UGSB LIBRARY
 
 title African Slab* : 
 
 A TALE OF OUR OWN TIMES, 
 
 FROM THE FRENCH OP 
 
 MGR. GAUME, 
 
 Sold for the Redemption of Negro Children in the Catholic 
 Mission of Zanzibar. 
 
 White man, buy me, that I may have something to eat. 
 My child, I would buy yon, but I have no money. 
 
 Page xiv. 
 
 DUBLIN : 
 
 W. B. KELLY, 8 GRAFTON STREET. 
 1871,
 
 PARE. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I. Zanzibar v. 
 
 IT. The Catholic Mission ... ix. 
 
 III. The Missionary among the Negroes. xiii. 
 
 IV. Charity must triumph xxi. 
 
 DEDICATION 1 
 
 SUEMA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. The Slava Trade 9 
 
 II. Suema's Country 19 
 
 III. Strange and Superstitious Customs ... 23 
 
 IV. Suema's Childhood 27 
 
 . V. Suema's Father killed by a Lion 32
 
 IV. CONTENTS. 
 
 SUEMA. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. Famine 37 
 
 VII. Misfortune still 40 
 
 VIII. Journey in the Desert ... ... ... 45 
 
 IX. Filial Love 48 
 
 X. Maternal Love ... ... ... ... " .'! 
 
 XL The Last Separation ... ... ... ... r>7 
 
 XII. The Voyage Gl 
 
 XIII. Buried Alive 64 
 
 XIV. Disinterred again ... ... .. ... GS 
 
 XV. Suema's Confession 71 
 
 XVI. Suema's Heroism ".">
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I. 
 
 ZANZIBAR. 
 
 /jtBOM the remotest antiquity the Eastern coast of 
 Q Africa has been frequented by Arab and Indian 
 merchants. The learned recognize in that country 
 the Ophir of which the Bible speaks, where it mentions 
 the Phcenicean ships sent by Solomon in quest of ivory 
 and gold. Towards the year A.D. 1010, a colony of 
 Shiraz under the leadership of Ali, son of a king 
 of that country, built the city of Quiola, which after- 
 wards became the capital of a great kingdom. 
 
 In the sixteenth century the Portuguese made 
 themselves masters of this country, but were contented 
 with making it acknowledge the sovereignty of their 
 king. They were, however, soon driven out by
 
 VI. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Iman Muscat, who became master of the 
 whole coast from Cape Guardafui to Cape Delgado. 
 
 On the death of Said Ben Sultan in 1855, the 
 Imanate of Muscat was divided into two independent 
 kingdoms, that of Muscat under the rule of Toveny, 
 and that of Zanzibar governed by the intelligent and 
 distinguished prince who actually reigns, the Said 
 Meggid. 
 
 " Our mission," writes Father Horner, " includes 
 all the States of the Sultan of Zanzibar, that is to say, 
 one thousand five hundred miles of coast. The 
 authority of the Sultan is represented by military 
 governors called tehniators who are appointed to the 
 principal offices of State. The feudal element prevails 
 in the actual government, which is kindly disposed, 
 and gives unbounded liberty to all religions. 
 
 " The island of Zanzibar enjoys a more temperate 
 climate than one would imagine from its geographical 
 position. Lying close to the continent, it is cooled by 
 land and sea-breezes. The rainy season lasts forty 
 days ; and in the great heats, the night-dews replace 
 the rains. The island is remarkable for its fertility ; 
 enormous mangroves, cocoa-nut trees, spice-trees, etc., 
 give it the appearance of an enormous forest 
 surrounded bv a border of flower-knots.
 
 INTRODUCTION. VII. 
 
 "The town of Zanzibar, capital of the island is, from 
 the importance of its trade, also capital of the whole 
 east coast of Africa. It contains a population of 
 80,000 souls ; the entire island may have about 380,000. 
 The roadstead of Zanzibar, which is excellent, gives an 
 anchorage every year to 60 large ships and about 
 12,000 boutres,* bringing the produce of the soil or 
 the manufactures of the neighbouring countries from. 
 Madagascar and Mozambique to Delgado. and even to 
 the end of the Persian Gulf. 
 
 " There are four consuls in Zanzibar, representing 
 England, France, Prussia and the United States; yet 
 there is nothing attractive in it, except the unbounded 
 liberty you enjoy. The Indians have their processions with 
 wooden horses in the streets of the town. We perform 
 our funeral ceremonies with the hymns of the Church, 
 and far from offending us in our religious ceremonies, 
 the Arabs respectfully stand up as we pass. It would 
 be difficult for you to hare an exact notion of the tran- 
 quility and esteem which Europeans enjoy here. 
 I have gone over the whole island unarmed, and 
 everywhere I met the most generous hospitality. 
 
 " What astonishes the natives beyond expression, 
 
 Small Arabian barks.
 
 Vlll. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 is to see the whites, whom they look on almost 
 as gods, employing themselves about the sick 
 and giving them medicines. The disinterested- 
 ness of the Missioners strikes them above all : 
 ' How is it possible,' they say, ' these whites, such 
 great men, so powerful, should deign to help us in our 
 sickness? The whites,' they continue ' are so much 
 more intelligent than we, their religion therefore must 
 be much better than ours, because they know better 
 how to choose.' "
 
 II. 
 
 THE CATHOLIC MISSION. 
 
 } are sure that the little story of Suema will be 
 read with increased interest, when we have heard 
 from the lips of the Venerable Superior of the Mission 
 the state of Catholicity, its trials and its hopes in the 
 far off country, where our young heroine's lot is cast. 
 
 " Six years ago " he tells us "the mission of Zanzibar 
 was confided to me : at that time it consisted of fourteen 
 orphans. Now thanks to the alms of European 
 Catholics, our children amount to sixty-five. The 
 interior of Africa is also open to us. Several tribes 
 who have visited us wish to see us established among 
 them. With a view to make the work lasting, we are 
 building a house to form native priests and cate- 
 chists, who will go and regenerate their poor brethren 
 in the interior. 
 
 "The Sultan, who has been always kind to us, gave us 
 a grant of excellent land, nearly five miles in circum- 
 ference, at Bagamoyo. Here I have established the chil- 
 dren destined for agricultural labour. During the nine
 
 X. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 inoutlis the boys have been oil the coast, there has 
 been no death or even serious sickness amongst them. 
 They spend the time, which is not devoted to religious 
 instruction and elementary education, in clearing the 
 land and digging the soil. This patriarchal life suits 
 the little blacks perfectly, and brings them naturally to 
 Christian civilization. 
 
 " The land granted to us is a forest of brushwood. 
 The clearing of it, our first occupation, will be a costly 
 affair, but, at the end of a few years, the property will 
 be able to furnish means to found Missions in the 
 interior of the continent. The place chosen for our 
 establishment is one of the healthiest on the whole coast. 
 It is on an elevated spot, whence there is a boundless 
 view of the Indian Ocean, and our solitude is within 
 ten minutes' walk of the village of Bagamoyo. We 
 erect our buildings of loam, and cover them with 
 reeds. It is troublesome enough to raise those 
 edifices, as it is the savages, arrived from the interior 
 with the Arab caravans, whom we have to employ, 
 and they have not the least idea of the art of building. 
 
 " We have already received some of them, who show 
 themselves very anxious to become acquainted with our 
 holy religion. These good Nyaniouezis receive three-
 
 INTRODUCTION. XI. 
 
 pence halfpenny a day. When we cannot give them 
 any employment, for want of money, it is pitiable to 
 see the poor people. They come to us saying, < Give 
 us work, we are sick with hunger.' And can you 
 guess how they feed themselves when they cannot 
 earn ? They go into the forest, where they break off 
 the leaves from the trees and eat them, and as hunger 
 and want make them ingenious, they season the ragout 
 with locusts, which they dress with leaves of trees. 
 
 " I have introduced to Zanzibar the use of the 
 plough ; it has done wonders. I have to act as archi- 
 tect, carpenter, mason, cabinet maker, and in fact 
 jack-of-all-trades. The little house we inhabit 
 is covered with straw ; it has one small door 
 and no windows, the usual style in this country. We 
 have therefore to use lights to read by in the middle of 
 the day. The want of air has rendered the place so 
 bad that grass grows all over it. It had Jbeen unin- 
 habited for five years, on account of the deaths or 
 diseases it had witnessed, and it has become a perfect 
 nest of insects and filthy animals. At night, our sleep 
 is disturbed by multitudes of rats, which run over our 
 beds ; and by enormous ants, which cover us from head 
 to foot ; and sometimes by serpents, which come to our
 
 Xii. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 pillows to avoid the cold of the night, mosquitoes and 
 other unwelcome guests also come and annoy us. Outside 
 we are scarcely more fortunate we have sometimes to 
 defend ourselves against wild beasts of all kinds. If 
 by chance we are able to procure a few chickens we are 
 forthwith visited by tigers, jackals, tiger cats, civet 
 cats, hyenas and boa-constrictors, who come in the 
 night and devour everything. The hippopotamus 
 also joins the marauders, and aggravates our miseries 
 by eating the vegetables we planted with so much 
 trouble in our little kitchen-garden. 
 
 " I need not dwell on the works we execute under 
 a burning sun, which often gives some of us long and 
 severe fevers, during which we have neither suitable 
 care nor lodging. Privations, fatigue, and illness 
 retard the completion of our permanent house. A 
 large wooden Cross, in the midst of which we inserted a 
 picture of the Sacred Heart pierced with a sword, is 
 placed on its highest point. The symbol of our religion, 
 the symbol of real happiness is seen from afar, and in 
 the midst of the cross the flames of love from the Adorable 
 Heart of Jesus, awaiting the day when we shall be able 
 to raise a sanctuary in its honor. Our chapel in the 
 island is consecrated to St. Joseph, and that at Baga- 
 moyo is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
 
 III. 
 
 THE MISSIONARY AMONG THE NEGROES. 
 
 is Zanzibar as to its climate and our position 
 there. With regard to its moral state the picture 
 alas will have dark shading ! We see in it but the natural 
 fruit, the deplorable results of African paganism, 
 which inspired by the father of lies, a murderer from the 
 first, has transformed man into a ferocious beast. 
 
 " Not to speak from the testimony of others, I shall 
 cite facts of which I have been ocular witness more 
 than a hundred times. If you wish to know the fruits 
 of paganism, go to the custom-house of Zanzibar, 
 where the poor slaves are landed. I defy the most 
 hardened heart to look at these poor blacks without 
 being moved. They arrive in a state of perfect nudity, 
 they appear starved and just like skeletons. The dull 
 eye, the arms crossed on the breast, almost dying with 
 hunger and thirst, sad and silent, save for the expres- 
 sion of suffering there is nothing human about them. 
 
 " From the custom-house, after paying the duty the 
 tax on a man is the same as that on an ox they are
 
 XIV. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 brought to the slave-market as a vile herd. The pur- 
 chasers come, each inspects the one he wishes to 
 buy, just as he would a beast of burden at a fair. 
 The auctioneer sets them up, one after the other, to 
 the highest bidder. At such times, I often have come 
 across little children, who summing up all the life left 
 them on their lips thinned by starvation, would say 
 to me with a suppliant look and wan smile, 
 
 "'White man, buy me; with you, I shall have 
 something to eat and will be happy.' 
 
 " Ah ! how my heart bled when I bad to reply, 
 
 " ' My poor child, I would wish to purchase you, but 
 I have no money.' 
 
 ' ' What a grief to the Missioner, not to be able to 
 succour so many wretched people, so many souls, to 
 whom, with a little money, he could open the gates of 
 heaven ! And to think that for two pounds he could 
 redeem from slavery a child of six or seven years old, 
 and that he has not that sum, which is so often 
 wasted in the world on frivolous and dangerous 
 indulgences." 
 
