My motive in this publication I believe to be good: a desire to show the world the possibilities that may be accomplished by the African, and the hope that my humble example may stimulate some at least of my people to systematic efforts in the direction of mental culture and improvement...my motive in this publication has been not so much to attract attention to myself as the hope of accomplishing some good by its means."

The stories included in Said's lengthy account demonstrate that he wasn't simply a passive traveller recalling itineraries, but an active observer with a keen interest in the societies he visited. This was evidently enabled by his status, his education and ability to learn many languages. Its unclear how much of his deep introspective was informed by contemporary literature that he had access to. He only cites one writing about the politics of the Papal states in relation to the Italian reunification and dismisses another writing about Egypt conquering west Africa as false), and while he mentions visiting libraries in Dresden (and possibly in the US), its unclear if he had access to any of their manuscripts. He for example learns about the 1850s German explorer of Bornu, Heinrich Barth, while in Europe but its unclear whether he read his account that corroborates Said's own description of Bornu. However, the numerous itineraries whose societies, elites, and politics describes in rich detail; from Russia to Italy to western Europe, to Haiti and the US, and the multiple external accounts corroborating his travels in Europe and the Americas, leave little doubt that the traveller was narrating his own personal experiences.

As a person who was born Muslim in Africa but came to live in a deeply conservative Christian country, Said's religion has been the subject of considerable debate by many researchers, who often exaggerate his seeming criticism of 'Islamism' without appreciating the context of his writing. Said was born a Muslim, to a Muslim father, in the Muslim kingdom of Bornu where he attended Koranic schools. The heroes of his country such as the Muslim scholar turned ruler Muhammad AL-kanemi, who he refers to as the 'Washington of Bornu', and in the great cities like Gambaru and Maradi, which he mentions as flourishing prior to the rise of 'Islamism', were also Muslim societies. What they all had in common however, was a strong opposition to the Jihad/'Revolution' movement of the Fellata/Fulbe leader Usman Dan Fodio of Sokoto who considered Bornu and its dependencies to be 'Pagans'. A closer reading of the text indicates that it was Sokoto's brand of fundamentalist Islam that Said was opposed to, and not the religion as a whole.

He also praised Muslims like the Turks and considers them better than the (American) Christians who were the audience of his lectures and this very text. He notes that "there seems to have been no prejudice among the Turks on account of complexion, their only prejudice being of a religious character. For this, however, they should not be severely censured; the Christians considered and treated them as infidels, and they, in turn, looked upon the Christians, from a religious point of view, as no better than dogs, (giour), and here the matter ended by mutual consent. But in this country, and other enlightened Christian countries I have visited, the different denominations often carry matters to much greater extremes, indulging in back-bitings, open contentions, and, not seldom, actual oppression and persecution, while the strained sanctimoniousness, they all combine to rail at and revile those who adhere to Mohammed rather than Christ, and roll their eyes in holy horror at the idea of such open infidelity and profanity. Reader, do not misunderstand me, I was a Mohammedan; I am now, in belief, a Christian and a Swedenborgian; but I want to see fair play in these matters, let and “him who is without guilt cast the first stone.”

He nevertheless criticises the Tuaregs who enslaved him, for reducing a fellow Muslim to chains, and his description of the cities of the Orient is decidedly western in bias. Said converted to Christianity on 12th November, 1855 while in st. Pertsburg, after which he was known as Nicholas Said, but his writings betray his continued respect for his first religion. Said was also particulary critical of the way the enslaved women in the harems of his Istanbul-based master Rashid Pasha, were treated. These women, who were mostly Circassian, Afghan and Persian, and he mentions that "my heart has often bled and my blood boiled with anger when I saw them cuffed and beaten by the brutal eunuch's who were their custodians... Although this same practice was common in my own country, I never could become reconciled to it; and to this day, though not more than in my youth, the sight of a man maltreating a woman always exasperates my feelings almost beyond control." Yet he was still taken by upon realising that that Faud Pasha fraternised alot with christians and wasn't a true muslim.

Said's relatively privileged status as a Valet, and his education afforded him far more opportunities than the vast majority of the ordinary Europeans he interacted with, not just in Russia where he was he occupied a higher position than the other household servants serfs (spending his time reading and traveling), but also in Victorian England, where his fraternising with the handmaids of the elites he visited almost resulted in him being demoted because he had “disgraced myself by mixing with my inferiors,”.  

For his American readers in post-war south where the KKK was becoming a powerful group and the lynching of thousands of 'Black' men for associating with 'White' women were beginning in earnest (with Alabama recording its first such lynching in 1879), the notion of a Black man referring to any whites as his social “inferiors” must have been as jarring as the idea that he freely 'crossed racial boundaries'.

Said's position therefore allowed him to become a keen observer of the politics of various countries he visited. Said dedicates a surprisingly lengthy section on Italian politics during the process of unification, on intrigues among the Russian royal families, and on the cause of the challenges faced by the Haitian government. His commentaries attimes includes quotes from contemporary European writers.

For example, in the section about the Italian's criticism of the seeming indecisiveness of the Secretary of the Papal states Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli (b. 1806- d.1876) who was blamed for the stagnation of Rome, he noted that "It is true that Antonelli could have let all reform fall quietly, but he confessed openly, and told everybody that the prosperity of Rome did not depend on reform. Antonelli was in reality a very modest man: he did not wish to be distinguished by anything new, he only wanted the old absolutism in which Rome became great and powerful, and he did not unite with it, the slightest hyprocrisy of liberty, with which absolutistic statesmen are so fond of adorning themselves".

In the section of his visit to the Caribbean, Said mentions that was delighted upon arriving in Haiti, where the heroes of the “Haytien Independence” contended with the armies of Napoleon the Great, and that he "admired the exploits of Toussaint, L'Ouverture, Dessalines, Christophe, and other negro loaders, whose heroism and military talent are an honor to the African race". He was not blinded to Haiti's political realities however, such as how its rulers ended its plantation economy to prevent the Europeans from retaking the Island, and how its government was dysfunctional because of the Haiti's ruling 'mixed-race' elites oppressed its 'black' majority (something Said likely experience first hand during his stay), adding that the elite's rivalries led to the deposing of president Fabre Geffrard (1859-1867). Said concluded that the "Southern white has ten-fold more humane feeling towards the black man than the West India mulatto." Which, considering that he was living during the time of reconstruction, may well have been an accurate assessment.

The excerpts that I have added below reproduce most of Said's account, focusing on his journey as a free man across Europe and America. The entire text can be read in this book: The Autobiography of Nicholas Said: A Native of Bornou, Eastern Soudan, Central Africa

DESCRIPTION OF AFRICA AND EARLY LIFE ca. 1836-1849: On the empire of Bornu, its wars with Sokoto, Wadai and Bagirmi, its and cities, industries.

I was born in Kouka, the capital of the Kingdom, of Bornou, in Soudan; a few years after the invasion of the Wadays [Wadai Kingdom], or about the year 1836, of the Christian era. I was the thirteenth child of my mother, who bore nineteen children, seven girls and twelve boys. My father was the elder son of Katzalla Malagemou, the ruling chief of Molgoy, a small country South of, and tributary to Bornou.

[Kouka is Kukawa in the capital of the fomer kingdom of Bornu in North-Eastern Nigeria, a once sprawling city of over 40,000 that is now a forgotten desert town, while the Molgoy whom his father belonged to are the Marghi a non-Muslim group in its mountanous hinterlands that served as a refuge against the empire of Bornu and the Mandara kingdom, between which the Marghi were wedged.  Read my previous essay on the DGB stone ruins built by some of these non-Muslim groups]

To prevent incursions from the powerful tribes of Fellatah, Adamawa, Mandra, Goulagou, and even Bornou itself, the people of Molgoy became tributary to the Kings of that country, and in turn received their protection. Mai Barnoma [Mai Dunama Lefiami, d.1817] the King of Bornou, under whose reign Molgoy became subservient to Bornou, granted the Molgoyans the free exercise of their religion, which was fetish, without human sacrifices. This fiendish practice (of human sacrifice) is looked upon with abomination by all the nations and tribes of Soudan, both Mohammedan and pagan.

My father greatly distinguished himself under our immortal King Mohammed El Amin Ben Kanemy [Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi, d. 1837], the Washington of Bornou. And for his most efficient services, in repelling the Fellahs from Bornou, created him Katzallah or general, and made him generalissimo of his army, which he afterwards commanded for upwards of twenty-five years with great distinction.

He was the terror of the Fellahs, the Bagirmies, the Wadays, and the Kindills, the enemies of our Country, and wherever he appeared the enemy fled, he defeated the Fellahs [of the Sokoto empire] in forty pitched battles, and was the prime cause of their overthrow in Eastern Soudan. His name was Barca Gana, and was called Katzalla, or general, as already stated. In personal appearance Katzalla Barca Gana was large, tall, and well proportioned; resembling more a giant than an ordinary man.

[Al-Kanemi famously aided the ailing Bornu sultan, Dunama Lefiami, militarily against the Sokoto invasions and also intellectually, against the Sokoto ruler, Uthman Fodio's fundamentalist brand of Islam. But when Al-Kanemi's power threatened to eclipse the sultan Dunama, the latter invited the armies of Bagirmi to depose him in 1820, but failed and was replaced by his son Ibrahim. Al-kanemi died in 1837, right when the Wadai kingdom invaded Bornu possibly on Ibrahim's request, AL-kanemi was succeeded by his son, Umar, who after another failed conspiracy between Wadai and Ibrahim to remove him in 1846, ascended to the throne as the first Sheikh/Shehu of Bornu, thus reducing the power of the sultan]

My mother was the daughter of a Mandra chief, who on one occasion was captured by the Armies of Bornou, in a terrible battle fought between the two forces. My father had compassion on him, released and escorted him to the territory of Mandra. And as a mark of gratitude the Mandra chieftain gave Katzalla Barca Gana his daughter Dalia (my mother's name) in marriage. When young it was said she was extremely beautiful. She was very strict with her children, often severe, as were indeed all my father's, wives (he had four), for he left the rearing and training of his children exclusively to their mothers, having never chastised any us that I can remember.

The reason was then almost incessant wars and irruptions that had for a long lapse of time disturbed the peace of my country, gave him but little time to turn his mind to domestic affairs. In my childhood I was wild and roving in disposition, and my mother tried her utmost to brake me from the too frequent hunts I used to take with the children of my own age. We used to go miles from Kouka, in search of gazelles, pintadas, and other game of which our forests were full. Flogging almost invariably accompanied my return, and also she warned me of the Kidnapping Kindills, [Tuaregs of the sultanate of Air in modern Niger], who were constantly prowling through the country in search of anything of value they might lay their hands on. But all to no purpose. I was so roving, that, from my earliest recollections, when I was only about six years old, I endeavored to return with my maternal uncle, who had been to Kouka on a visit, to his home among the mountains of Goulagou, and nearly cried my eyes out because I was prevented.

Goulagou is a country lying eastward of Mandra, and its inhabitants are renowned in our country for their courage. They had, up to the time I was captured, defeated all their enemies. Mandra, Bornou, Waday, Fellatah, and Bagirmy, had successively tried to conquer this country, but they had in every attempt been signally defeated. This country abounds in several minerals: as gold, iron, and copper, and which they work very skillfully. They manufacture beautiful gold and copper ear-rings, bracelets, anklets, etc., with which they ornament themselves profusely, especially the women.

[Gulagu appears in Heinrich Barth's account as a powerful Marghi kingdom in the mountainous region of Mandara, it was however beset with dynastic rivaries that resulted in foreign interventions on the onset of colonialism when the region was brought under the control of a foreign Muslim warlord named Hamman Yaji as noted by his 1923 diary -Yaji is also associated with the abandonment of some of DGB settlements. see; pg4, The Diary of Hamman Yaji : Chronicle of a West African Muslim Ruler]

Africa has been, through prejudice and ignorance, so sadly misrepresented, that anything like intelligence, industry, etc., is believed not to exist among its natives. But allow me to remark in the outset reader, that in our markets you may find beautiful silk and cotton goods manufactured by the more intelligent and ingenious among our people, we make our own saddles, cutlery, sword-blades, javelins, and lances. It cannot be disputed that glass is manufactured in Nouffi

[Nouffi is probably Ibn Batutta's 'Yufi' which was likely Ile-Ife in Nigeria where glass was indeed manufactured. It should also be noted that glass beads were also manufactured at Bida, in the Nupe kngdom of Nigeria, although both are several hundred kilometers south east of Bornu, their glass was exported across west africa.].

That previous to the introduction of Islamism in Soudan arts and sciences had reached a respectable attitude, is attested by the ruins of several towns in Bornou, Mariadi, Nouffi and other countries. The ruins of Gambarou, the Bisnia of geographers, covers an immense area, the walls of which were built of burnt clay, extensive palaces, gardens, and other works of art flourished.

[Mariadi/Maradee is Maradi, a Hausa city in the former kingdom of Katsina. It became a refuge for the Hausa elites that were expelled by the Sokoto armies. Gambarou was an old Bornu capital associated with the 16th century Mai Idris Alooma, but secondary to the main capital Ngazagarmu. Both were destroyed by Sokoto's armies around 1809. ]

ruined sections of Idris Alooma’s 16th century palace at Gamboru, Nigeria

19th century palace of Maradi, Niger.

I am, unable to give the slightest idea as to the time when Mohammedanism was introduced into Central Africa. But be it as it may it brought with it desolation and ruin. Anything like enterprise was rendered impossible, fanaticism and bigotry overruled every thing, and the Mohammed proselytes at once arrayed themselves against every non-follower of the Prophet as his implacable enemies. Crusade after crusade was made against the pagan tribes, who, if they had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the Moslems, were either massacred or reduced into slavery. Cities after cities were razed to the ground.

[Said, who was himself Muslim, is likely referring to the more fundamentalist brand of Islam championed by the Fulbe of Sokoto and propagated through their wars/Jihads. The Sokoto Fulbe, who many in west Africa regarded as 'fanatical', considered even Muslim states like Bornu and the Hausa to be pagan]

The last thing of the kind took place toward the first part of this century, when Othman Dan Fodio, a Fellatah Chief, arrogated to himself the title of a prophet, saying that Allah (God) prescribed him tomake war on all the Pagan nations of Central Africa, and promised him victory. The Fellatahs, who werethen dispersed over the whole of Soudan, and who led a pastoral and nomadic life, under petty Chiefs, were collected by him under his sway.

After several years of preparation, Danfodio, who had by this time a complete control over his countrymen, raised a formidable army of one hundred and eighty thousand warriors, and immediately assailed Hausaland, which was readily subjugated. Kano, the capital of Hausa, was consumed into ashes, thousands of its male population were put to the sword, and the women and children were carried into slavery.

After committing other unheard of cruelties, Danfodio invaded successively and successfully, Gouber, Mariadi, Zeg-Zeg, Karé Karé, lastly Bornou which was then the preponderating power in Soudan. After two years of manly resistance, Bornou was compelled by force of arms to submit to the yoke of the Fellatahs. Our cities destroyed, thousands upon thousands were sold to the coast into bondage, and many more were sold to the Barbary States.

After two more years of humiliation the inhabitants of Bornou, under El Kanemy, revolted against our oppressors, and, in less time than a year, the Fellatahs were completely driven out of our country. Mohammed El Amin El Kanemy, whose extraordinary military talent had enabled him to liberate our country, was now by acclamation made King of Bornou. But he, like all truly great men, refused the sceptre and repaired to Angourno, where Maina Denama, the heir apparent to the crown of Bornou then resided.

Mohammed El Amin Ben Mohammed El Kanemy's reign was marked with great wisdom; he exterminated the system of highway robbery, which was of frequent occurrence. Hanging was the penalty of all kinds of fraud. He encouraged the caravan trade between the Barbary States and Bornou, and reigned twenty years. The present king of Bornou, Shagou Omar, is an able ruler, but he does not possess his father's talents. He has, however, showed himself to be a man of great nerve.

Shagou Omar, our good King, had a son who was about my own age, and who was about of the same disposition with myself. He used to frequently carry me through the King's palaces, and I had every opportunity to feast my eyes on the wonders therein contained. These were watches, clocks, and above all, a musical instrument, which played several beautiful airs. I have since, while in Europe, heard two of them, one was the celebrated Swiss national air, Le Ranz des Vaches, and the other the body of Mozart's requiem. On one occasion our King presented me with a fine Isabelle colt; which afterwards shared my captivity.

When I was about twelve years old, a large caravan arrived from Fezzan, and it was said a Sara [shortform for 'Nasara' ie; white man] was one of the party. This raised a great excitement, particulary among us children, for we had heard fabulous tales concerning them. For example, we were told that the whites were cannibals, and all the slaves that they bought were for no other but culinary purposes.

Sure enough, there arrived a white, man, and the King assigned him a dwelling situated in East Kouka, near the Dandal or Main street of Kouka. The King sent him meals three times per day from his own table. I say table because it is customary to say so, but our King has no tables.

I never found out the name of this white man until my arrival in Europe, and it proved to be Herr Henry Barthe, of Hamburg, Germany [this is the famous explorer Heinrich Barth].

The first time I saw him was one day when he was in the market, outside of Kouka, and I ran from him. Dr. Barthe, visited Hadji Bichie very frequently, and also I often saw him at the residence of Lami Nou, the next personage in the Kingdom to the Grand Vizier. Lami Nou executed all orders from the King, and Hadji Bichie—he was the terror of every one in

Kouka, his cruelty was only paralleled by that of Nero [the Roman emperor] ...

[Said then continues with a very detailed description of his native country of Bornu that i wont reproduce here for the sake of brevity. Since he was just a young boy, this description may have been supplemented with other accounts of the country by later visitors like Heinrich Barth, but many of the details he includes don't appear in Barth's work and are most likely original]

EARLY EDUCATION AND LATER ENSLAVEMENT. 

After the death of my father, I was placed in the care of Malam Katory, a man of great learning to be instructed in Arabic. Malam Katory was well versed in the Arabic, Turkish and Persian languages, besides possessing mental endowments of a very superior character in other respects, and, in our country, was esteemed almost as highly as the king himself.

At the time I was sent to him, a large number of other lads were sent also. They were mostly the sons of Katzalla, and other men of distinction. We had first all, to be circumcised, in accordance with the requirements of our religion, which was Mohammedan. Then for a whole month we fared most sumptuously, living on the fat of the land and feasting on every delicacy. But, at the end of that period, we were sent to reside with Malam Katory, and there our hardships began.

By the time we had been with him two years, we had pretty well mastered Arabic, and could understand almost every prayer made use of in our worship. Before we went to the Malam we could repeat a great number of prayers, but like many Roman Catholics, who daily say “Pater Noster” and “Ave Maria,” we did not understand the meaning of one word.

In the beginning of the third year at Malam Katory's, a number of the boys, myself, included, were invited to pay a visit to a town called Lary, near the lake, about fifty English miles northwest of Kouka, in a country abounding with game. Here my passion for hunting revived ten-fold force, and having organized a party of about forty boys, we started out one day to have some sport. By the middle of the day we had killed several guinea-fowl and two gazelles, and having kindled a fire by rubbing two dry sticks together, we broiled our game on the coals and ate it. We then went to a large Baobab tree, which we discovered a short distance from where we were resting, for the purpose of getting some fruit.

Having dismounted, twelve or fifteen of us climbed into the branches of the tree, and commenced throwing down the fruit to our comrades on the ground. All at once we heard the neighing of horses but never dreaming of enemies so close to Lary, we paid no attention to the circumstance until we perceived a body of horsemen approaching us. We watched them very closely for a few moments, when it flashed upon us all, simultaneously, that they were Kindills, and the cry “Kindills! Kindills!” broke from every lip. Our comrades who were on the ground succeeded in reaching their horses, and being well mounted, made their escape, but those in the tree, with the exception of the few nearest the ground, were made prisoners.