 Among the tiger-hearted dealers, who carry on the 
 traffic in human flesh, none is better known than the 
 Gelaba. His name signifies robber, and his whole
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV. 
 
 industry is confined to the stealing of young children, 
 especially of little girls of four years old and over. 
 As fond of gain as he is cruel, the Gelaba does not 
 shrink from travelling hundreds of leagues into the 
 interior of the country in search of his prey. 
 These heartless wretches, like vultures, hover near 
 the dwellings of the poor negroes, until they find a 
 fitting moment to exercise their rapacity. 
 
 At Tybeb, in the heart of central Africa, lived a negro 
 family, one of the wealthiest in the land. Its peace 
 was often troubled by Gelaba, who wished to carry 
 off and sell its daughters, three young girls. 
 But their father always flew to their defence, and so 
 valiant was he, that the robbers were ever obliged to 
 abandon their enterprise. However he soon died and 
 left his wife and children helpless. Every moment the 
 poor mother trembled lest she might see her daughters 
 torn in pieces by ferocious beasts, or what she feared 
 still more, fallen into the hands of Gelaba, who 
 would drag them from her bosom to the slave market. 
 At nightfall, she anxiously gathered her little ones 
 around her and carefully closing every opening in her 
 hut, piled up behind the door all the furniture she 
 possessed, forming with it a kind of rampart. Fortu-
 
 XVI. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 nate in protecting them from the claws of the lion and 
 tiger, she was not equally so in shielding them from 
 the clutches of the Gelaha. 
 
 While working in the fields, with her children helping 
 her or amusing themselves on the grass, she had often 
 noticed sinister faces peering at them. Those stran- 
 gers beckoned to the children to come and follow them, 
 asif they had somethingto give or say to them in private. 
 At this sight the poor mother's blood would freeze in 
 her veins, and as a hen, who sees the hawk hovering 
 near, she was preparing to quit the lonely country and 
 seek out a place of greater security for herself and 
 children . But one night, while the family was plunged in 
 sleep, the noise of persons overturning the furniture 
 piled up behind the door was suddenly heard. They 
 leap terror-stricken from their beds, but alas too 
 late ! A band of armed Gelaba seize them, force them 
 under the pain of instant death to be silent, so that 
 their cries may not awaken their neighbours, and then 
 bind them hand and foot. The youngest child fright- 
 ened at this strange scene screamed aloud, and was 
 immediately torn asunder before the eyes of his 
 mother and sisters. The ruffians travel the 
 entire night without stopping, . dragging along
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV11. 
 
 with them their unfortunate victims. Having 
 reached a spot, where they thought themselves 
 safe from the pursuit of their captives' friends and 
 neighbours, they halted to share their plunder. The 
 mother fell to the lot of one, the daughters were 
 divided among the others, and their separation was 
 eternal. 
 
 One of these poor children, hardly seven years old, 
 soon fell sick from sorrow, fatigue, privation and ill 
 treatment. Her master to whom she had now become a 
 source of trouble, ordered another slave to climb a 
 tree and tie the little girl up in it hand and foot, and 
 then went his way. She was almost dead when 
 another troop of Gelaba passed the same road. 
 One of them seeing the little girl hanging thought 
 from the motion of her limbs and the fearful 
 moaning to which she still gave utterance, that 
 she was not as yet dead. He ascends the 
 tree, looses therefrom his unexpected booty, and 
 tries to recall her to life. The child recovers her 
 senses, the brigand leads her amidst his band, who gibe 
 at this good fortune. After a few hours' march the 
 little girl becomes faint as before. Then the Gelaba 
 thinking that she "would soon die, threw her with a kick
 
 XV111. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 on the sand, and continued his journey, without even 
 the cold mercy of having her tied up in a tree, to 
 prevent her falling a prey to the tigers. 
 
 But providence was watching over the little orphan, 
 a negro, who served as guide to the caravan of a rich 
 merchant, perceiving the unfortunate child, went 
 towards her, took her on his camel, and so brought her 
 to the first market, where he sold her as damaged 
 goods for a low sum. Her health, however, improving, 
 she was frequently sold and resold, till at length 
 the Venerable Father Oliviere found her exposed 
 in the slave market of Alexandria. He purchased 
 her and brought her to Europe, where, having become 
 heroically Christian, she died in the odour of sanctity, 
 having hardly attained her sixteenth year. 
 
 Another child of the desert, saved too by the holy 
 priest whom we have just named, tells us in her own 
 simple language another sad tale, 
 
 " My mother was very beautiful, but black. She had 
 very many servants. My papa had always nice clothes, 
 not like the Turks, but like the Arabs. I was their 
 only child. They let me play by myself in the garden, 
 which was closed by a narrow gate, so that the 
 Gelaba might not get in.
 
 INTRODUCTION. XIX. 
 
 ' One day. while I was playing there with a lot of 
 little pebbles, I heard some one walking behind me, 
 when I turned round I saw a Gelaba with a long knife 
 in his hand, and carrying on his shoulders a bag all 
 covered with blood. I stood up, and was running away 
 crying, but this man caught me by the hand and said, 
 ' if you cry out, I'll cut off your head and put it in my 
 sack.' I withheld my tears, in order that I might not 
 be put in that awful bag, but my heart beat so quickly 
 that I could hardly breathe, and the Gelaba, having 
 taken me in his arms, began to run. When we were 
 far from home he put me down, and holding me by the 
 hand, he ran so quickly, that I was no longer able to 
 follow. I could not take longer steps, for my legs were 
 very little, and blood streamed from my feet all torn 
 with thorns. 
 
 " Then the terrible Gelaba, finding I could go no 
 farther, took me in his arms and carried me to his 
 house. His wife, seeing me so very small, took me on 
 her knee. She used a large thorn to draw out the 
 smaller ones from my feet, and then gave me some 
 bread. A few days afterwards the Gelaba set out from 
 home, and tying me with some young negroes, whom 
 he had also stolen, he threw us all on the back of a
 
 XX. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 camel. We remained there very long going on day and 
 night, and once the cord that held us broke, and we 
 were all thrown to the ground, then the driver heaped 
 kicks and blows on us until we had climbed up again."" 
 
 There is hardly anything more sadly true than this 
 young child's story. During ages, such scenes are 
 constantly being enacted in the land of Cham. 
 
 What will put an end to them ? One thing alone, 
 the conversion to Catholicity of this unfortunate race. 
 But their evangelization requires three conditions : 
 
 Prayers : Our nuns established in the different 
 parts of Africa offer them abundantly and with tears. 
 
 Sweat and blood : Our missionaries shed them in 
 torrents. 
 
 Money : It is for the young Christians of Europe to 
 furnish their sisters' ransom. 
 
 "Do unto others as ye would have done unto yourselves." 
 
 * Fleurs da, desert p. 14.
 
 IV. 
 
 CHARITY MUST TRIUMPH. 
 
 " I think it would be almost impossible to give 
 you any idea of the horrors practised among 
 the Vazaramos, five leagues away from our 
 residence. They do not eat each other like the 
 Vadoes, but they are imbued with such frightful super- 
 stitions that they murder their twin children or throw 
 them to wild beasts. If a child be born on a Sunday or 
 at the full moon, it is considered unlucky, and is deemed 
 a sufficient reason for dispatching it. If a baby ap- 
 pear weak or deformed, the mother says " it is good for 
 nothing," and either kills it or gives it to the wild 
 beasts. Children when growing up are often the 
 victims of horrid supertitions, and considered worthless 
 if they grind their teeth. love of Jesus Christ ! 
 What miseries, what atrocities are to be met with 
 where Thou art not known ! 
 
 " Sometimes mothers here are induced to sell their 
 children for two or three shillings, instead of killing 
 them. I saw a little boy of five months old who had been
 
 XX11. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 sold for thirteen pence. The poor child was indeed to 
 be pitied. The man who had bought him to make him 
 his slave gave him nothing to eat but mangoes a fruit 
 something like a pear. I hope to establish a 
 creche at Bagamoyo. In the opinion of persons 
 competent to judge of such matters, we might buy 
 hundreds of children every year and save their lives 
 and their souls. 
 
 "I believe we shall have to pay four shillings a child, 
 because everything is dearer to the whites than 
 to the blacks. I therefore make the greatest exer- 
 tions to finish the buildings destined for agri- 
 cultural labour at Bagarnoyo. One of these I in- 
 tend for an infant asylum, where the poor children of 
 the Vazaramos shall be cared for, those so wantonly 
 sacrificed to the demon by the savage superstition of 
 their parents. This will be a tedious affair, but a work 
 beautiful in itself, and suitable to attract the sympa- 
 thies of good and pious children in Catholic Europe. 
 Little children will be no longer slaughtered, when 
 it is known they can be disposed of advantageously : 
 they will one day become the intercessors for those 
 European children, who, thanks to a little money, shall 
 have saved the life of the body, and, a thousand times 
 more precious, the life of the soul for these poor orphans.
 
 INTRODUCTION. XX111. 
 
 "Oh! how sad it is to live in a country where the 
 mother kills the fruit of her womb ! How heartrending, 
 above all to the Missioner, to be unable to remedy as 
 quickly as he would wish so much misery and 
 misfortune ! 
 
 ' ' charity of Jesus Christ, when wilt thou come to 
 put an end to such atrocities ? Oftentimes my soul is 
 oppressed with grief, to think these poor mothers do 
 not know what it is to caress their children ; they more 
 frequently murder or sell them. 
 
 ' ' ' Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the 
 needy and the poor ; the Lord will deliver him in the 
 evil day.' ' Mothers of families reading these lines will 
 say as they look on their beloved children : ' Is it 
 possible that mothers can strangle their babes and 
 throw them to wild beasts ? Ought I not try and 
 bring down God's blessing on my own children by 
 doing what I can to diminish the number of such 
 horrors ?' 
 
 " The greater part of. the help we receive for re- 
 deeming slaves comes from the associates of the 
 Sacred Heart. In Trinidad the pupils of the Sisters 
 of St. Joseph, at Strasbourg the Sisters of Providence, 
 vie with each other in zeal for the redemption of little 
 negro children, condemned by their parents to the
 
 XXIV. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 hardest slavery. When I was travelling in Alsace, in 
 1867, I preached in the Cathedral of Thann about 
 the misery of the slave children, who are sold in the 
 market of Zanzibar. The people no sooner heard that 
 a boy could be bought for one pound, and a girl for one 
 pound fifteen shillings,than they hastened to contribute to 
 the purchase of those poor slaves. Among these persons 
 were two factory girls. One brought me four pounds ; her 
 appearance made me guess that her generosity was 
 far beyond her means, and some information that I 
 gathered about her, proved that this sum was the 
 result of many years' hard saving. I had great diffi- 
 culty in making her take back a part, in order to have 
 something to fall back on. Another workwoman, who 
 was habitually in want herself, brought me one pound 
 fifteen shillings, that I might buy a little girl, and I 
 could not induce her to take back any of it. 
 
 " The good Sultan of Zanzibar is one of the best and 
 noblest men that I know, and he has been one of our 
 first benefactors. He has just sent me a note in the 
 following terms : ' A gift of seven hundred and fifty 
 francs for the Fathers of the Catholic Mission to 
 redeem "children.' Is not this magnificent from a 
 Mahometan Sultan. May we not hope after that ? 
 What a stimulus to the zeal of Catholic hearts ?
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, 
 
 When very little, you, perhaps, like 
 many others, imagined that the horizon of 
 your native land was the world's farthest 
 limit. But this was an error of short duration. 
 There is another, however, somewhat sim- 
 ilar, which lasts for a longer period. Born 
 in the bosom of Christian civilization, you 
 have believed, many of you perhaps still 
 believe, that all parts of the world are like 
 Ireland and Europe, illumined by the ben- 
 eficent light of the Gospel. The tender, 
 anxious cares that are lavished on you, the 
 ease and comfort you enjoy, seem so natural 
 to you, that you think the same blessings are 
 bestowed on every child breathing on the face 
 of the earth.
 