For my part, being among the highest in the tree, in my hurry to get down, I lost my hold and fell to the ground with a shock that knocked me senseless. When I came to my senses I found myself behind a man on horse-back, and tied to him with thongs. The warnings of my mother recurred to me and in very bitterness of spirit, I wished the whole horrid circumstance a dream. But, alas! it was too sternly real! I was in the hands of the dreaded, the Kindills, a slave, and I could not form the slightest idea what was going to become of me. The Kindills, or as they are called by Europeans, the Tuaregs, are a marauding tribe who inhabit a large oasis in the Southern portion of the great Sahara, and live almost exclusively by kidnapping slaves and general robbery. We traveled the whole of the night after we were captured, and a portion of the next day, when we reached the camp of our captors. The tents were immediately taken down, and we set out for Katchna [Katsina], a city in Hausaland. It took us about ten days to make this trip. When we halted at night, we, the captives were tied together like wild beasts, in such a manner, as to render escape impossible.

One night however, some of the Kindills, through drunkenness caused by hashish eating, neglected to confine their slaves, and having been joined by the rest of the party in their dissipation the whole of them were soon insensible, from the effects of the narcotic drug. The unconfined captives seized the opportunity and, having cut off their masters’ heads with their own yataghans, mounted their horses and escaped in the darkness. I never could imagine why they did not free the rest of us, unless it was, that in their excitement of gratifying their revenge and making good their own escape, they forgot us. When the Kindills awoke and found five of their companions dead, and seven or eight of their slaves gone, they were perfectly furious, and vented their anger and chagrin upon those of us who were still bound. They bastinadoed us upon the soles of our feet with sticks and straps in such a manner that we were unable to walk at all; because, forsooth, we did not give the alarm when our comrades were escaping. Those Kindills ate no more hashish that trip. Notwithstanding our condition, the journey was continued, the captives being placed on camels.

The Kindills spoke a language altogether different from ours, and wore a piece of black cloth over their mouths, deeming it indecent to expose that organ to view. The religion of the Kindills, like of most nations in this section of Africa, is Mohammedan but that does not prevent them from preying upon their brethren.

ENSLAVED FOR ABOUT FOUR YEARS, SAID ACCOMPANIES HIS MASTER ON BUSINESS AND PILGRIMAGE ACROSS LIBYA, EGYPT, SUDAN, ETHIOPIA, ERITREA, SAUDIA ARABIA and TURKEY. Ca. 1849-1852. 

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Said was sold to a half-Arab man in Katsina he called Abd-El-Kader, and journeyed to Zinder, Bilma, Murzuk, where he was sold to Abdy, an officer in the army of the Ottoman Pasha of Tripoli, about whom he writes; "He was a very good, kind man, in fact almost too indulgent for my good; but his concubine, a goodlooking young Kanouri girl, was as harsh to me as he was kind". He stayed for 6 months, before being sent to Abdy's father Hadji Daoud to manage his shop in Tripoli, who "treated me with extreme kindness, and, in this connection, I feel constrained to say, that of all the nationalities of people I have seen in my life, I like the Turks the best." He later noted that some of his companions who were enslaved by the Tuaregs and sold in Tripoli were later freed by the Pasha once he learned that they were sons of Bornu's elites like himself, and that he too almost earned his freedom this way but his master didn't let him.

Said then embarked on a lengthy journey with Hadji Daoud, ostensibly a pilgrimage to Mecca but mostly for business. They passed through Benghazi in Libya, on a ship to Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt, on a steamer down the Nile to Philae, and on the road to Khartoum where they passed by some ancient ruins [these could be Meroe or Old Dongola]. They then proceed to Gondar in Ethiopia, which was "in the days past, been a place of some importance. It consists of a great many dilapidated houses, a number of ill constructed churches and other buildings devoted to religious purposes". They proceeded to Massawa (in Eritrea) which was part of the Khedivate of Egypt, and onwards to Zeila in Somaliland , which he notes was "inhabited by numerous population, consisting of Arabs, Abyssinians, and the Somaulis". They later reached Jedda (in Saudi Arabia), also part of the Khedivate, and then proceeded to Mecca where they stayed for 4 months, before traveling to Medina. They then returned to Jedda and sailed to Muscat (in Oman) and staying for about a month before returning via Suez (in Egypt), and then to Alexandria and back to Tripoli.

Having lost his shop in a fire, Hadji Daoud tried to ransom Said to the Bornu envoy in Tripoli but he had gone away for some time, so he sold Siad to a friend in Smyrna (Izmir in Turkey). Said thus embarked on a ship, passing through the Island of Crete to Istanbul where he would stay with his new owners, Rachid and Fuad Pacha [the latter is Mehmed Faud Pasha, a powerul Ottoman official and a foreign minister b. 1814, d. 1869], whom he notes, treated him kindly. Said provides a lengthy description of the city of Istanbul, and got acquainted with many of Faud's associates including a Russian envoy Prince Mentchikoff [this is Prince Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov b. 1782, d. 1869, a powerful Russian nobleman and stateman who was infamous due to the Crimean war]. He thus accompanied the latter to Odessa and onwards to St. Petersburg. He provides a lengthy description of both cities, adding that the Russian language was "the most difficult I ever undertook to acquire." A diplomatic rift between the Russian Czar Nicholas I (r. 1825–55), and the Sultan Abdul-Medjid (r. 1839-1861) in February 1853, led to a war that compelled Prince Mentchikoff to take Said to st. Petersburg while the prince left for take command of the war in Crimea. Its here that Said notes that since "I could not be a serf under the “free” laws of that empire; and his excellency had notified me, on my arrival at the capital, that I was free, and at libertyto go whithersoever I chose." ....  

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SAID REGAINS HIS FREEDOM, TRAVELS ACROSS RUSSIA, AUSTRIA, GERMANY, HUNGARY, BELGIUM, NETHERLANDS, ITALY, SWITZERLAND, FRANCE, ENGLAND, CANADA, BAHAMAS, HAITI & the UNITED STATES. Ca. 1853-1860.

[Upon receiving his freedom, Said chose not to stay with the family of Prince Menshikov because of maltreatment by his fellow servants, he instead entered the service of another Russian nobleman named Prince Nikolai Petrovitch Troubetzkoy [b. 1828 d. 1900] as a Valets de chambre. The account that continues from here describes his life as a freeman under the employ of the aforementioned Russian prince, later under the Dutchman named Rochussen who traveled with him across the Americas.]

I found it no difficult matter to make a changend soon entered the Service of Prince Nicholas Vassilievitch Troubetzkoy a nobleman in more than name, a man of the noblest and kindest impulses, and whose memory, to this day, I cannot recall without emotion. The Troubetzkoy family, to whom I am now alluding, are direct descendants of Jagellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania, who became king of Poland in the 14th century, by his marriage with the beautiful Hedwig, a Polish Princess, and heir apparent to the throne of Lithuania, which by this means became united to Poland, and has since been considered a part of that country through all the revolutions and dismemberments that have since befallen it.

Prince Troubetzkoy and his brother Andie, both unmarried, resided together at the time I went into his service, and their domestic relationships were of the most harmonious character. Prince Nicholas Vassilievitch Troubetzkoy was the youngest son of Prince Basil Troubetzkoy, who played a conspicious part during the Turkish war of 1828-29 under general Diebitch. There are several Troubetzkoy families in Russia, particularly in Moscow. The Lithuanian Troubetzkoy’s are termed by way of contradistinction, Veliki Troubtezkam les grands Troubetzkoj (Great Troubetzkoys), and the others Maloy Troublzkam, les petits Troubetzkoij, (the little Troubetzkoys.)

My excellent master had four brothers and five sisters. Prince Alexandre, Vladimir, Sergius, and Andie. Madame la Princesse Marie Esterhazy, Madame la Countesse Ribeaupierro, Madame la Countesse Apraxin, Madame Olgo Oustinoff, and Princess Woronzoff, nees Princesses Troubetzkoy.

[For a detailed account of Said's life in Russia, the various noblemen including Prince Menshikov's relationship with the family of the Afro-Russian nobleman Abram Petrovich Gannibal, and their relationship with Czar Nicholas, see Dean Calbreath's book on Said's life that i have linked at the end of the essay]

Description of St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg is situated at the head of a bight in the Gulf of Finland, at the point where it is entered by the Neva, the stream which flows into it from the lake Ladoga, and the nature of the ground it occupies is such that it is impossible to get anything like a fair view of the city until actually within it.

Coming into the Baltic, through the Gulf of Finland, little can be seen until, suddenly the voyager finds himself surrounded by splendid granite quays, and gazing upon thousands of the most superbly handsome edifices; and thus his admiration is intensified by the sudden surprise which attends it.

Sooth to say this city of the Czars, is equalled by few, and certainly surpassed by none in the world, for comfort, strength and magnificence.

It would require a large volume to give even a synoptical description of this vast and splendid city, and I shall not even attempt to name its wonders.

While in the service of Prince Troubetzkoy, I enjoyed ample opportunities of visiting every place of interest in the city; the gardens, the monuments, the galleries, the churches, societies, theatres, public building of every description and the mansions of the rich and noble; and in making use of these opportunities, I allowed nothing to escape my eye, but everything I saw is, to this day, stamped on my brain like a picture.

MEETING CZAR NICHOLAS and his relationship with the Troubetzkoy family.

On one occasion, as I was strolling along the quay, facing the winter palace, I saw a distinguished looking individual, in full Russian uniform, approaching me, and observed all whom he passed doffed their hats, and many fell upon their knees. As he was passing me, I lifted my fez, and stood in the attitude of a soldier, saluting, which action being observed by him, he clapped me on the shoulder and said in Russian: “Malodetz,” which is equivalent to the English, “smart boy,” and passed on. On inquiring, I learned that he was Nicholas I, Czar of all the Russias.