 2 DEDICATION. 
 
 II. 
 
 Such an illusion is creditable to you, but, 
 unfortunately, it is an illusion. The story 
 F present you with has for its object to dispel 
 it. You will learn from it what thousands 
 and thousands of young girls, your sisters in 
 Adam and in Jesus Christ, are to-day at some 
 hundreds of leagues' distance from our shore. 
 
 Their lot, so widely different from yours, 
 will, I have no doubt, awaken in you the two 
 noble sentiments with which the Creator lias 
 so largely endowed woman's heart gratitude 
 and compassion. 
 
 m. 
 
 Nor will these be barren sentiments. On 
 learning that among your sisters you are the 
 privileged ones, you will bless with tenderness 
 that God who is twice your Redeemer, at the 
 same time remembering what is written 
 " To whom much has been given, from him 
 also much shall be demanded." 
 
 You will not squander in selfish pleasures 
 the wealth you have received. That would
 
 DEDICATION. 3 
 
 be not only degrading your heart by com- 
 mitting the crime of ingratitude, but, in our 
 days especially, directly opposing the call of 
 Divine Providence. 
 
 IV. 
 
 This call you may plainly recognize in the 
 wonderful spectacle which we witness for the 
 past forty years. Until then, the charitable 
 zeal of the Catholic maiden was confined to 
 merely local objects. But suddenly the spirit 
 of apostleship has fallen on her. Every 
 day, soaring from the ports of France, clouds 
 of chaste doves go forth alighting on every 
 point of the globe. Neither their natural 
 timidity, nor their frailty, nor affection for 
 home and family, nor the allurements of the 
 world, nor wide oceans, nor unwholesome 
 climes, nor savage peoples can arrest that 
 mysterious impulse, urging them to devote 
 themselves to the redemption of their sisters, 
 as the missionary devotes himself to the 
 redemption of his brethren. 
 
 At your age, dear children, you cannot as 
 yet walk in the footsteps of your elders by
 
 4 DEDICATION. 
 
 sharing personally in their glorious apostolate, 
 still you can in some measure help to further 
 it. 
 
 v. 
 
 Are you at school ? Then which of you 
 has not her little pocket-money ? Why not 
 share it with the wretched ? Instead of 
 having it altogether transformed into sweet- 
 meats and playthings, let part of it become 
 the ransom of some of your little sisters who 
 are still seated ' in the shadow of death.' 
 
 With one hand your good angel will enter 
 your offering in the Great Book, that it may 
 with interest be restored to you on that day, 
 when the Sovereign Judge shall balance the 
 accounts of each one of us in presence of the 
 assembled nations; while with the other he 
 will make your young heart feel how sweet it 
 is to do good. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Have you left school ? Then whatever be 
 your condition, work-woman or heiress, the 
 means of becoming an apostle are in your
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 hands. Will you alloAv me to point out to 
 you not three of them, not even two, but a 
 single one kill the leech that is called luxury, 
 and it will turn out for you the hen of the 
 golden eggs. 
 
 If you look with an eye of faith, or even of 
 simple reason, at the objects, vain or trifling, 
 not to say sensual, which are so plentiful in 
 your room, on your mantelpiece, on your 
 toilette table. If you even examine yourself 
 from head to foot, what handsome savings 
 for the apostleship you might lay up, without 
 prejudice to good taste. 
 
 vn. 
 
 And even in indispensable things, why not 
 imitate that admirable companion of yours 
 who said to us " When Mamma buys any 
 thing for me, I pray her to choose always 
 what is simplest, that I may have something 
 more to help my little sisters of Africa and 
 Oceanica." 
 
 But if with all this you are not rich, you 
 have still a last resource. 
 
 I know not if under heaven there be a
 
 Q DEDICATION. 
 
 power so irresistible as that of a gentle and 
 modest young girl, pleading among her friends 
 and the members of her family the cause of 
 the poor, and where are the poor like those 
 of whom I speak ? 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Before making them known to you, I have 
 a word or two of explanation to offer. 
 
 In writing those pages, my object is to 
 interest you in a work which I think should 
 be altogether your own. I mean the re- 
 demption of the young girls of Eastern 
 Africa. 
 
 This work is different from that of the 
 Holy Childhood, whose aim is to save from 
 death the new-born babes sold or abandoned 
 by their mothers, especially in China. 
 
 Your work is the deliverance of children 
 older, and thus, if possible, more miserable, 
 because conscious of their lot. In the slave- 
 markets of African towns, very little children 
 are rarely exposed for sale. 
 
 The reason is, that this horrible trade is 
 generally supplied with blacks brought from
 
 DEDICATION. 7 
 
 distant countries, and those little creatures 
 could not be carried so far for months, through 
 deserts, and under a burning tropical sun. 
 Besides, their sale would not defray the 
 expenses of their carriage. 
 
 It is but right that I should explain to you 
 the meaning of the words prefixed to this 
 little work ' Do good? 
 
 That great friend of the poor, Saint John 
 of God, went through the streets of Grenada, 
 a bag on his back, and a basket in each hand, 
 and instead of saying ' Give me alms, he 
 said l My brethren, do good." 1 
 
 Admirable words, which gave a name to 
 this holy man's disciples, who are still called 
 in Italy the Fate ben Fratelli \ 
 
 IX. 
 
 And I too, dear children, have desired to use 
 this language, so divinely beautiful; because 
 so profoundly true. 
 
 Yes, beautiful and true ! In giving alms, 
 you ennoble your heart, you place at interest 
 that which you bestow, you draw down on 
 yourselves the dew of heavenly benedictions,
 
 8 DEDICATION. 
 
 and, perhaps, even enkindle the ray of light 
 which will guide you to the knowledge of your 
 vocation ; perhaps merit the grace which one day 
 will transport you in the footsteps of so many 
 others, for your sisters' salvation, to the 
 world's farthest extremities, making of you 
 new ' heroines of charity.' 
 
 If I pray that it be so, could you wish me 
 to do otherwise?
 
 OR, 
 
 of Priam ftfc. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE NEGRO TRAFFIC. 
 
 understand perfectly the following tale, the reader 
 requires some preliminary notions of African 
 slavery. 
 
 We will begin, therefore, by describing the negro 
 trade. By this name is termed the infamous law by 
 which the different nations of the world tear away the 
 wretched inhabitants of Africa from their native soil, 
 either by purchase, or even oftener by force, and then 
 export them to the different parts of America, where 
 they are sold like droves of cattle,
 
 10 SUEMA. 
 
 This scourge, which has desolated Africa, degraded 
 Europe, and outraged humanity, began its ravages 
 towards the close of the 15th century. When the 
 Spaniards had discovered the New World, they wished 
 to explore the numerous gold mines of that vast con- 
 tinent. They first condemned the conquered natives 
 to this painful task, but the essay was not successful. 
 Accustomed to live in the open air, and to spend their 
 days in the gentler pursuits of hunting and fishing, 
 the Indians perished by thousands, immured in the 
 bowels of the earth. Their masters then resolved to 
 replace them by negroes, in .quest of whom they sailed 
 to the shores of Africa. 
 
 As soon as the mines, were exhausted the negroes 
 were employed in tilling the land. 
 
 Thus were the aboriginal tribes, almost annihilated 
 by bad treatment and forced labour, replaced by the 
 hardy Africans a race which bore the hardships of 
 slavery without murmuring at their fate, and thus 
 better suited for the purposes of European tyranny. 
 
 Such was the unholy origin of the negro traffic one 
 great crime which arose from another. The principle 
 and end of this infamous traffic are in perfect accordance 
 with the revolting method employed in its execution.
 
 SUEMA. 11 
 
 The example of the Spaniards was contagious ; for, 
 in a few years, the different nations of Europe were 
 all engaged in the abominable trade. 
 
 For many centuries, thousands of vessels known as 
 "slave-ships" might be seen coasting along the 
 African shores, from Senegal to the Cape of Good 
 Hope. 
 
 To obtain their cargo of human flesh, force, deception, 
 and the allurements of gains were alternately employed. 
 The examples we have before us are so numerous, that 
 the only difficulty we have is to select. 
 
 The following instances, taken at random, will suffice : 
 
 Some time ago, the slave merchants of St. Louis, 
 being in need of some negroes, armed secretly a few 
 vessels, apparently destined for mere commercial 
 purposes. They landed at Alebia, a village belonging 
 to the tribe of the Pols. These hospitably received 
 the French, without the slightest mistrust, exchanged 
 their commodities with them, and even provisioned 
 their ships. The day was enlivened by feasts and 
 amusements. 
 
 But while the Blacks were reposing after the fatigues 
 of the day, the huts were assailed in the dead of night, 
 without the slightest pretext, and the wretched inhab-
 
 12 SUEMA. 
 
 itants, tied hand and foot, and stunned with blows, 
 were either reduced to slavery, or died, fighting bravely 
 for their liberty. 
 
 The survivors were then sent across to the plantations 
 of America, where, weighed down by excessive labours, 
 and by the hardships of slavery, they dragged a weary 
 life, oppressed by the unconsolable misfortune of being 
 separated for ever from their wives, their families, and 
 above all, from their fatherland. When the Europeans 
 themselves did not engage in this nefarious pursuit, 
 the very natives did not scruple to do so for their own 
 profit. Travellers, and even the people who live along 
 the African shores, affirm that the generality of the 
 African civil wars have no other motive than that of 
 obtaining slaves for the negro merchants. 
 
 Thence results this sad truth, daily confirmed by 
 experience, that as the demands of the negro merchants 
 increase, the negro wars are multiplied. There are 
 nations, such as the Aspautils, who live by making 
 war on their neighbours to obtain slaves. 
 
 Father Labat, a Dominican Missionary, relates that 
 the Bis Sagots, have, as well as several other African 
 nations, a great passion for whiskey. ' ' In order to 
 procure it," he says, " the weaker are sacrificed to the
 
 SUEMA. 18 
 
 mad thirst of the stronger. As soon as a slave-ship 
 appears, the father sells his children, nay, if a child 
 gets the upper hand over 'his father and mother, they 
 are at once conducted by him to the ship, where he 
 barters them for whiskey ! " 
 
 An English governor of St. Louis, to obtain slaves, 
 stirred up the Maures against the Oueli. He supplied 
 them with arms, and the other necessary aids, and in 
 two years the Onabian country was devastated death 
 and slavery had consumed its population. 
 
 Another Englishman, the director of the East India 
 Company, informed the King of Yolof that he was 
 about to receive from Europe a cargo of different 
 articles, to be bartered in exchange for negroes. The 
 King immediately gave chase to his subjects, traversing 
 his towns and villages with an armed band which 
 seized upon all the adults fit for export, who had not 
 fled fast enough on his approach. After capturing 
 three hundred, he gave the director to know that he 
 had some merchandise. 
 
 The latter hastened to the King to conclude a 
 bargain. The African monarch received the price of 
 his goods, but he was not satisfied. He coveted other
 
 14 SUEMA. 
 
 European articles, which were purposely spread out 
 before him, but he had no more men to give. 
 
 These goods were then offered to him on credit by 
 the director for three hundred other negroes, on con- 
 dition that the King would allow him to go take them 
 with his own troops. But, perhaps fearing some snare, 
 the barbarian refused. 
 
 All Southern and Central Africa was laid waste by 
 this scourge. According to the most exact statistics, 
 the number of men and women thus carried away 
 from 1768 to 1827 increases each year by one hundred 
 and tiienty-tico thousand I By this statistic, the number 
 for 58 years will be 7,040,000 ! 
 
 This, however, does not comprise the victims of the 
 innumerable wars which are caused in the pursuit of 
 the trade. 
 
 As the negro export trade has now lasted 300 years, 
 and was formerly even more active and general than 
 now-a-day, we are still far below the real number, if 
 we conclude that from the discovery of America the 
 nations of Europe have, without other right but that 
 of being the stronger, reduced to slavery more than 
 ililrty-jice million* of human beings ! And they think 
 that God will bless them !
 
 SUEMA. 15 
 
 To be torn away from home and family is but the 
 beginning of the slaves misfortune. Laden with chains, 
 and dragged from, the interior of Africa, to the place of 
 exportation. He is shut up in a kind of prison till the 
 slave merchant has completed the cargo of human 
 flesh, and when the moment of departure arrives he is 
 conducted, bound with heavy chains, to the floating 
 prison. 
 
 "In the ships, where the slaves have most room," 
 says an eye witness, " each occupies little more than a 
 space of five feet in length and one foot in breadth. So 
 situated it is impossible to stand erect, nay, even 
 sometimes to sit down. Lying without clothing on a 
 hard plank, lacerated by the continual motion of the 
 vessel, their bodies are soon covered with dreadful 
 sores, and their limbs torn by the irons which attach 
 them to one another. It is in this wretched state that 
 they make a voyage of from four to five thousand miles. 
 During bad weather, when the sea is rough, and they 
 are obliged to close down the hatches, the sufferings of 
 these poor unfortunates become extreme. By the 
 violent rocking of the ship they are thrown one against 
 the other ; they are suffocated by the insupportable 
 heat of the torrid zone, and by the noisome odours
 
 16 SUEMA. 
 
 arising from so many persons being confined in so 
 limited a space." 
 
 In September, 1825, the English Burreu visited near 
 the Old Calabar river the French vessel ' L'Orphee ' 
 having on board seven hundred negroes for transporta- 
 tion to Martinique. The men to the number of 550 
 were chained two by two, some by the arms, others by 
 the legs, and many by the necks. The odour which 
 proceeded from the place, wherein these unfortunates 
 were heaped pell-mell, was so infectious that the 
 English officer could scarcely support it for an instant. 
 Not, unfrequently, the small-pox, that dreadful scourge, 
 appears among them, and makes frightful ravages. 
 On one occasion more than fifty blacks were found 
 dead in consequence of bad air, but the captain, with 
 the greatest possible indifference, ordered their bodies 
 to be thrown overboard, returned to the coast and 
 supplied their place by new victims. These few in- 
 stances give but a slight idea of the horrors which take 
 place every day on hundreds of other vessels. 
 
 In the petition made in 1826, to obtain the suppres- 
 sion of the slave trade, we read that the captains of 
 slave ships throw each year into the sea more than 
 1,500 slaves, who have become so crippled from suffer-
 
 SUEMA. 17 
 
 ing as to be of little value in the market. A great 
 mortality raging among the slaves on board a certain 
 English vessel, the 'Kong,' the captain took the resolu- 
 tion to throw over those most afflicted by the epidemic. 
 The principal pretext he devised for justifying in some 
 way his atrocious intention was the lack of water, 
 though neither the usual quantity given to each sailor, 
 nor even that distributed to the slaves, had been as yet 
 reduced. He then selected 132 of these unfortunates 
 and had them cast into the sea. But Providence, as if 
 wishing to render inexcusable the sacrifice of the 
 remaining victims, sent during three days an abundant 
 rain. Yet, still the captain remorselessly continued in 
 his determination, and ordered the other sick slaves to 
 be precipitated into the deep. Thus was committed in 
 open day a crime of which history presents but few 
 examples. 
 
 We should read the life of Blessed Peter Claver, 
 apostle of the blacks, to understand in what state are 
 the poor survivors when they disembark on the shores 
 of America. Once the property of the planter they are 
 treated as animals the slave is below the beast and 
 has on earth no protector. Constantly subjected to the 
 lash, the law refuses to shield him his testimony is
 
 18 SUEMA. 
 
 not received in court. He generally perishes from 
 excess of fatigue or grief, and should he endeavour to 
 escape by flight he is pursued by dogs as if he were a 
 wild beast. 
 
 " Often the colonists," says an eye witness, " form 
 themselves into parties of pleasure to give chase to a 
 fugitive negro, with as much unconcern as if he were a 
 wild boar. I knew a lady who procured many a time 
 this amusement for herself and her friends. When -the 
 unhappy fugitive, attacked by the dogs, wounded and 
 reduced to the last extremity, implored the compassion 
 of his pursuers, they laughed at his sufferings. Then 
 they cut off his head, which they carried to the 
 rendezvous, in order to receive the prize accorded for 
 the arresting of negroes." 
 
 From its very origin the church has not ceased to 
 condemn this abominable traffic. To the anathemas 
 of Alexander III., Leo III., and Paul III., the mission- 
 aries joined their protestations, as do all disinterested 
 men, in the question of slavery.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE COUNTRY OF SUEMA. 
 
 E town of Zanzibar, the capital of the island of 
 the same name, and of a kingdom which extends 
 along the east coast of Africa from Cape Guardafm to 
 Mozambique, having been made the starting point of 
 some of Dr. Livingstone's expeditions, has, of late 
 years, been regarded with no little interest by the 
 scientific world. But it is to the house of the Catholic 
 missions founded at Zanzibar not long ago, by the 
 Fathers of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost and of 
 the Sacred Heart of Mary, that this little story would 
 direct the attention of its readers. There may be seen 
 not less than one hundred and seventy negro children 
 redeemed from slavery by the missionaries in the market 
 place of that town ; and there they are brought up with 
 much loving care in the knowledge of the Catholic 
 faith. The boys have their dormitories and workshops
 
 20 SUEMA, 
 
 in a detached wing of the house, where they are under 
 the especial charge of the brothers of the Congregation, 
 while the girls occupy the rooms near the poor and 
 unpretending chapel. They are taught by the Sisters 
 of Mary from the Isle of Bourbon. 
 
 It is a real pleasure to behold the docility, the 
 cheerfulness, the health, and the intelligence of these 
 children the Christian nursery of Eastern Africa. 
 
 Among them is a little girl, scarcely ten years old, 
 who is distinguished by a remarkably tall stature, by 
 the softness of her features, by her humble carriage, 
 and by the naivety of her language. Her African name 
 is Suema, her Christian name is Madeleine. 
 
 When her language became intelligible, her com- 
 panions, together with the missionaries and nuns, 
 earnestly entreated her to relate to them the events of 
 her life. 
 
 With an indescribable air of candour and sincerity, 
 she gave them the following account, which was taken 
 down word for word as it flowed from her lips : 
 
 "I was born in the country of Uarniao; of its extent, 
 of its strength, of its tribes, I have not the slightest 
 knowledge, for I was very small when I left it. All 
 that I know is that it is situated between the kingdoms
 
 SUEMA. 21. 
 
 Allamnynde and Uamiasse. I have heard that the 
 Naguinado, whose territory is bounded by a kingdom 
 bordering on the ocean, dwell where the sun of the 
 Almnredi rises ; that the dominions of the Umiassa 
 extend as far as where the sun sets ; and that our 
 nearest neighbours were the Makua and the Uelwauda. 
 My country is extremely beautiful. Its immense plains 
 clothed with a rich herbage, and abounding in preci- 
 pitous rocks to which the villagers fly in time of war, 
 are traversed by a multitude of streamlets. The rocks 
 are so high that it is thought that they touch the sky. 
 Here and there are large forests abounding not alone 
 in game but also in wild animals. Here, night and 
 morning, the tigers and lions roar incessantly; here, 
 also, numerous herds of elephants graze the verdant 
 foliage. Our fields produce everything that one can 
 wish for. Twice a year did we sow beans, lentils, corn, 
 miarelli, gourds, cucumbers, potatoes, cassada, bredes, 
 wheat, and ignames. The banana grows there like a 
 common forest tree. We sowed rice in the marshy 
 districts, not to eat, for we did not like it, but to obtain 
 in exchange from the Arabian caravans, glass ware, 
 cotton, and salt. In our villages the houses are not 
 connected as here. Between each hut several fields
 
 22 SUEMA. 
 
 intervene, which are partly cultivated, partly reserved 
 for pasture. This custom is observed in order to pre- 
 serve the crops from the havoc which would be neces- 
 sarily caused by monkeys, birds and other animals, as 
 well as to secure the cattle from the wild beasts ; the 
 villagers also give this as another reason, that the 
 enemy cannot come by surprise on every one at the 
 same time, nor can they burn all the huts."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 STRANGE CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS. 
 
 "/ffjVUR cemeteries are formed in the most isolated 
 and remote recesses of the great forests. All 
 were buried in the following manner : The body was 
 first placed in a little hut composed of the green 
 branches of trees; arrows, bows, javelins, and a shield, 
 were placed beside the corpse, if it was that of a man. 
 If, on the contrary, it was that of a woman, it was sur- 
 rounded by kettles, ladles, and an immense variety of 
 cooking utensils. The parents of the deceased placed 
 at the feet of their corpse a large plate of flour called 
 rutama, to make porridge. The next morning the 
 parents came to visit the dismal hut. If the meal has 
 disappeared during the night, it is concluded that the 
 person died naturally, and all the neighbours are 
 invited to a great banquet. If, on the contrary, the meal 
 remains untouched, the misfortune is attributed to a 
 witchcraft. In this case the family of the deceased 
 takes up arms for the discovery and punishment of the
 
 SUEMA. 
 
 guilty; and if, as often happens, the deadj person 
 belonged to a powerful family, war is immediately 
 kindled in the country. On account of this belief, the 
 origin and reason of which I do not know, whole villages 
 frequently disappear. Such is the position of my 
 country, which, unhappily, does not yet know the true 
 God. But this is not all, as you will see presently. 
 The Zime dwells in our forests. He is an evil being 
 who eats the people. The most cruel sufferings and 
 diseases are inflicted by him on all who pass near 
 his dwelling, without propitiating him by some offering. 
 It is said that he is a passionate lover of music. Should 
 the person he attacks have the courage to sing or to 
 beat the tambour he immediately begins to dance ; his 
 head, his arms, and feet are gradually severed from 
 the body his eyes leave their sockets, and each 
 member performs its separate dance. At daybreak 
 next morning all the limbs are united and the Zimc 
 disappears." 
 
 These absurd and at the same time sanguinary 
 superstitions, of which Suema speaks, prevail over all 
 Africa; and it is almost always the women, and young 
 negresses, who are the chosen victims. In his journey 
 to the sources of the Nile, Capt. Speke describes them
 
 SUEMA. 25 
 
 as follows : " While stopping with Rumanika, the. 
 King of Karague, through curiosity I asked hiin why 
 he sacrificed a cow before the tomb of his father every 
 year, without having any idea of God or of a future 
 life." 
 