The next day his august Majesty sent me fifty silver roubles as a present.

He was an exceedingly fine looking man, considerably over six feet in height, and well proportioned, and considered the handsomest man in Russia. It was said of him, that, in his character, he was extremely unrelenting, and was seldom known toforgive an act of disobedience, however slight.

In illustration of this feature in the Czar, I relate the following brief incident: The Prince Sergius Troubetzkoy (brother to Prince Nicholas,) excited the ire of his Majesty by falling in love with the daughter of Count ---- contrary to the Czar's wishes, he being married. In his endeavors to elope with the object of his affection, he was caught in Bessarabia, in the act of leaving the Russian frontier. And as a penalty for his crime was deprived of his patent of nobility, degraded from his grade of a Colonel of a regiment, and sent to Siberia to serve in another regiment as a private.

The regiment to which the Prince was assigned, was ordered to Caucasus, at the period when the fierce Schamyl was scourging the Muscovite frontier; and, for gallant conduct on the field, was promoted to a commissioned office. The Czar transformed his given, into his surname (Sergieff), and signed his name Sergieff ne Prince Troubetzkoy, which was undeniable, of course. On the accession of Czar Alexander II., he was restored to his estates and dignity. The iron Nicholas never for a moment relented towards him. Prince Nicholas Troubetzkoy, strange to say, entertained an aversion towards the Poles; and it might be thought that he was not fond of the

Russians, as he would not allow me to continue to learn their language, and took it upon himself to teach me French, but I fear I was not over-diligent in my efforts to acquire that vivacious tongue. The language, in itself, was not difficult to acquire, but for a long time I had an insurmountable disgust for the nasals. The sounds of an, in, on, and en, were particularly disagreeable to my ear. But the Prince would not abandon his favorite fancy. He used to lock me up, and punished me in diverse ways; and, by one means and another, he succeeded, at length, in hammering enough of the language into me to serve as a basis upon which to make further attainments afterwards.

Said's conversion to Orthodox Christianity.

Hitherto, ever since my advent into Christendom, I had remained a consistent Islam, repeating the requisite number of prayers daily, and at the time required, refraining from the use of pork, wine, etc., and rolling my eyes in holy horror at the frequent infractions of the Koran that I constantly had occasion to witness. But His Excellency made up, his mind to turn me from the error of my ways, and devoted himself assiduously to the accomplishment of his purpose.

Whenever he went to prayers, he made me stand before him, bon gré, mal gré, and imitate every action of his, such as kneeling, bowing, making the sign of the cross, etc., and I used to enjoy myself hugely, cutting capers and going through all sorts of pantomimic performances when he thought I was acting in a very devotional manner.

One day, as I was indulging extensively in my favorite amusement, the Prince happened to turn, and caught me in my most striking attitude, whereupon he gave, me a striking reminder of what was decent and respectful on such solemn occasions, by administering to my ears a good boxing and depriving me of my dinner. Finally, my, prejudices gave way, however, and I consented to embrace the Greek faith, the State religion of Russia.

I was baptized in Riga on the 12th of November, 1855, leaving my Mohammedan name of Mohammed Ali Ben Said at the font, and bearing therefrom the Christian name of Nicholas. This performance ended, I thought the job was complete, but the next day the papa, or priest who had me baptized, sent for me, and on getting where he was, I found myself in a beautiful chapel, handsomely paved with marble of different colors. He caused me to kneel before an immense tableau of the Saviour for hours, asking pardons for my past sins. As the marble was harder than my knees, I was in perfect agony during the greater portion of the time, and became so enraged with the papa, that I fear I committed more sins during that space of time than I had done in days before. In fact, Iam not sure but that a few ungainly Mohammedan asperities of language bubbled up to my lips. But I managed to get through without any overt act of rebellion.

When I had become a confirmed Christian, the Prince presented me with a solid gold cross, and a chain of the same metal to suspend it around my neck by, in the prevailing Russian fashion; and, as he had never allowed me to associate with the rest of his domestics, I began to consider myself quite a superior being.

Travels between St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Prince Troubetzkoy had a beautiful residence about twenty-five miles from Moscow, where he was accustomed to spend that portion of each year between June and September inclusive; and the time was approaching for our departure thither. Shortly before we left for Moscow the Prince with several of his friends went to visit Cronstadt and its fortifications, situated at the mouth of the Néva, and distant about twenty English miles from the capital.

I was much struck with the formidable appearance of this stronghold and of the complete and effectual manner in which the forts, with those of Riesbank, guard the approach to St. Petersburg. From Cronstadt we proceeded to Peterhoff, a summer resort, only a short distance from the former. This place is said to have been built by the Czarina Catherine Alexievna, and is a delightful place. Before returning to the capital, we also visited “Czarskoé Célo,” the village of the Czar, the favorite summer resort of the Emperor, Nicholas.

At length the time arrived for our departure for Moscow. This famous city is situated about four hundred miles east of St. Petersburg, and thither we took the railroad. We reached Archangelsk at last, and I found it to be a very pleasant place. The Prince had here a large and magnificent marble structure, four stories high and filled with immense numbers of paintings and other works of art.

Instead of living in this house, he had had constructed a wooden structure, one story high and had only three rooms. In this humble cottage the Prince passed the greater portion of his time except on one occasion, which was that of a grand ball.

During my stay at Archangelsk Gospodin Soukiassoff, my master’s stewart of that estate, an Armenian, became much attached to me, and I to him, and he tried to teach me his language, which, to his great satisfaction, I readily acquired. In the meantime, our life at Archangelsk was spent in recreation on horseback and study, the Prince devoting himself in the most remarkable manner to the task of perfecting me in French. He was

afflicted with a nervous disease, and had repeatedly made applications to the Czar for permission to travel in foreign countries for the improvement of his health, but always in vain.

This disease subjected him to occasional violent outbursts of temper, during which time I sometimes felt the weight of his hand in no agreeable manner; but he generally treated me with the utmost kindness, and I was devotedly attached to him. The season over at Archangelsk, he concluded to visit Caucassus, via Tver, Nijini Novgorod Asoff and Tangarog.

ACROSS THE CAUCASSUS: from Arkhangelsk to Tbilisi, and back through Moscow to Vienna. 

This journey occupied considerable time, which I spent in obtaining all the information I could concerning the history of the immense territory we traversed and the manners, customs and resources of its people, not omitting the provincialisms in language encountered, from time to time as we progressed. Passing Giorgiesk, the government capitol of Caucassus, we proceeded onward to Tiflis, the capitol of Georgia and all Russian Trans-Caucassia; which city we found located on the banks of the Koor, in a narrow valley, and well defended with walls and forts. During our stay in Georgia, the Prince in company with Princes Youssoupoff, Alexis Wassiltchikoff, and several other Russian nobles of his acquaintance, concluded to visit Persia.

The party were absent in Persia three months, during which time I remained, in the household of Prince Simon Woronzow, brother-in-law to my master and commander of division at that time investing Kars, under General Mouravieff.

Immediately on the return of the travelling party, Prince Troubetzkoy retraced his steps, with me, to Moscow and thence proceeded at once to St. Petersburg. While we were in Caucassus the Czar died, and immediately on the accession of Alexander the Prince obtained his long desired leave of absence. He concluded to take me with him on his tour; and, having obtained our passports to Visa, we at once set out to Moscow; and thence in an immense fonegon of his own to Riga. His Excellency was in such anxious haste that he travelled day and night, without cessation; and, remaining in Riga only two or three days, proceeded onward to Warsaw via Dunaberg. We did not tarry in Dunaberg, and only two days

in Warsaw, from here we proceeded by rail to Vienna passing through several intermediate towns.

On our arrival at Vienna, the Prince procured lodgings at the Hotel du Monarque on the Graben. I shall not weary the reader, however, with an account of all the wonders I saw in this Imperial capital; its inner Stadt, the streets of which are often traversed by the nobility of both sexes, on foot; the beautiful Esplanade between this walled enclosure and the great outside towns; the twenty magnificent squares and parks that are embraced between the arms of the Danube, and called the Pratter, considered the finest in Europe; its numerous and splendid Churches, institutions of learning, extensive museums and public buildings of every description, not to mention the palaces and superb mansions of the rich.

During the three months we remained in Vienna, the Prince went to Pesth in Hungary, to pay a visit to his sister Princess Esterhazy, and left me in Vienna to take care of his effects. He instructed me to spend my nights at the Hotel but in the day, to play with and amuse the six years daughter of his sister Countess Apraxin who lodged at the Metzler Hoff. On his Excellency’s return, he informed me that he intended leaving the capital of the Hassburgs for Dresden in Saxony, via Prague (Bohemia). We the domestics, at once packed his numerous effects, and we took the rail for the latter place, which we reached in a very few hours, it being about 57 English miles from Vienna.

TRAVEL ACROSS GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND

Here we tarried only one night, and on the morrow we proceeded to Dresden. His excellency having taken his quarters at Hotel de Saxe, and after having a good rest, he was soon on the wing, taking me with him, and exploring the renowned galleries, museums and other institutions

of this famous city. My master's brother Vladimie was at that time

residing here, and was just getting over a severe spell of illness which had afflicted him several months before our arrival.

I found him to be a very kind and intelligent gentleman. The Prince presented me a few days afterwards with several good French books, among which were: L’Immitation de Jésus Christ, La vie de Jeannoe d’Arc and others.

We remained in Dresden a month, and the Prince, having satisfied his curiosity in respect to this capital, concluded to visit Leipsic, a city also in Saxony, and the centre of learning in Germany. A few hours before our departure, however, the Prince received a letter from several of his Russian friends dated and post marked at Munich in Bavaria. They were then preparing to go to the watering places in the Tyrol called Ischl, and they requested his Excellency to repair to Munich, stating that his company was indispensable; (for it must be remarked that my master was a bel esprit in company, consequently his presence was sought with great avidity) accordingly he yielded to their desire, and we at once set out for that capitol passing through Augsburg an ancient city and the centre of financial transactions in Southern Germany.

Spending only forty eight hours in this city, which time we occupied in sight seeing, we took the rail for the place of our destination, arriving in less time than three hours run, and took rooms at the Hotel de Baviere, (Bavarian Hotel), on the Max-Joseph-Platz. During the three weeks stay in this city, I accompanied His excellency to almost every place of interest, including the celebrated Pinacotheca, and Glyptotheca galleries, (the former containing three hundred thousand paintings and Pengravings,) the University and Royal libraries, (the former containing, at that time two hundred thousand volumes and four thousand manuscripts, and the latter embracing six hundred and fifty thousand volumes and twenty thousand manuscripts), the Bavarian monument of eighty or ninety feet in height, which is ascended by winding stairs within, built by Herr Swauthaler, and other places of note.

We found a larger number of Russian gentlemen in Munich than we expected, among them were count Strogonoff in company with his------the grand Duchess Mary, daughter of Czar Nicholas, Prince Bagrathion, Narischkin, Schouralloff, and a host of other Russian personages, who were also on their way to the bathing place in the Tyrol above mentioned. Having satisfied his curiosity with regard to this celebrated place, the Prince drew me, with much reluctance on my part from the many attractive objects to be found here, not the least among which was the excellent Baravian beer, and proceeded at once by stage to Saltzburg, in Austria.

This ancient city is distant about one hundred and sixty miles from Vienna, in a West* South West direction and is celebrated for having been destroyed by the terrible Huns’ chief Attilla in A. D. 440, and afterwards rebuilt by the Dukes of Bavaria, and for being the birth-place of the immortal Mozart. We remained only two days in this place, after which we proceeded to Ischl. This place is situated in a valley and on both banks of the little river Ill, it contains ferruginous sulpher and other mineral waters.

At that time preparations were being made at the Hotel de I’Imperatice Elizabethe for the reception of his majesty Francis Joseph. The Emperor, however, declined to come. Soon after our arrival, a tremendous rain and storm set in which lasted eleven days without cessation. Here I had the misfortune to fall in love, but as this is a common thing among youths of my own age, and as nothing became of it except a flood of bitter tears on both sides at parting, I shall not weary the kind reader with the history of my amours.

Fall had now set in, and the Prince concluded to go to Baden-Baden, Dormstadt, Francfort on the Main, Aix-la-Chapelle, Cologne, and other towns in Belgium. Accordingly we retraced our steps to Saltzburg, and Munich, and from this place to Baden-Baden. We took lodging here at the Victoria Hotel, owned by Her Grossholtz an accomplished hotelkeeper.

Baden-Baden is a great resorting place for invalids from different parts of Europe, on account of the curative properties of its waters, and the salubrity of its climate.

Quite a large number of gamblers by profession also visit it for the purpose of playing the roulette, where great numbers of them get broke. My master on one occasion won 10,000 florins (golden). On leaving Baden-Baden, we stopped two or three days at Heidelburg, in the Grand Duchy of that name, and situated on the Neckar, it is a place of considerable importance; it has a celebrated medical College in which students from all parts of Germany take their degrees.

Not far from it on a hill, is an old dilapidated castle in which is to be seen a monster cask, capable of containing 700,000 gallons of liquid. This cask was once filled with wine, some centuries ago. Having satiated his curiosity in respect to this city. Francfort was next on His Excellency's way-bill. We stopped here only a night, and the next day we were on our way to Weisbaden. While here the Prince heard, through the papers, that Sebastopol had fallen into the hands of the Allies. His excellency was much mortified by this report, but I could hardly repress my exultation, for my sympathies were with the Osmanlis.

From here we went to the Rhine and took passage on board the steamer, plying between that point and Cologne. On arriving here the Prince began to complain, and soon thereafter he took ill. It was discovered that he had the dysentery. Dr. Helins, of Heidelberg, in whom the Prince had an implicit confidence as a skillful physician was at once sent for, and after three weeks time recovered. Scarcely had he recovered before he was again on the wing. The Prince visited in rapid succession Bruges, Brussels, Ostende, the Hague, Amsterdam, etc., and retraced his steps to Baden Baden, whence we took the railroad for Basel, a city in Switzerland, situated on the Rhine, in two portions, that is on both sides of that river and respectively called Klein Basel and Gross Basel.

Remaining here only a very short time, we again set out for Berne the capital of the above named country, thence to Thun, in the canton of Berne, where we took a steamer for Interlaken, at the foot of the Jung-frau mountain. It was at this time in the month of October, and the cold was getting to be intolerable, at least to myself. The Prince now proposed to pass the winter in Italy, accordingly after visiting the cascades, and other objects of interest around Jung-frau we proceeded to Furich thence through the Tyrol to Como, in Lombardy.

IN ITALY: the politics of the Papal states under Giacomo Antonelli and the filthy prisons of Rome.

From here the Prince went to Milan, Genoa, Leghorn, Pisa, Florence and Rome. The Prince concluded to pass the winter in this city, but before doing so he proposed to go to Naples to spend a few weeks, after which he would return. Accordingly, leaving the greater part of his effects at the Hotel d' Europe, on the Piazza d' Espagna, we went to Porto d' Anzo, a miserable place, said to be the birth-place of the tyrant Nero. Here we took passage on an equally wretched craft for Naples, which place we reached after a perilous traverseé. We afterward learned that our boat came very near blowing up.

Naples has a beautiful appearance from the sea, but its streets, with the exception of the principal one, called Toledo, are narrow, badly paved and filthy. We took lodging at the Albergo di Crocelli, facing the principal fort, called Castel’ d’ Ovo. After a month’s stay in this city, and after visiting every place of interest in its environs, the Prince concluded to return to the Eternal City. Accordingly, we took a stage and started for that city via Galta, stopping here only a while to examine its curiosities.

We arrived at Rome in January, and the Prince left the Albergo d’ Espagna, and hired a private house in the Strada dei Ponteffici, near the Corso, the Prince intending to remain here till spring, when he proposed to visit Paris and London. Rome has been so often described by writers, better qualified to the task than myself, that I shall forbear to describe it, but shall simply mention some facts relating to my personal adventures.

In his endeavors to educate me, the Prince had neglected to teach me arithmetic, accordingly he hired me a tutor, a Frenchman by nationality, bearing the name of Alphonse Garron to perfect me in the French grammar and to teach me the mysteries of mathematics. Nature has denied me the faculty of acquiring the science of numbers. Mr. Garron made several complaints to the Prince concerning my inaptitude towards that particular branch. But I could not help it. My teacher succeeded at length in teaching me the four principal rules viz: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division.

[Said was evidently not as good at the sciences as the more famous 17th century Afro-Russian general Abram Petrovich Gannibal who was the grandfather of the famous 18th century poet Alexander Pushkin who died in 1837, a few decades before he could be met by Said]

During our stay in the Papal States, the Prince became very intimate with Cardinal Antonelli, the Prime minister of Pius IX, and often visited the Vatican. The Romans ascribe all the evils, old and new, under which they suffer, to Cardinal Antonelli: The perfectly illegal condition in which the States of the Church were then, was the handiwork of that minister, for, instead of removing old abuses, he has continually added new and worse. Not only all justice but every liberty, the Romans further complain, has been trodden under foot by Antonelli. Misery and wretchedness have increased in the nation. Instead of public education, only public ignorance is fostered, and Rome has sunk most shamefully in the arts and sciences which, formerly invested it with a halo.

All this Antonelli alone has done, the brown man with wild aquiline nose, and the wolf's teeth, that project menacingly from his mouth. He who is to blame for all this will soon occasion the overthrow of Rome. It is true that Antonelli could have let all reform fall quietly, but he confessed openly, and _ told everybody that the prosperity of Rome did not depend on reform. Antonelli was in reality a very modest man: he did not wish to be distinguished by anything new, he only wanted the old absolutism in which Rome became great and powerful, and he did not unite with it, the slightest hyprocrisy of liberty, with which absolutistic statesmen are so fond of adorning themselves. He never told the Romans that he would make them free and happy. He pursues calmly and noiselessly the policy that everything must remain as it was, and that a nation is the happiest when sunk in the most degrading ignorance.

It caused the most surprise that a practical man like Antonelli should allow the Roman code to remain on the old footing, for that is the most striking abuse of the papal administration. But how could it be expected that he who had left his friends and relations behind in the forests of Terracina should attempt to punish criminals, and free society from murderers, thieves and other malefactors?

The state of prisons in Rome is fearful, and the Paliano at Rome may be even compared unfavorably with the prison at Visiti, where Poerio once languished. The inmates have neither table nor chair, not even the slightest article of furniture that can promote their comfort. Their food consists of a soup made of rancid bacon and oil, two loaves of black bread, each weighing nine ounces, and a disgusting beverage which is honored with the name of wine.

They have only a tin-cup and a pan, in which to wash in the morning and eat at night. The cells, in which several prisoners are placed together, are so narrow that if one of them wished to take exercise the others must lie down. The drinking water is drawn from the neighboring dirty ditches, and filled with all sorts of abominations. Instead of windows there are holes, covered with coarse canvass, which does not keep out cold or draught, however, and hence the prisoners are never free from toothache, rheumatism, and all sorts of maladies.

As a refinement of cruelty, Antonelli actually ordered one hundred common criminals to be sent down from fort Urbano, and distributed among the political détenus. M. Edmond About has already told us sufficiently of the miserable state of cultivation in the papal States, on the gross ignorance of the people. These are both to be ascribed to the priesthood, and the power it holds over the family ties.

The crime bosses of Italy.

Stories of criminal padres form a permanent background of Italian life. The popular fancy is constantly excited by such stories, which, with their tendency to exaggeration, they often make worse than they really are. Yet, heaven knows! the priests are bad enough, and the revelations made in Turin have sufficiently taught the world what the state of affairs must be in Rome, where every effort is made to hush up any criminality on the part of the favored class.