 " I do not know," he replied with a laugh, " but it 
 seems to me that by doing so I shall obtain better 
 harvests. It is for the same reason that I place before 
 one of the large stones on the mountain a little corn 
 and pombe, though I know well that it can neither eat 
 nor drink. Those who dwell along the coast, indeed 
 all the natives, observe the same customs. Not a single 
 African questions the talismanic powers of magic. If, 
 while leading my troops against the enemy I happened 
 to hear the cry of a fox I would immediately retreat 
 for this prognostic is said to presage a defeat. But, 
 happily, many other animals, and birds especially, 
 possess a contrary power." In such negroes, and in 
 their customs, we can but too easily recognise the 
 augurers and the omens of antiquity ; too plainly can 
 we see that they are as prevalent as in the days of 
 Cicero ; truly has it been said that the Devil neither 
 changes nor grows old. With regard to the cruelty 
 of the great enemy of man. who was a "murderer
 
 20 SUEMA. 
 
 from the beginning," let us again hear what the cele- 
 brated traveller says : 
 
 " Having now stopped a considerable time with the 
 King of Ouganda, I have obtained an intimate know- 
 ledge of the customs of the place. But will any one 
 believe me when I assert that not one alone, but often 
 three or four unfortunate young women of the harem 
 of Intosa are daily executed. How often have I heard 
 these wretched creatures, while being dragged along by 
 pitiless savages to an ignominous death, make the most 
 heartrending appeals to their persecutors." 
 
 Young Christian girls, arm not your hands, but open 
 your hearts in compassion, in order to free your sisters 
 from such a slavery.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 INFANCY OF SUEMA. 
 
 9UEING the evening recreation Suenia continued 
 her story. " My father was very brave, and was 
 considered the best hunter in the country. Throughout 
 the entire year our cottage was well stocked with game 
 and provisions. He was accustomed to sell the tusks 
 of the elephants he had killed to traders, who gave in 
 exchange whatever was required for the support of life. 
 My mother, as well as my elder sisters, were covered 
 with glass beads and chains, they even wore garments 
 which came from abroad. I was also adorned with 
 glass beads, but they were my only clothing. Thus 
 flowed along the fleeting hours of my infancy, unclouded 
 by sorrow or misfortune. In the morning my father, 
 accompanied by his friends, generally set out for the 
 hunting grounds. My mother and sisters hoed the 
 fields while I took care of the sheep and the house.
 
 28 SUEMA. 
 
 Some little girls of my own age would often join me, 
 and we sang together like little birds. The days ap- 
 peared very short to us, and gladly did I hail the 
 evenings which restored my father to the bosom of his 
 family. What a happiness was it for me when I saw 
 my dear papa returning home well pleased with the 
 day's sport and bending under his booty. While I 
 hung upon his neck fondled and caressed, my sisters 
 used to light a fire in the centre of the cottage. My 
 mother then roasted whole sides of venison on the live 
 coals. Immense pots of ugali were then cooked, in 
 addition to the large jars of pombe* that were pre- 
 pared the evening before. We had always a store of 
 salt laid up to season our food, for, even when the 
 caravans were unprovided with it, my father knew how 
 to procure it. While on his hunting expeditions he 
 had discovered many places where a tall plant grew, 
 the ashes of which have the same qualities as salt. My 
 papa often brought home large bags of these ashes, but 
 to form some idea of the manner in which the salt was 
 prepared, you should have seen us all bustling about 
 at our different tasks. I used to gather wood. One of 
 
 * A kind of beer.
 
 SUEMA. 29 
 
 my sisters fetched water, another washed the ashes, 
 and a third strained off the water through a piece of 
 linen. My mother then superintended the boiling the 
 whole day long, and in the evening we had a few par- 
 ticles of salt. But with us, not every one could have 
 as much salt as he liked. Our neighbours, however, 
 were not so fortunate, for they had no means to procure 
 such luxuries. Their children even considered me so 
 happy, that often when I went to draw water from the 
 river, they would cry out : ' What a happy life Suema 
 leads ! She eats meat with salt every day.' I was 
 always pleased with this remark, for it implied a great 
 compliment to my dear father. They often also said : 
 ' See, how smart Suema looks with her braided tresses I' 
 Whenever I heard them speaking thus, I always felt 
 my heart glow with a more ardent love for my mother, 
 for I did not forget that she it was, who had made me 
 look so nice. But, alas ! these happy hours passed 
 away too soon." 
 
 The heart of the little girl could no longer contain 
 itself, her eyes were filled with tears, and for some time 
 the power of utterance left her. When her emotion 
 had ceased, she added : "Dearest lady, destined hence- 
 forth to be a mother to me ! Beloved companions,
 
 80 SUEMA. 
 
 henceforth my sisters, till now I have but showed you 
 the bright side of my life. Soon you will become 
 acquainted with the terrible event which was to be the 
 harbinger of my future misfortunes." 
 
 Fearing to fatigue the unhappy child, whose tears 
 now flowed fast at the remembrance of her sufferings, 
 the reverend mother kindly told her to put off the 
 recital of her misfortunes until the following day. The 
 general occupation of young negresses seems to be that 
 of minding sheep. But all are not so happy in their 
 employment or so free from danger as Suema. This 
 we may see from a story told by another young negress 
 who was stolen by a Gelaba, and sold by an accomplice, 
 still more wicked than himself : 
 
 " My second master covered me with stripes, and 
 scarcely gave me anything to eat. He sent me to mind 
 his sheep. While thus occupied, I was in a perpetual 
 dread lest I should be eaten up by the wild beasts 
 which roamed through the neighbouring forests. Some 
 of them had very long tails. Others had hands and 
 arms like those of a man. My fears, together with an 
 extreme weakness caused by long fasting, rendered me 
 incapable of attending properly to my charge. On one 
 occasion the Gelaba, seeing that I did not return to his
 
 SUEMA. 81 
 
 house with the sheep, came to look for me, and beat 
 me so severely that I was unable to attend any longer 
 to the sheep. He then sold me to another master." 
 Well may we ask, if men can be found so cruel as to 
 torture in such manner these innocent children ? Yet 
 it is so, and such men will always be found as long as 
 Africa remains unregeuerated by Christianity.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 SUEMA'S FATHER KILLED BY A LION. 
 
 (3\ DAY had already passed since Suema discontinued 
 (^7 the tale of her childhood, and all now eagerly 
 awaited tha moment of her resuming her story. Even 
 Suema herself appeared desirous to lighten the load on 
 her breast by pouring her misfortunes into the hearts 
 of her companions. When asked therefore by the 
 siiperioress, she continued as follows : 
 
 ; My father made arrangements with our neighbours 
 to organize a regular slaughter of all the lesser animals 
 with which Africa abounds. Deep pits, covered with 
 branches and grass, wore dug in the localities they 
 most frequented. As soon as this was accomplished, 
 all the families of the hunters united to beat the woods 
 and to go in quest of the game. My father then per- 
 mitted me, for the first time, to take part in the common 
 chase. I was as happy when setting out as if I were
 
 SUEMA. 88 
 
 on a pleasure excursion. I did not expect the least 
 danger. Arrived in the forest we formed a somewhat 
 irregular chain, each one remaining several stone 
 throws distant from his neighbour. But as we ad- 
 vanced, all the time shouting as loud as we could, the 
 circle gradually grew narrower and more contracted. 
 While some of the hunters, who were all armed with 
 bows and arrows, ran before the line of the beaters, the 
 others endeavoured to pursue the animals which had 
 adroitly avoided the pits. After a little while we ap- 
 proached the place where the sport of the day really 
 was to begin. We were separated by a very bushy 
 thicket from the chain of beaters. I was walking 
 beside my mother and sisters, while my father was 
 standing a little before us adjusting his arrow on the 
 string. The beating party had just surrounded the 
 skirt of the thicket, when all at once the shouts of the 
 hunters were drowned by the deafening noise of a tre- 
 mendous roar proceeding from the centre of the thicket. 
 Every one stood petrified, and the noisy cries of the 
 beaters were succeeded by the deepest silence. Then 
 again was heard the sullen roar of the lion, for it was 
 indeed this terrible animal, whose cry was repeated by 
 the echoes of the forest away. I still fancy that I see
 
 84 HUEMA. 
 
 its glaring eyes, and its bristling mane, as lashing the 
 ground with its tail, it bounded forth from the thicket. 
 The lion approached the hunters who remained mo- 
 tionless for fear. Turning a little aside he suddenly 
 stopped just before us ; but, passing my father, he 
 seemed inclined to spring upon my sisters and myself. 
 At the same moment he roared again, still louder than 
 before. Then, rny father perceiving the danger which 
 threatened us, and that there was not a moment to 
 lose, at once attacked the angry animal, but his dart 
 and arrows were shot wide of the mark. Then, rushing 
 on, knife in hand, he threw himself on the lion, seizing 
 its flowing mane in one hand, as he raised aloft his 
 hunting knife in the other. I was so terrified by his 
 danger that I could no longer observe what passed. I 
 have a faint recollection of seeing a confused red mass 
 of blood roll along the ground and pass my side, and 
 then disappear in the forest. The struggle had been 
 of so short duration that none of the hunters had time 
 to come to my father's assistance. Then, with piercing 
 cries of heartrung anguish did we throw ourselves 
 already helpless orphans on the earth, stained with the 
 blood of our father, who had proved himself only the 
 too faithful guardian of his fold."
 
 SUEMA. 35 
 
 Suema appeared so touched by those painful recol- 
 lections that the reverend mother thought it better for 
 her to delay the remainder of her story till the following 
 day. " No, mother," replied the little girl, " with 
 your permission, I will now finish my description of 
 that fatal day. Immediately after the disappearance 
 of my father, the hunting party slowly and sorrowfully 
 returned to the village, and the mournful silence of the 
 forest was only broken by sobs and wailings. Night 
 found us still at our solitary post, when the howls of 
 the hyena recalled to my mother's mind that perhaps 
 her youngest child might be in danger from the nightly 
 attacks of that prowling beast. Then my desolate 
 mother arose, but before leaving she made a little hut 
 with the branches of trees, where the ground had been 
 reddened with my father's blood. In it she placed 
 some sagaie together with his quiver and arrows. 
 Then, having left all the provisions on the leaf of a 
 banana at the entrance of the funeral hut, we returned 
 home without once looking behind, for such is the 
 custom of our country in coming from an interment. 
 All my misfortunes date from this fatal day ; even that 
 very night was our cottage without light or fire. 
 Nevertheless, we all had to betake ourselves to our
 
 86 SUEMA. 
 
 ordinary tasks tasks, however henceforth to be per- 
 formed in sorrow." 
 
 To recruit Suema's strength, the reverend mother 
 delayed the continuation till the following day.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 THE FAMINE. 
 
 the community had again reassembled 
 round her, Suema continued as follows : 
 " Oh how unhappy I was then ! I did not yet know 
 the consoling truths which have since heen taught me. 
 I was ignorant of the great ends of my life, that we 
 were here on the earth to love and serve God, to suffer 
 for him, and by doing so to gain his kingdom. I did 
 not even know how to pray. I was prompted by love 
 of my father and grief at having lost him to hate all 
 creatures. I reproached the sun for shining, the bird 
 for singing, and I cursed my very being, and the joyous 
 tones of my neighbours, instead of cheering, made my 
 breast boil with rage, for they seemed to insult my 
 grief. Such are the torments of those who do not 
 know the true God. Soon after a frightful calamity 
 desolated not only my family but the whole country, 
 on th% crops of which fell clouds of locusts. All had
 
 88 SUE MA.. 
 
 disappeared in the short space of three days. While 
 the bark of large trees was gnawed off altogether, the 
 smaller plants fit for food were eaten down to the very 
 root. The country became a desert, and a famine 
 severe as well as general was the result. Those who 
 had salt, subsisted on salted locusts. But since my 
 father's death we were no longer supplied with salt. 
 We lived some time on the goats and poultry which 
 remained in our former well stocked enclosure, but the 
 very beasts themselves not finding sufficient nourish- 
 ment soon fell a prey to famine, which, before long, 
 was followed by a still more terrible scourge. This 
 was a frightful epidemic produced by the multitudes of 
 insects and the bodies of animals which were left un- 
 buried. Then to the bustle of a happy people succeeded 
 the unbroken silence of a depopulated and deserted 
 country. Our misfortunes in particular had become so 
 great, that we wept no more for those of our number 
 who had died. We earned the corpses of my sisters 
 to the forest without shedding a tear. As we placed 
 them in the hut my mother observed. 
 