Latterly, however, the priest has lost much of his influence over the lower classes of Roman society. The robbers have lost their respect for them, and have quite a fancy for stealing from them. In fact, the banditti who have attained quite a status in society, have now constituted a separate power against the Church and laws. They are well known persons, settled in their native villages, and generally respected; they live on the best terms with their neighbors, perhaps join the parish priest in buying a few lottery tickets; in a word, they would be most excellent fellows, if they did not suffer from a mania for stopping the mail cart at night. Fancy a country in Europe where the mail had to be protected by an escort of gen d’ armes, and dragoons, and that was the case prior to the annexation, between Bologna, Ferrara, and Ravenna. But many places in and around

Rome are just as dangerous as the highways in the Legatines. The nocturnal robberies are quite common, and not a long time before our departure from Rome, a party of English were plundered to their shirts, within the walls of the Coliseum. All this, however, is regarded by the native population in a different way from what the stranger, who does not possess the felicity of living under the crosier, would be disposed to accept it. The Italians actually complain of the barbarity of the Austrians who, during the occupation, shot down every bandit they caught in flagrante delicto. A brigand is just as much a member of civil society as a priest or an employee, for they all rob with equal pertinacity. In what did the rape of the little Mortara differ, after all, from the robbery of the mail bags? An Italian robber, even when locked up in prison, enjoys a great popularity in the country, and his name is constantly repeated as that of a most meritorious man. In his prison he receives visitors from near and far, and people flock in to express their admiration and sympathy for the man who is a martyr to the laws.

Such a man is the celebrated bandit, Galafredo, who has been for a long time confined in the fortress of Civita Vecchia, where his family were compelled to share his imprisonment. He receives all travellers who send in their names to him, and he does so in the full feeling, of his value and dignity, for Galafredo is vain. He has in his day committed a series of atrocities which rendered him the terror of the highways and forest, but was at length compelled to surrender to the Papal government.

He is still a fine-looking fellow, wearing a red velvet jacket adorned with all sorts of finery, while his family are in rags. He spends nearly all his visitor give him for dress, and his eyes flash with delight when any one says of him, “Galafredo looks like a king!” His great popularity may be ascribed, however, to the way in which he performed his achivements. He never assailed the poor, but practiced his devices exclusivey on the rich. Galafredo declared that he never killed any one who did not offer him open resistance. On the other hand, he murdered every priest he came across, and this is a tragic feature which stands out from his life’s history; while at the same time, it proves that the element of clericality and robbery are always in contact in Italy.

Galafredo loved a girl in his youth, but, at the same time, suspected her of a liaison with a priest. He watched him, and, one fine day, stabbed him to the heart, as he was kissing the girl. Thereupon Galafredo fled to the mountains, and began to carry on the only trade now left to him.

Galafredo had originally been toothdrawer in his village, and gained a great and widely extended reputation in that profession. This renown almost rivalled his new character as bandit, although he soon made himself greatly respected in the latter character. Never had so many priests been found murdered on the highways, and yet, when it was known that Galafredo was in the neighborhood, anybody suffering from toothache was delighted to send for him. Galafredo would descend from the mountains with perfect equanimity, pull out the offending tooth, and receive his fee, no one having a thought of stopping him on such an occasion.

Even the gen d’ armes did not interfere with him, when they found him peaceably carrying on his vocation in the village: a terrible but true image of modern Italy. The bandit in Italy is almost as general as the priest. If he be not a dentist, like Maestro Galafredo, he takes to some reputable trade, or temporarily accepts a government office, chiefly at the dogane or custom-house; for he never wants powerful protectors. There are times when business is dull on the highway, or the bandit has a longing for an existence free from care. He may then be frequently found among the crowds who stand in grotesque groups before the great steps of the Piazzo di Spagna, and offer their services to passing artists.

A comment on the unification of Italy and Napoleon III

It would be unjust to say that Antonelli, who has introduced into Rome a magnificent system of domestic espionage, on the model of the Russians, has not turned his attention to the improvement of the city police.

Unfortunately, they have hitherto only taken under their fostering wing, the crinoline of the ladies, which the wicked boys made sad fun of in their songs. Through this very protection, however, Antonelli has fallen into sad disgrace with the Priests, who are the sworn foes of those mysterious combinations of whalebone and steel. One of the most celebrated preachers in Rome made a very clever attack upon it, by ‘saying that it did not suit the Roman ladies, for it concealed their graceful and well-rounded forms. They carry their hatred so far that they have been seen in the streets blessing the boys who sing the wicked songs.

Herr Mundt, an author on Roman matters, throws a new light upon the Napoleonic intrigue in Rome by the description he gives of the Young Prince Lucien, who was at that time, (1856) a chamberlain and private secretary to Pio Nono, and would have been a cardinal long since, were it not for his youth. He is seriously regarded in Rome as the future Pope, for it is undoubted that Louis Napoleon [Napoleon III of France, r. 1848-1870] entertained the idea most favorably. In such a case the Catholic world would hail with delight the termination of the lasting struggle between Guelph and Gheblline [this is a metaphor for the split between the rivalry between the Papal states and the Holy Roman empire].

The views, however, which Louis Napoleon entertained are still in a very significant reserve. At times it seems as if, even in case that he is compelled to effect a regeneration of Italy, he will attempt to keep the chair of St. Peter upright. “But,” as Herr Mundt justly says, “we cannot feel certain of this, for it is the peculiarity of the Napoleonic policy always to do exactly the reverse to that which appeared probable, and what has been solemnly promised.” If, however, on the decease of that “sick man,” Pio’ Nono, Prince Lucien were really elevated to the Tiara, all possible arrangements between papacy and imperialism could be carried out in the most charming way. En attendant, the Prince works hard on behalf of the French party at Rome, and will doubtless have fully earned the papal triple crown, if ever it be placed on his head.

While in Rome, I one day saw in the Giornale di Roma an article respecting the invasion of Soudan by Said, Pacha of Egypt [r. 1854 1863]. The article said that the subjugation of Soudan had been very difficult. I never have heard anything about that matter since, and moreover doubt its veracity. May it never happen that my dear country should ever be under Egyptian despotism.

TRAVEL ACROSS FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

On the 25th of May, 1857, we got our passports to Visa, and forthwith left Rome for Civita Vecchia, where we took a steamer belonging to the French Messagerie Imperiale for Marsailles, which we reached in forty-eight hours. Remaining here only a few hours, we left this city for Paris, stopping a little while in Lyons. Shortly after our arrival in Paris, a grand ball was given at the Palais du Corps Legislatif, in honor of the Duc de Morney's marriage with one of my master’s nieces, a daughter of his brother Sergius, of whom mention has already been made. His Excellency took lodgings at the Hotel Mirabeau, in the Rue de la Paix.

The Prince was now very anxious to visit England, and leaving the greater portion of his effects at the Hotel Mirabeau, we left Paris, in June, for Boulogne sur Mer. I did not rest a moment during our stay in Paris, but was here, and there and everywhere, seeing everything, and learning everything. I believe there is more wealth and more wretchedness, more learning and more vice, more gayety and less virtue in Paris than in any other city in the world.

It would be pleasant to me to describe the magnificent edifices, boulevards, and parks of the great city, its monuments of sculpture and its galleries of paintings, its churches, colleges, libraries and _ its world-renowned scientific associations, its operas, theatres and other places of gayety and fashion; but I must forbear.

On reaching Boulogne, we immediately embarked on board an English steamer for Folkestone, the birthplace of Harvey, of the “Circulation of the blood” celebrity. Remaining here only a day, we took the rail for

London, which we reached late at night. As some said it was unaristocratic to live at the hotels, the Prince had before-hand engaged a private house on Prince street, Hanover square, whither we immediately repaired.

In England: a description of English customs

During the sojourn of three months in London, the Prince was repeatedly invited to the residences and country seats of the nobility, and on these occasions, I was always permitted to accompany him. He was also on several occasions invited to the court, both at Buckingham palace and Windsor castle, and was always accepted cordially and cheerfully by Her Brittanic Majesty.

At these places, I had excellent opportunities of seeing many of the prominent men of England, among them Lords Palmerston, John Russell, Barrington, Westmoreland, and many others, besides numbers of ambassadors, etc. etc. During my stay in England, I worked hard to learn the English language; so by the time I left there I had laid a very good foundation upon which to build afterwards.

Of all the people I have ever seen in my life the English nobility are the highest livers, and the most fastidious in their surroundings. Indeed I disgraced myself at the country residence of Lady Waldegrave’s by associating with her footmen, and I was forced much to my regret to give over my hitherto pleasant visits to her under-household because, being a valet de chambre, and having degraded myself by mixing with my inferiors, I would have been compelled to remain with them in all future visits.

Biding the Prince farewell, plans to return to Bornu, and accompanying his new employer to America

At the expiration of the time above stated we returned to Paris, by the way of Dover and Calais. The succeeding seasons from 1858, to 1866, were passed alternately in Italy, Germany, France, and, England. In the spring of 1867 while in Ryde, (Isle of Wight) I had an irresistible desire to visit my native country. I at first tried to overcome that feeling but all in vain. When I communicated my wishes to the Prince he tried to ridicule me, stating that I was no longer an African but a citizen of Europe. He said I could not reconcile myself to the manners and customs of my countrymen. He moreover told me if I would stay with him twenty years he would give me a pension the rest of my days. All this, however, did not deter me from returning to Soudan. All the Prince could do was to draw a promise from me to return to him after spending a year in Central Africa.

Accordingly having furnished me three hundred pounds sterling; this kind and best of men left London for Geneva via Paris, and I removed quarters to the “Strangers’ Home for Asiatics, Africans, and South Sea Islanders,” located on the West India Dock; superintended by Mr. Marshall Hughes a model christian and gentleman. This gentleman, I learned, had formerly been, for upwards of twenty years, an officer in the British East India army.

While waiting here for a steamer to convey me to Malta, from which point I expected to get passage for Tripoli, and then with a caravan to Fezzan, and then across the Desert to Bornou, I was sent for to see “a gentleman.”

Answering the summons, I soon found myself in the presence of a well dressed and genteel, looking man, with long, flowing, sandy whiskers, who informed me that I had been recommended to him by a gentleman, the name of whom he declined to reveal, and said he desired my services as a valet. The gentleman said he contemplated marriage and a bridal tour through the West Indies, the British North American Provinces, and the United States; that he would not be absent more than twelve months; that he would take good care of me, and show me many new things to tell my people of on my return, and that he would bring me back to England.

He gave me twenty-four hours for consideration and reflection, during which time my fondness for travel asserted its supremacy, I concluded to go with him, and we arranged that I should have £3.11s. For my services per month, besides which he was to pay my travelling, board and clothing expenses, and physician fees, in the event of sickness. The name of my new employer was De Sanddrost I. J. Rochussen, then lately from Paramaribo, (Dutch Guinea), and at the time that I engaged service with him, was staying at the Marlborough Hotel in Fleet street, and in the immediate vicinity of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

[Using contemporary accounts on Said from England, Dean Calbreath argues that Said left out other details of his stay in England, where he stayed for some time after parting ways with the Russian prince Trubetskoy . He was reportedly involved in some bar fights and which were covered in local newspapers along with his travels with prince Trubetskoy and his knowledge of many languages. Its through these newsletters that Rochusen likely heard of him, and presented him with the job offer. Rochusen was an known abolitionist with relatives in the Government of the Nertherlands but he wasn't as wealthy as he let on, and likely hired Said to imitate the more wealthy nobleman whom he falsely presented himself as. Said only learned this later even though he didn't include it here]

SAID's TRAVEL TO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, THE BAHAMAS, AND HAITI.

As soon as he was married we removed to the Paddington Hotel, and shortly afterwards, took the rails for Wells City, Sommerset. We remained only a few days here, and went to Liverpool, stopping a few days in Bristol, Exeter, Manchester; and at the former place took passage on board the “Bohemian,” commanded by captain Granger, for Portland, Maine,

United States. We landed in Portland in December 1867, and on the morn of our arrival, we left for Boston, Mass. We stayed here two days, and then left for New York.

As it was Mr. Rochussen’s intention to pass the winter in the West Indies, he made no delay in the Northern States, but what was absolutely necessary. Accordingly, after staying only three days at the Metropolitan Hotel, we took the English Screw Steamship “Karnak,” for Nassau, N. P. We made this port in five days.

Encounter with the freed west Africans of Bahamas.

Here I was perfectly beside myself with joy, on finding a great many liberated Africans, but all of them came from the coast of Guinea, Mandigoes, Nangoes, Kissi, Dahomey, Amatifous, and Kromantis. Consequently, I could not converse with them.

The English government of the West Indies had most of the young men in the army. They wore similar uniforms to the French “Turcos,” and performed their evolutions, or tactics, with remarkable precision. The military brass band is also very much admired by all who have ever heard it play.

About eleven miles west of Nassau, there is a village called Adelaide, where the freshly rescued Africans used to go, and remain until properly trained to the usages and modes of the civilized world. This place is now perfectly deserted, and nothing can be seen but the ruins of huts built in the African style. There were still remaining, however, two or three hovels, and as hunger pressed Mr. and Mrs. Rochussen and myself, we managed to buy a couple of pullets, a pot was procured, and I was called upon to display my culinary ability. After partaking of my cooking, which both Mr. and Madame Rochussen pronounced excellent, we returned to Nassau.

IN HAITI: memories of the Heroes of the revolution and how the rivalries between the mixed-race and black population caused its government's dysfunction.

After remaining here one month and a week, Mr. Rochussen concluded to visit Hayti, and accordingly we took passage on board the brig Victoria, for Cape Haitien, and touching at Inagua, Long Key, and Long Island, (Bahamas). After nineteen days of the most wretched sailing, we reach Cape Haitien.

I found myself exceedingly delighted at finding myself in the country where the heroes of the “Haytien Independence” contended with the armies of Napoleon the Great. I had admired the exploits of Toussaint, L'Ouverture, Dessalines, Christophe, and other negro loaders, whose heroism and military talent are an honor to the African race.

Hayti, or Hispaniola, certainly deserves the appellation of the “Queen of the Antilles.” Nothing can excel it in picturesque beauty. It is very

mountainous, and viewing it from the sea, it has a grand and magnificent appearance. Cape Haitien, in the time of the French occupation, must have been a place of considerable importance.

It is situated at the terminus of a small bay, and the foot of a mount, which totally hides it from view on all sides. It is defended by several forts and

redoubts the greater portion of which are in a dilapidated condition.

The language spoken here is French, but only the educated can speak perfectly. They have, however, among them a patois which they call Créole. It is an admixture of French and several African languages, and is quite unintelligible to a Frenchman.

Notwithstanding all the natural advantages which this country possesses, no sign of industry is to be seen in it. This country, when it was a French colony, produced wheat, rice, corn, cotton, indigo, etc. etc. It is now grown up in thick forests of mahogany and other valuable timber, which, with gold and the tropical fruits that grow there spontaneously, constitute the chief articles of export. I understood while there, that the policy of that government is to keep things in that condition, lest England, France, the United States or Spain might envy and take possession of it.

The government of Hayti, I am sorry to say, ismost shamefully managed. It is a perfect image of anarchy; and goes to prove that the pure negro and the mulatto, who considers himself, (by virtue of his caucassian half-bloodedness,) the superior of the former, and who always wants to rule him, cannot possibly live in prosperity and harmony. The fault is, (in nine cases out of ten,) the mulattoes’, who, unduly and arrogantly, are presumptuous.

The prejudice of color in the West Indies between the negro and the hybrid mulatto is much greater than exists in the United States. I shall truly and fearlessly say that the Southern white has ten-fold more humane feeling towards the black man than the West India mulatto, I shall also, include the Northern Mulatto, though there are noble exceptions in both cases.

It is a burning shame that instead of making that country prosperous and its people industrious and happy, the soidisant, aristocrats and educated people of Hayti should pay attention to mean and low party dissensions. No wonder the whites of different countries maintain that the negro is incapable of self-government. How is it possible for a community to be prosperous when its population entertain inveterate animosities among themselves?

I would prefer that Hayti were one of the English or French colonies rather than in its present condition. The President of the Republic at the time I was there was Giffrard (Guillaume Fabre Nicolas Geffrard 1859-1867), a truly intelligent, able and excellent man, who introduced reform, created a navy and did a host of other good things for his country, which he loved with genuine patriotism, notwithstanding which the mulattoes undermined and eventually revolted and overthrew him.I have since learned that they have executed Salnave ( 1867-1869) —in short, should an angel come from heaven to rule that country they would not be pleased with him.

We remained at Cape Haitien seven weeks, after which we left for Gonaives by land. On our route lay several insignificant but most picturesque villages, the principal among which is Plaisance, where we passed a night. There are several dangerous passes on this route, but we made that port in three days without any remarkable event.

From appearance Gonaive boasts more commerce than Cape Haitien and contains some substantial and well built commercial houses. About nine leagues east of this place is the celebrated Crete a Piérrot, the place where the negro insurgents under the leadership of their celebrated General, Toussaint L'Overture, signally defeated the French under General LeClerc, brother-in-law to Napoleon I, who sent him to reduce the negroes again to slavery.

This fortification is considered second to that of Mole Saint Nicholas, the Gibraltar of Hayti. Mole Saint Nicholas had once withstood a seige for ten years. We stayed in Genaives about ten days, after which we Sailed for Port au Prince. I shall not dwell any longer on the details of our trip through Hayti. But after visiting the principal towns in this Republic, we returned to Nassau, by way of Kingston, Jamaica, and embarking on board the Karnak, we made New York on the last of May, 1867.

[As mentioned above, Said postdates his arrival in the United states by seven years, it was actually made on January 1860, just before the civil war]

Back to America, and the unfortunate end of Said's employment under Rochussen.

M. Rochussen now proposed to visit Niagara Falls, Saratoga Springs, Kingston, Canada West, Montreal, and Quebec, where he intended to take passage on his return to Europe. We accordingly left the Metropolitan Hotel, New York, and made Niagara Falls in due time, and, remaining here two weeks, we left for Hamilton, thence to Toronto, Kingston, Montreal, Ottawa City and Aylmer about nine miles north of the latter city.

Here M. Rochussen informed me that he had failed to receive his remittance in time, and said he had very urgent business in Quebec, and asked me if I could lend him a hundred pounds. I told him I had three hundred pounds that I could spare; he having told me he would return me my money in a fortnight. He consented to my proposal and I handed him six £50 bills. Next day he left for Ottawa City leaving his effects and Madame Rochussen.

Three days after his departure, Madame received a telegraphic communication stating that M. Rochussen had met with a serious accident, and requesting her to repair to Quebec immediately. I was left to take care of their things, which consisted of five large trunks besides a number of smaller ones. After Madame Rochussen’s departure, I had a strange presentiment that I would never see them again.

I waited at the British Hotel, where we had stopped, for three months expecting the return of my employer, but all in vain. Mr. John McCook, the clerk and business manager, for the proprietress, Mrs. McCormick, told me that M. Rochussen had absconded, and owed the Hotel $2000, and had borrowed £50 from himself. His and my own things were seized, consequently, I lost all my clothing, consisting of four Turkish costumes, three full suits, of broadcloth, a dozen of linen and fine English flannel shirts, etc. etc., worth more than two hundred and fifty dollars.

I was almost penniless, with only one suit of clothes, and that a livery, with M. Rochussen’s coat-of-arms on the buttons. Having no trade, knowing no person to whom I could apply for help, —I was truly in a pitiful situation. But God who never forsakes us came to my relief.