 "'Happy they, whose misfortunes were thus cut 
 short.' Instead of carrying my youngest brother to 
 the forest, my mother buried him in our cottage itself,
 
 SUEMA. 39 
 
 aiid then taking my hand set out with me on a weary 
 journey along the banks of rivers, without casting a 
 farewell glance to her native hills and fields." 
 
 Poor widow ! Poor orphan ! While endeavouring 
 to escape, they were but going forward to meet fresh 
 misfortunes. 

 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Qj'OME days had passed since Suerna had described 
 the famine by which her country was ravaged, 
 when, at the request of the reverend mother, she con- 
 tinued as follows : 
 
 mother. She regained her fortitude ; and at the 
 distance of a three days' journey we built a hut, and 
 commenced to dig up the ground. A neighbour was 
 kind enough to lend us two sacks of mtama one for 
 sowing, the other for food till the harvest. Though I 
 cannot say that complete happiness once again entered 
 our little cottage, yet, my mother became more tran- 
 quillized, and I was delighted to perceive that she no 
 longer wept. But, alas, our peace was not of long 
 duration. The year was bad, and the harvest com- 
 pletely failed. Our creditor, pressed by necessity, 
 came to reclaim the mtama which he had so kindly
 
 SUEMA. 41 
 
 lent us. Greatly embarrassed at this demand, my 
 mother threw herself at his feet, entreating him to 
 grant her a little delay. But the reprieve she obtained 
 was altogether insufficient, 
 
 " Without losing courage, my good mother had 
 recourse to her ordinary industry, and especially to her 
 skill in clay work. Neither by night nor by day did 
 she desist from her work in which I assisted her as 
 much as lay in my power. However, you must know 
 that works of this kind are of little value in certain 
 countries. Thus, notwithstanding all our exertions, 
 we were unable to pay the quarter of our debt, at the 
 expiration of the term fixed by our creditor. 
 
 " Returning to seek his debt again, and finding that 
 we were still unable to pay, he departed uttering 
 threats, which caused us much pain. To crown our 
 misfortunes, an Arabian caravan passed by us very 
 soon after. Who is there who does not know how 
 dangerous for the weak is the approach of a caravan ? 
 Wicked neighbours are accustomed to steal their 
 children and to sell them to the Arabs, either for salt 
 or for beads. Creditors also profit of these occasions 
 to enforce the payment of their debts. When the latter 
 are unable to pay, their slaves or their children are 
 
 c
 
 42 SUEMA. 
 
 seized upon. It even happens that often they them- 
 selves are reduced to slavery. There is not, after all, 
 anything very astonishing in this apparently strange 
 conduct, for the avarice of those who do not love the 
 true God can neither be curbed or restrained within 
 any limits whatsoever. We heard soon that the 
 caravan had stopped at some short distance from our 
 cottage. On every side spread the greatest uneasiness. 
 During the night the sobs of my mother awoke me 
 several times. Fearing to increase her trouble, I did 
 not dare to ask her the cause of her tears. But, in 
 the morning, I was not long without perceiving that 
 she had been oppressed during the night by some most 
 extraordinary grief. Fancy what must have been my 
 astonishment when I saw that her hair, in one night 
 had become as white as milk ! Poor mother ! in her 
 maternal anxiety she had foreseen the blow which was 
 about to strike us. Her fears were realised. In the 
 morning, with our creditor, came two old men of his 
 tribe, and an Arab. Without asking leave, they entered 
 the hut and said harshly to my mother. ' Mother of 
 Suema, you have nothing to pay for my sacks of 
 mtama : I will take your daughter in payment.' 'Bear 
 witness,' said he then to the old men. Then turning
 
 SUEMA. 48 
 
 to the Arab he said ' Well! it is agreed: 110 yards of 
 American cloth for this little child ! ' The Arab took 
 me by the hand, made me rise and walk about, 
 examined my arms and feet, opened my mouth ; and 
 then, after some moments' reflection lie replied, ' It is 
 well you can take the cloth.' 
 
 "I was sold! During all this time my mother 
 seemed as if in a swoon. But when our inexorable 
 creditor told her that he had seized me for his debt ac- 
 cording to the legal usage of the country, she covered 
 her face with her hands and wept ; for her grief, till 
 then pent up, burst forth in heart rending sobs, and 
 when she saw the Arab leading me away she threw 
 herself at his feet, and, in a voice which no language 
 can express, supplicated him to take her also. ' I am 
 not yet old,' said she, 'for my hair is white not from 
 age, but from sorrow. I am yet strong enough to 
 carry an elephant's tooth. Ah, for pity's sake do not 
 separate me from my child my sole consolation in the 
 evils which weigh me down. Master, I entreat you, 
 do not refuse me this one favour. Besides, I can con- 
 tent myself with very little food, and I know how to 
 work earthenware. I would be useful to you as a 
 slave, and I promise to work constantly. Do, my
 
 44 SUEMA. 
 
 lord, my master, do bring me away with you. Pity 
 an unfortunate mother who wishes not to be separated 
 from her child ! ' These words coming from the 
 inmost depths of my mother's heart softened the Arab. 
 I think, however, that in consenting to attach both of 
 us to his caravan, he was influenced less by my 
 mother's tears than by the advantage he might gain 
 from her labours in earthenware. Whatever was his 
 motive, the decision tranquillized our agitated hearts." 
 So distressing a scene, in which maternal love 
 manifests itself in the highest degree, proves that even 
 among these abandoned tribes, whose character is sus- 
 ceptible of many Christian virtues, human nature is 
 not altogether depraved. Is not this the place to 
 recall to our memories the words in which the great 
 Pope St. Gregory expressed his feelings when he saw 
 the natives of Great Britain exposed for sale in the 
 Eoman market: "What a misfortune it is that such 
 beautiful creatures are the slaves of the Devil." The 
 noble pontiff vowed that he would save them, and he 
 was faithful to his word.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 JOURNEY IN THE DESE11T. 
 
 E interest of the little community of Zanzibar, 
 in the fate of Suema, increased more and more 
 as her history progressed, and all eagerly desired to 
 learn as quickly as possible the catastrophe ; however, 
 in order to recruit the child's strength the continuation 
 of her narration was postponed for a few days, when 
 Suema resumed her narration : 
 
 "Early the next day the caravan set out. The 
 heavy burthen of an elephant's tusk was put'upou my 
 mother, while I had only to carry some pieces of cloth. 
 The following is the manner in which the caravan 
 travelled. Immediately after midnight some of the 
 master's servants hasten on before the caravan, taking 
 with them ropes and axes to construct huts ; others, 
 again, to draw water, carry pitchers, and besides, a 
 large drum to collect the entire caravan. They are
 
 46 SUKMA. 
 
 also provided with an antelope's horn, which is con- 
 sidered by them to be an infallible talisman against 
 lions and all other wild animals. These they generally 
 purchase at an exorbitant price, from the most famous 
 magicians in the country. At day break the signal for 
 departure is given, and immediately a man, protected 
 by an enchanted flag, places himself at the head of the 
 column. This is more generally the distinctive sign 
 of some powerful native chieftain, who thus affords 
 them a somewhat more substantial protection. Then 
 come the slaves who carry the provisions, ivory, copal 
 gum, and the clothes of their masters. The latter, 
 accompanied by some faithful servants, brings up the 
 rear. At mid-day the Arab prays for some moments, 
 and every one rests for two or three hours. The 
 march is then resumed, and kept up till the evening, 
 when provisions are served out. Those in advance 
 take great care to mark the way by covering with 
 leaves and grass all the paths which lead off from the 
 caravan's direct route. Towards evening they beat 
 the drums to guide more securely those who follow 
 in the rear. Arrived at the resting place for the night, 
 the caravan finds the huts all ready. They are gener- 
 ally made with branches of trees and dry herbs. In
 
 SUKMA. 47 
 
 the beat one a bed is constructed with leaves and 
 branches for the accommodation of the master. The 
 rations, which have also been prepared beforehand, 
 are then distributed. They generally consist either 
 of a kind of pap thickened with meal, or of beans, 
 to which roasted banana, bread or soft potatoes are 
 often added. In order to husband the strength of those 
 laden with wares, as well as to prevent desertion the 
 conductors take good care to nourish, as well as possible, 
 the slaves under their charge." 
 
 In this manner the Arabian caravans safely traverse 
 thousands of leagues under the scorching tropical sun, 
 and all to gain money at the expense of the life or liberty 
 of unfortunate negroes. As the caravan, which is 
 carrying Suema far away from her native land, moves 
 on, pause for a moment, young Christians, to compare 
 your lot with hers, ask yourselves what would you 
 wish to be done for you, were you in her place.
 
 CHAPTER IX, 
 FILIAL LOVE. 
 
 T us re-enter the hall of the community where 
 the missionaries, the nuns, and the children are 
 collected Suema is going to continue the history of 
 her life. 
 
 " The two or three firat days of the march passed 
 over well enough. I had a natural love for walking, 
 and, fortunately, my burthen was not very heavy, 
 but such, however, was not the case with my poor 
 mother ; the first day, laden with an elephant's tusk, 
 she walked at the head of the column. During the 
 second day she dropped back to the middle ; the third 
 day it was with difficulty that she kept up with the rear 
 of the caravan. Ever}- now and then she left down her 
 charge. Her difficult and painful breathing betrayed 
 her fatigue, and each step showed the superhuman 
 efforts she made to continue the journey. Every
 
 SUEMA. 49 
 
 buffering of my mother that I could not aid pierced 
 my heart like a dart. The following day the caravan 
 had the misfortune to miss the streamlet it had followed 
 till then, and every one was parched by a burning thirst. 
 My mother, exhausted by fatigue, and succumbing 
 under the weight of her burden, fell several times. 
 Seeing that she was incapable of any longer carrying 
 her heavy load, the master ordered a slave to carry the 
 tooth she had dragged from the time she had joined 
 the caravan. I was for a moment consoled, and even 
 astonished, to behold these principles of humanity in 
 an Arab. Cruel deception . What was my grief when 
 I overheard in the evening this barbarous command 
 given to the slave, whose duty it was to distribute the 
 victuals. ' Suema's mother is no longer of any use. 
 For the future do not give her any rations.' What 
 tidings for a daughter who dearly loved her mother ! 
 By dissimulating, however, I managed to divide my 
 rations with my mother. Unhappily, the ferocious 
 Arab perceived my innocent ruse, and he beat me till 
 the blood ran down. He then gave orders to serve 
 out my allowance in his own presence, and that I 
 should be watched as closely as possible. The following 
 day my unhappy mother had nothing else to subsist
 
 50 SUEMA. 
 
 upon but a few locusts, some leaves of inatama, aud a 
 little red earth. What a situation for her unhappy 
 daughter ! In the evening I could not eat. I was 
 ashamed to taste the good food which was offered to 
 me. How could a child who saw her mother perishing 
 with hunger dare to eat ? 
 
 " But this feeling of tenderness and filial compassion 
 was so badly interpreted by the inhuman Arab that he 
 had me beaten again, and I was forced to swallow the 
 food, watered by my tears, without having the con- 
 solation of sharing it with my wretched mother. The 
 next day oh, day of misfortune ! our caravan entered 
 an immense plain which hftl just been burned, and the 
 fire extended farther than one could see. No longer 
 any traces of green herbs, nor of insects, nor of birds 
 were to be seen. Nothing met the eye save a boundless 
 sea of blackened earth. It was absolutely impossible 
 for my mother to procure the slightest morsel of food, 
 not even some red earth to fill her craving stomach. 
 During this day I saw her fall several times, spent with 
 fatigue, and loss of breath. It was but by the most 
 superhuman efforts that she succeeded in arriving ut 
 the resting place for the night. At the serving out of 
 the rations my ear was again rent by these inhuman
 
 SUEMA. 51 
 
 words. ' Let some one,' said the master, drive this old 
 woman from the encampment, and mind well that 
 no one give her anything to eat : Whoever infringes 
 this order shall be severely punished.' Then he 
 cruelly added, ' To-morrow, Allah be praised, we shall 
 be disencumbered of her to-morrow, I hope, she shall 
 leave us in peace ; this is her last stage : she can do no 
 more.' These words were accompanied by a ferocious 
 laugh which explained its entire meaning. 
 
 "Can anyone describe the feelings by which my 
 heart was agitated, while this barbarian gaily pro- 
 nounced the sentence of death on the only person 
 whom I loved passionately in this world of my 
 beloved mother who loved me so much, and who had 
 sacrificed herself, that she ought not be separated from 
 me at least in this world ? The words grief, anguish, 
 despair, are too feeble to express the least of my 
 sufferings. The sole thought of these torments makes 
 me shudder, even at this present moment." Indeed, 
 in truth, Suema suffocated by grief was obliged to 
 cease. All the community were deeply moved at her 
 emotion, and it was not till after a long interval that 
 the poor orphan could continue her heart-rending 
 story.
 
 OZ SUEMA. 
 
 " In the night we slept under the canopy of heaven, 
 for the fire had consumed all the herbs and bushes. 
 It was a very desirable lot for me, at least, when 
 I was enabled to rejoin my starving mother. As soon 
 as I thought that everyone was asleep I glided like a 
 serpent out of the camp. The darkness of the night, 
 and the black colour of the plain, with that of my 
 body, favoured my flight. I must, however, confess, 
 that when but some few hundred feet from the resting 
 place, I felt myself stricken by a great fear ; as I 
 was never accustomed to walk alone in a dark night ; 
 my blood curdled with dread. I was unable to proceed 
 further ; the love which I felt for my mother arose 
 within me stronger than ever, and I shouted out 
 aloud. 'What, ought not a daughter suffer for a 
 beloved mother ? Is it not better to die with her than 
 to survive her ?' These words gave me new courage, 
 and I bravely pursued my way."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 MATERNAL LOVE. 
 
 ET us rejoin Suema, and follow the footsteps of 
 this young heroine of filial piety. 
 
 ' ' I walked as much as the darkness of night would 
 permit me, in the route pursued by the caravan. I 
 
 held my breath, listening attentively to catch the 
 slightest noise. Soon I heard deep groans, by which 
 I recognized my mother's voice, and knew she was 
 not far distant. I ran towards her, crying out, ' Mother, 
 console yourself, here's your child coming to comfort 
 you.' She heard these words with sighs of love 
 and of tenderness. When at length I had the happi- 
 ness to discover her she folded me in her emaciated 
 arms, placed my head on her knees, and I felt her tears 
 falling down my cheeks. She rocked me as much as 
 her shattered strength would allow, as formerly she 
 rocked my brother. Then she sang in a very low tone, 
 as is the custom at our funerals.
 
 54 SUEMA. 
 
 " ' Suema, my child, why did you not die with your 
 sisters ? I would at least have had your tonib, a hap- 
 piness which none could take from me. Happy is the 
 mother who can breathe her last, weeping over the 
 graves of her children. The graves of your brothers 
 and sisters are far away, and you are about to be 
 eternally separated from me. But I am no longer able 
 to follow you, nor to return to the graves of your 
 sisters. Oh ! alas ! where are you going, unfortunate 
 child ? Death is not as bitter as slavery. Who shall 
 longer care and tend you in distress ? The cold morning 
 dew and the wintry rain alone must wash the orphan's 
 head. The naked earth is to be her bed. The grave 
 is her home, the only place where she can rest her 
 aching limbs.' 
 
 " Thus wailed my mother, sobbing all the while 
 according to our customs, and my heart was almost 
 bursting. The tears no longer flowed from my eyes, 
 for I felt as if choked with grief. I thought my throat 
 was filled with hot coals. My breast was rent with 
 sorrow. However, the soft rocking and plaintive voice 
 of my mother, joined to the fatigue of a long day's 
 journey, soon lulled me to sleep, and at daybreak I 
 felt that some one was clasping me very tightly. I
 
 SUEMA. 55 
 
 awoke, and perceived I was folded still in my mother's 
 arms. Then I heard the noise of men who were 
 evidently looking for me. They approached and saw 
 us, and summoned their companions. They surrounded 
 us on all sides. The Arab, rolling his eyes in a most 
 terrible way, first seized my hand and sought to drag 
 me away by force. But my mother clasped me so 
 closely that the cruel man, though he dragged us 
 along the ground, could not succeed in separating 
 
 us. Trembling with rage, he yelled out in a hoarse 
 
 
 voice ' beat off this cursed old hag ; cover her with 
 
 stripes.' 
 
 " Immediately a shower of blows descended upon my 
 unhappy mother, who, notwithstanding all her suffer- 
 ings, pressed me closely to her side. ' Strike me, beat 
 me away as long as you like, she faintly said. Strike, 
 but I will die before you separate me from my last 
 child.' 
 
 "The master heard her, but he would not even leave 
 this last consolation to my dying mother. 'Strike,' 
 said he, and 'beat the little girl severely.' The pain 
 caused by the blows which followed drew the most 
 piercing cries from me. At length, my mother's 
 strength failed, her arms were relaxed, and I was
 
 56 SUEMA. 
 
 seized and carried off. Making one last effort, my 
 mother threw herself on her knees, and sorrowfully 
 stretched forth her hands towards me. A moment after 
 I saw her fall hack, without doubt suffocated by grief." 
 Suema's affliction was great. Nevertheless, there 
 still remains at the bottom of the cup some drops 
 more bitter than all the others, and these has Suema 
 yet to drink.
 
 CHAPTER XI, 
 THE LAST SEPARATION. 
 
 O'UEMA was already treated and regarded by the 
 ^^ missionaries, the nuns, and her little com- 
 panions, with the deepest compassion and the liveliest 
 tenderness. She was looked upon as almost a martyr. 
 These sentiments became more marked as the end of 
 her story was well known to all. On the request of 
 the superiors she related it as follows : 
 
 " I struggled as much as I could in the arms of the 
 slave who bore me away when I tried to obtain a last look 
 at my mother. Soon they got tired of carrying me, and 
 tried to urge me on with blows. At each step I tried to 
 return to my mother, or weighed down by blows and suf- 
 fering I fell to the earth. Wearied by my resistance, the 
 master ordered a slave to take me up again and carry 
 me to the encampment. He obeyed: scarcely had 
 we arrived when the caravan set out. We soon came 
 to the suininit of a lull. I looked behind, and in the
 
 58 SUEMA. 
 
 centre of the scorched plain, for the last time, saw my 
 mother, her arms still extended towards me. But by 
 what new torments was my heart racked when I saw, 
 wheeling around her head, a countless flock of ravens 
 impatiently awaiting the moment of her death to tear 
 the flesh from off her hones. No one could possibly 
 even conceive what I suffered at that moment. More 
 dead than alive, it was, however, necessary for me to 
 proceed. If I slackened my pace in the least I was 
 mercilessly beaten. I shall pass over our journey from 
 the spot whence last I saw my mother to Quiloa, 
 which is a town situated on the coast. I only know 
 that during this long journey from shedding so many 
 tears, my eyes became so swollen, that I was in dread 
 of becoming blind. Still they beat me to make me 
 walk on. But all their cruelties were without effect, 
 for so weighed down was I by my afflictions, that I was 
 not able even to keep myself upright. ' Master, said 
 the slave to the leader of the caravan, ' what's the use 
 o' carrying this skeleton any farther ? You see the 
 child is no longer fit for anything, but to be torn in 
 pieces by the ravens. ' I cannot leave her here,' he 
 replied, ' as I bought her for my master. If I leave 
 her behind I lose the piastre (4s. 6d.), which you are
 
 SUEMA. 59 
 
 aware I get for each.' The man who carried me was 
 furious, and he did all in his power to get rid of me. 
 At every halting place he threw me as heavily as he 
 could to the ground. Passing under the trees and 
 through thorny brakes he never failed to flay my back 
 with the branches. 
 
 "But, besides all this, what was really worse, this 
 inhuman conduct excited not only the laughter but the 
 approbation of the wretched companions of my cap- 
 tivity. We spent a few days at Quiloa : they were for 
 me but a short respite in my miseries. There no one 
 ill-treated me. I lay down to rest in the darkest 
 corner of the hut. The water flowed almost within 
 
 
 
 my reach, and permitted me to quench at liberty 
 my burning thirst. It was by that stream that my 
 life was preserved. What pleasure did it not afford 
 me as I cooled my parched tongue with its limpid 
 waters ! To every thing else I was completely in- 
 different. I scarcely knew where I was, and I had 
 but a faint remembrance of my long sufferings. All 
 the time from the moment that I was taken away 
 from my mother, till our arrival in Quiloa, appeared to 
 rne like a horrible dream. I even thought that this 
 dream would have an end, that everything which
 
 60 SUEMA. 
 
 surrounded me should fade away, and that I would 
 awake one day beside rny bereaved mother, in the little 
 hut where we were so sad, but happy in comparison 
 with our present lot." 
 
 As you said, poor child, all that was but a hideous 
 vision. The reality which awaited you was sadder still.
 
 CHAPTER XII, 
 THE VOYAGE. 
 
 G1 FTEE having suffered, during a long journey, in 
 Cx the scorching heat of the tropic regions, all the 
 fatigues, all the ill treatments, all the privations, every 
 bodily, every internal torture, Suema had now to 
 undergo all the sufferings of a voyage a voyage 
 which was to be made with its accompanying hard- 
 ships. 
 
 Let us hear the dear child describe it with her 
 ordinary candour and precision. 
 
 " While deluded by these illusions, and in a state 
 of mind by which I barely knew that I still lived, one 
 morning I was hurriedly carried on board a small 
 vessel bound for Zanzibar. All the slaves, who like 
 me had just been embarked, commenced to tremble 
 and bewail their misfortunes in the strongest manner. 
 'Ah,' said they, ' we are all lost. We are going to
 
 62 SUEMA. 
 
 Zanzibar, where white men live that eat up the poor 
 negroes.' 
 
 " Though I was generally indifferent to all that 
 passed around me, yet I could not remain any longer 
 in the position I then occupied, and I hegan to wish 
 for death. But my sufferings were redoubled in the 
 vessel. We were so pressed that it was not only 
 impossible to stir, but even to breathe. The heat 
 and thirst became insupportable, and to crown all, a 
 strong gale began to blow which completed our 
 miseries. In the night we were frozen by the cold 
 air of the open sea, and covered every now and then 
 by the foam which was dashed over us by the violence 
 of the wind. On the following day, each of us 
 received a little fresh water, and some mania root. 
 
 " In tin's manner did we pass six long days, and six 
 longer nights. Cold, thirst, sea-sickness, the sudden 
 transition from the highest degree of heat to an icy 
 coldness, impossibility of resting our head even 
 for a moment, from want of room; in fine, all these 
 sufferings united, made me regret for the first time, 
 our journey across the desert. But I took courage, 
 my life soon changed we were already in sight of 
 Zanzibar. The triangular sail was now swelled by a
 
 SUEMA. <)8 
 
 strong wind, and we quickly arrived before the capital. 
 Two cannon shots shook the vessel, the sail was taken 
 down, and the anchor dropped. I heard nay com- 
 panions in misery admire the walled city the white 
 city. Every other moment they were either lost in 
 admiration, or plunged in the deepest fear. As for 
 me, rny eyes were closed to the light, and what passed 
 before me, passed as if a thick mist. I only lived in 
 the hope that once on firm earth again, some one 
 would give me a little water to allay my burning 
 thirst. Oh ! how cruel a torment is thirst. I do not 
 remember how we were landed, nor how long we re- 
 mained at the courthouse. The sight of this immense 
 crowd of Negroes carrying heavy burdens on their 
 shoulders, their cries had made me so giddy that I 
 could no longer take notice of the thousand objects 
 which passed before my eyes. Besides, it was be- 
 coming dark already."
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 SUEMA BURIED ALIVE. 
 