[[[[[

Said later reunited with Rochussen but was now perfectly aware of the latter's reputation as a conman. While working for the Rochussens, Said later met with a number of missionaries like Duffield who were interested in evangelising in Africa which he offered to do just so he could return to Bornu. On the outbreak of the American civil war, Said tried to enlist but was rejected due to his race, so once again fell to his old vices in bars, forcing Duffield to cancel the planned mission.

Life in Detroit was anything but pleasurable, Said must have witnessed the racial terror of February 1863 when white mobs tried to lynch a mixed 'white & native' man -whom they claimed was black- after a false accusation of assault on two 'white' girls. Said would later be accepted in the Union Army, which decided to enlist black soldiers despite the heavy racism, menial labour, and paying them less than their white peers. Through all this Said must have witnessed the so-called draft riots which were actually pogroms that resulted in hundreds of African-Americans being lynched by white mobs. Said quickly become quite famous in the papers for his high position as an army sergeant, for being a 'native of Africa' who was well travelled, fluent in many languages'. The issue of receiving half the pay of their white peers nearly forced them to mutiny, before the government relented and paid them their due.

]]]]

Across New York, Michigan , Ohio, to South Calorina .

During our stay at Aylmer, we had become acquainted with Rev. D. T. Johnston, a pastor of that parish, who loaned me ten dollars, and told me I had better go to Detroit, Michigan, or Buffalo, New York,

where there were a great number of colored people, and where I could get into employment easier than to remain in Canada, where the cold was so intense.

I left Aylmer for Prescott, where I crossed the St. Lawrence to Ogdensburg, New York, thence to Rome, Watertown, Syracuse and Buffalo.

Here I took passage on the Concord for Detroit, Michigan, as a deck hand. The work was so hard for me that I only managed to make one trip. My will was good, but my strength failed. I informed the captain, who was a good man, of my former occupation, and he told me that he was not surprised at my giving out.

He paid me up promptly my $4.50, which was coming to me on reaching Detroit. I stayed here six months, during which time I became acquainted with Rev. Geo. Duffield, D. D., who recognized me, having seen me on board the Egitto, on our trip from Constantinople to Trieste, while I was in the service of Prince Mentchikoff.

This gentleman helped me a great deal by recommending me to the principal colored people of that city, some of whom gave me employment, to teach their children French. At the end of six months, I had pretty well

recuperated, and had some two hundred dollars in money and good suits of clothes. I then left for Toledo, Ohio, thence to Bellefontaine and Sandusky City, in the same state.

While in Sandusky City, I conceived the idea to go South, where I could be of great use to my benighted people in the capacity of a teacher. I selected Charleston, South Carolina as the basis of my operation. Accordingly I left Sandusky City for Cleveland, Ohio, thence to Buffalo, Rochester,

Albany, Troy, Poughkeepsie and New York City, and embarked for the port of my destination.

MOVING SOUTH; a teaching career in South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

Having taken up my quarters at Mrs. Cobb’s boarding house in Calhoune Street, I soon became acquainted with Wright, Langston, Randolph, Bozeman, Ransier, and a host of other less notable Northern colored men who came there for political purposes. All the above named were very able men, but, with the exception of the last named, who was truly a very good and honest man, I have a very little opinion of their honesty.

I soon got into employment as a teacher, and taught here about a year. I am proud to say that I have gained the esteem of numerous white friends in Charleston, among which are Messrs. General Simmons, Kanapaux, Dr. Ogier, Sim, De Saussure, Chazal, Cohen, and a host of others who have shown me a great deal of favor.

I left Charleston for Savannah, Georgia, in the commencement of 1870, and only remaining here three days I left for Thomasville, Thomas County Georgia. While here I conceived the idea of writing my Biography or rather adventures. Several of my well-wishers to whom I communicated my idea said it was a very good thing.

The Editor of the “Thomasville Enterprise” gave me a most flattering notice in his paper, by which I gained many friends. I accordingly set to work and wrote an essay to that effect consisting of about one hundred pages. When’! completed that, I proposed to give lectures on “Africa and its resources.” I made my debut in Thomasville, then at Bainbridge Albany, Americus, Macon, Griffin, and Atlanta.

I soon got tired of that business which in fact did not yield me much profit, I left Atlanta, and got down to Forsyth in Monroe, where I took up a school sixteen miles from here in a village called Culloden. I taught here six months and then retraced my steps to Thomasville where I had left my effects with a colored friend of mine, Solomon Harvey by name. To my no small disappointment he had left for Texas taking my goods with him.

After making arrangements as to the publication of my book, I started on a new plan, that of raising means by which to defray expenses of publication by voluntary subscriptions. I have got a great many subscribers from Thomasville, Bainbridge, Quitman, Valdosta, Ga., Monticello, Madison, Tallahassee and Quincy Fla. From Quincy I returned to Bainbridge thence to Early county Georgia, always meeting with success and good treatment from the white and black people.

While in Georgia and Florida, I had heard from the black people that Alabama was a very dangerous State and filled with Ku-Klux that the freedmen there did not know what freedom was owing to the oppression of the whites under which they were situated. I was advised not to go to that State my life, they said, would be in great danger. My own common sense dictated to me, of course, that it was not possible that such a state of affairs could exist in Alabama, besides that, there were good and bad in all countries.

I shall here say, however, that it was thought by the blacks and a good number of whites I travelled for the purpose of spying through the country. Blacks were sent at times to pick me, but I had nothing to tell them excepting that I travelled for my own amusement and gratification, at the same time, making a little something which I hoped would enable me to publish my Adventures. Some said I was harmless and quiet, and others that I was a Yankee emissary and a scoundrel.

I crossed the Chattahooche into Henry county, Alabama, and to my great surprise, was received with respect and kindness. I shall truly say, that I have never had such a reception heretofore. I shall never forget the kindness and attention paid to my humble self by that most intelligent and most gentlemanly Mr. M. Smith, of Columbia. When I left that place, after ten days stay, and was going to Abbeville, the county-seat, that kind man recommended me to Col. Oates, of that town:

COLUMBIA, ALA., July 21, 1871.

Colonel Oates:

The bearer, Nicholas Said, who is without a shadow of a doubt, a native African, and whose ostensible object in travelling through this country, is to obtain subscribers to his Autobiography, lectured here to-day. And I am glad to say, gave entire satisfaction to his audience, which was composed of a goodly number of white and black people. He is, by far, the most intelligent, and the best educated man of the African race, with whom I have ever conversed, etc.

Any attention paid to Mr. Said will be, thankfully received.

I am, Colonel,

Yours, most truly,

M. SMITH.

This letter did me an immense good in Abbeville, where I remained, and taught school until October of that year. I then went to Eufawla, Clayton, Troy, Montgomery, Selma, Greenville, Pineapple, Monroeville, Claiborne, Gainsville, and, finally to St. Stephens, Washington county, where I conceived the idea of settling myself for life.

On the 20th day of March, 1872, I found myself in St. Stephens, the county-seat of Washington county, Alabama, situated a few miles from the right bank of the Tombigbee river. Here I felt an insurmountable desire to put an end to my peregrinations, that, is at least for a season; for I was perfectly exhausted, and as I had a notion to enlarge my Biography, and as the manuscript had become worn out, by constant handling; I had nothing better to do than to take a school somewhere, in order to accomplish my desired end.

Accordingly, on inquiry I found that I could get one in the neighborhood of St. Stephens, and was suggested by Mr. ——, one of the Trustees, to see one Dr. W. H. Coleman, who, it was said, lived six miles above that place on the road to Bladen Springs, in Choctaw county, Alabama. This gentleman was, it was said, one of the county supervisors, whose duty it was to examine teachers, as to their qualifications.

Consequently, having received a note from Mr. Bailey, which ran thus:

“Dr. W.H. Coleman:

“Sir: The bearer, Nicholas Said, desires a situation in our neighborhood as a teacher, please to examine him and oblige,

“Yours,

“Most respectfully,

“THOMAS BAILEY.”

Armed with this document, I proceeded onward to Dr. Coleman’s.

On entering the paling enclosure, I was informed that the Doctor was in the garden, and would be back in a few minutes. Presently I saw him coming, and I asked him whether he was Dr. Coleman, and on being answered affirmatively, I presented the paper to him.

The Doctor appeared to be a man of about fifty years of age, with a kind and gentlemanly looking face and highly polished manners, and in stature something above the medium height. His reception of me was quite flattering, for after, my examination, I was asked whether I had been to

breakfast; I told him I had not, whereupon “Bright.” the servant girl, was called and instructed to furnish me with my breakfast. This most kind and hospitable gentleman furthermore promised to protect me during my stay in his neighborhood; and I can truly say did more than he promised.

Shortly after I opened my school, the Doctor loaned me $5.00, thereby showing that he had confidence in my honesty. Through his instrumentality, my name has become popular through Washington and Choctaw counties. I shall, so long as life lasts, remember him with unfailing gratitude, and shall render myself not unworthy of his confidence and good opinion of me. The colored people in this section of the county should certainly be grateful to him for his unwearied zeal in causing a school to be established in their midst. But alas! though painful to say, it is sadly true that my people here appreciate but slightly the benefits of education.

My honest and ardent desire is to render myself useful to my race wherever it may be. I have no aspirations for fame, nor anything of the sort. But I shall always prefer at all times to find myself in the midst of the most ignorant of my race, and endeavor to teach the rising generation the advantages of education.

Self-denial is now-a-days so rare, that it is thought only individuals of insane mind can speak of it. A person who tries to live only for others, and puts himself in the second place, is hooted at, and considered a fit inmate for the asylum. The man who artfully extorts the earning of his fellow-man, and who seems to have no feeling for his daily wants, is, by a strange perversion, deemed the wise.

To me, it is impossible to conceive how a human being can be happy through any other channel, than to do as much good as possible to his fellow-man in this world.

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Please read this book for a complete account of Said life outside his autobiography.

The Sergeant: The Incredible Life of Nicholas Said: Son of an African General, Slave of the Ottomans, Free Man Under the Tsars, Hero of the Union Army by Dean Calbreath