 'HEN we arrived at the slave depot, which is 
 a large stone house, it was already night. 
 There I saw the conductor of the caravan, whom I 
 had before looked upon as the most powerful person 
 in the world, demean himself humbly before another 
 Arab, who appeared as if reproaching him, in a 
 language which I did not understand. I think he 
 must have been scolding him on my account, for he 
 pointed several times at me with his finger. 
 
 " Then in another language which resembles that 
 of my country he ordered me to get up. I made 
 many efforts to do so, but without success. ' This 
 slave is useless, said this new personage ; it is a great 
 loss to me. Six yards of cloth, her transport by sea 
 and land, and the custom house duties, at least there 
 are 55 piasters (one pound) lost. Conductor, hence- 
 forth commit no such follies.'
 
 SUEMA. 65 
 
 ' ' Then turning towards two stalwart negroes he 
 added, ' Khamis and Marzoule, put this skeleton into 
 a mat, and carry it to the cemetery. It's useless to 
 nourish her longer, for she can't be saved.' As soon 
 as this order was given it was executed. I was at 
 once folded in an old mat by the two slaves who took 
 good care to tie it up well with cords of cocoa. They 
 then hung the mat on a long piece of wood, and lifting 
 it to their shoulders carried me far away from the 
 depot. I was so enveloped by the mat that I could no 
 longer see anything, but the noise of the crowd told 
 me that I was being carried through the streets of 
 the city. To the noise of the large city succeeded the 
 rustling of branches, by which I knew that we were 
 passing through a brake. At last they stopped, and 
 threw me on the ground. I felt that they were 
 scraping up the sand, then I felt that I was being 
 buried alive. The layer of sand which covered me was 
 so thin that I could hear the footsteps of the negroes 
 as they hurried away. The deepest silence ensued 
 a most horrible fear seized upon my whole being. I 
 had undergone many sufferings before that moment. 
 From my earliest years my life had been but one of 
 sorrows. However, the mere thought of death was a
 
 66 SUEMA. 
 
 source of inexhaustible terror to me. I then made a 
 violent attempt to disengage myself from the mat but 
 without success, and it was but with the greatest 
 difficulty that I could raise my head over the sand 
 to prevent being suffocated. At the same time I 
 commenced to shout out as loudly as I could. But 
 my feeble voice was lost in the silence of the night. 
 Two or three times I thought I heard footsteps passing 
 quite near me. I shouted still louder. But my voice 
 instead of bringing me succour, frightened travellers 
 whom I plainly heard going away. 
 
 " A deep silence again ensued. All at once the 
 brake was agitated near the spot where I was buried. 
 Hope again came. Suddenly a pack of yelping jackals 
 surrounded me. My blood froze with terror. My 
 cries and the desperate efforts I made kept them away 
 for some time. But little by little they encouraged 
 one another, and I heard their baying come nearer 
 and nearer. At last they disinterred the extremity of 
 my body, and I felt them biting at my feet. I cried 
 out once more and then fainted off." 
 
 We ask the question again. Is it possible can it 
 be possible that there are on the surface of the globe 
 beings, who bear the name of men, so barbarous, so
 
 SUEMA. 67 
 
 inhuman, so unnatural as to treat thus unfortunate 
 human beings ? Yes, there are, alas, but too many 
 we must not cease to repeat it to all Christians too 
 many there are too forgetful of what they owe to 
 Christianity and to their brethren still doomed to the 
 hardships of slavery.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 SUEMA DELIVERED. 
 
 QU^BOVIDENCE had not forgotten the poor orphan. 
 qpy Suema had drunk the last drop of her bitter 
 chalice. He who brought her to the portals of the 
 grave, and will conduct her back, already comes to her 
 succour. Hear in what manner He came. 
 
 ' ' "When my senses had returned, I found myself in 
 a chamber with white partitions. I was lying in a 
 good bed covered with a white blanket. Two persons 
 with white faces, such as I had never before seen were 
 standing at the head of the bed, and were watching 
 attentively every movement I made. They were 
 dressed in white and black. They were you, dear 
 mothers; yes, you, the true daughters of Mary, who 
 guarded me so tenderly, and devoutly. Seeing their 
 black habits, I thought for a moment that I was dead, 
 and in the land of the Peponi (spirits). My first 
 thought was for my mother.
 
 SUEMA. 69 
 
 " ' Where is my mother '?' I enquired several times 
 of the sisters whom I took for spirits. 'Be quiet,' 
 replied one of them, ' your mother will be here soon.' 
 I was then presented with a most delicious draught 
 which I eagerly swallowed, and then fell back asleep. 
 
 " I will now tell you what passed during the loss of 
 my senses while I was surrounded by the howling 
 jackals. 
 
 "M. N., a young Creole of Bourbon, not being able 
 to sleep that night, took into his head the fortunate 
 whim of hunting jackals. Armed with his gun he was 
 directed towards the cemetery by the howling of the 
 jackals. Instead of flying as the other passengers he 
 bravely attacked the animals, at that very moment 
 ready to tear me into pieces, and put them to flight ; 
 then seeing before him a bundle which was stirring a 
 little, the young man naturally wished to know what it 
 was. He stopped, opened the cords, unfolded the 
 matting, discovered a warm body, lifted me upon his 
 shoulders, and carried me to the Catholic Mission 
 House, where I was joyfully received by the good 
 mothers. My deliverer was loaded with the warmest 
 congratulations for the charitable deed he had the 
 happiness of performing. From that moment I was 
 happy."
 
 70 SUEMA. 
 
 Let us partake of the happiness of Suema. Let us 
 admire the designs which Providence so wonderfully 
 carried out in the person of this little child. Saved 
 from the greatest perils, and brought by the longest 
 and most painful way into the motherly bosom of the 
 church.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 SUEMA'S CONFESSION. 
 
 'HEN Snema bad finished the recital of the 
 external dangers she had undergone, she 
 wished, at the request of the superior, to lay bare the 
 inmost workings of her heart to her young companions. 
 She acquitted herself of the task with her ordinary 
 candour. 
 
 " I would have ended my narration, dear sisters, 
 where my misfortunes ceased. However, since our 
 mother wishes, I will reveal to you a fact, at least to 
 me very serious, and which is intimately linked to my 
 unhappy state of life. We all learn here, happily for 
 ourselves, the consoling truths of religion, and the 
 duties which it imposes on us. Each word of our 
 Saviour has been for us new light, filling us with 
 consolation. We, poor orphans, have found good 
 mothers, who have made us know our real Father,
 
 72 SUEMA. 
 
 the good God. We have been despised, persecuted, 
 and illtreated. They have taught us to love those 
 who despise, who persecute and illtreat us. They 
 have ended by persuading us that our tears have 
 brought down the benedictions of our good Jesus, who 
 will crown us one day with a great glory if we are 
 good Christians. "Without father and without family, 
 we have found both in this mission house, which, 
 besides, shows the way to our true home where there 
 are no more sufferings. 
 
 " All the truths I have been taught have given me 
 the most ineffable consolation. My soul drank them 
 in as I would formerly drink a glass of fresh water, 
 while travelling across the sandy desert. But when 
 one of the mothers explained to me the Lord's prayer, 
 at these words ' and forgive us our offences as we 
 forgive them who trespass against us ' I felt my soul 
 revolting from that command. Everything else is 
 good enough but that is insupportable. I could not 
 contain my hatred against those who persecuted me 
 a hatred enraged with bitterness and sorrow. And 
 going to the nun, I said to her, ' Mother, ought I, 
 must I pardon the Arab who struck my dying mother ? 
 Oh, no, never shall I forgive rny mother's assassin !'
 
 STTKMA. 73 
 
 " < My child,' replied the nun, ' our Lord, God as 
 lie is, suffered the greatest insults. He forgave 
 them all; he even prayed for his executioners.' 
 
 " 'But, mother, such a thing is utterly impossihle : 
 I think if I said yes, my heart would whisper, your 
 pardon is not sincere.' The good nun embraced me 
 and said, ' I pity you, my poor Suema, on account 
 of the long and cruel sufferings that you had to 
 endure, and on account of the obstacle you place in 
 the way of your baptism, which would have crowned 
 all your desires. It is a great loss, dear child; you 
 have learned with such zeal your catechism, and here 
 now you do not wish to lay aside that wicked hatred, 
 as you would renounce Satan, his works, and his 
 pomps. With this hatred, baptism is out of the 
 question ; but pray, my child, I will also pray for you, 
 and with God's grace, your heart will relent.' 
 
 "I set myself to pray, and in the midst of my 
 prayers I felt myself sometimes happy, and sometimes 
 unhappy. In, the day I thought I could sincerely say 
 ' yes, I pardon with, all my heart that cruel man.' 
 But, the following night, I dreamt that I was assisting 
 at the following scene which took place in the black 
 desert : I thought I was changed into a raven, that
 
 74 SUEMA. 
 
 the Arab lay drenched with his own blood in the 
 middle of the plain, and that I tore him into pieces 
 with my heak, beating my wings all the time. I 
 related this dream to the nun ; it brought the tenrs 
 into her eyes. She said softly to me 'continue to pray 
 dear child, God will have mercy on you.' 
 
 " The day of my baptism 'was already fixed. It 
 came at length, but the sacrament which would make 
 me a Christian had to be deferred, because my 
 disposition was scarcely changed." 
 
 The forgiveness of injuries is the greatest miracle 
 of Christianity. In this circumstance, the. conduct 
 of the Arab, the filial tenderness of Suema, the fiery 
 nature of African people, explains Suema's repugnance. 
 But God's grace is stronger than Nature.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 HEROISM OF SUEMA. 
 
 fEB Baptism deferred, Suema was unhappier than 
 ever. But Providence, which had protected lier in 
 so many dangers, did not wish that this dear child 
 should be lost at the very mouth of the harbour. In 
 a separate wing of the house is a room where sick 
 people of every race and religion are gratuitously 
 received, and attended with the most delicate care. 
 "One morning," continued Suema, "some one came 
 to tell the superioress that several Arabs, wounded in a 
 light with some English cruisers, had just been carried 
 into the room. It was my turn to help the Sisters of 
 the infirmary. I hastened to prepare everything 
 necessary. The hot water, the basin, sponge, lint, 
 all was ready in a few moments. Carrying all these, 
 I entered the hall with some of the Sisters. Oh, 
 wonder of wonders ! The first person who met my 
 eyes was our old leader of the caravan, who had struck 
 my dying mother. He was in a terrible state. His
 
 76 SUEMA. 
 
 head cleft with a sabre cut, his chest bloody, and 
 deeply marked by several bayonet wounds, made 
 such ail impression on me, that I let the things I had in 
 my hands fall to the ground, nor could I help exclaiming, 
 My God ! it is the Arab ! ! ! 
 
 " The reverend mother turned towards me, and said 
 in a voice full of kindness, 'Suema, my child, your 
 misfortunes merit their reward, and now behold, in his 
 mercy, our Lord has vouchsafed to you an occasion to 
 perform an action which will gain for you an inesti- 
 mable prize. Happy those who have the generosity to 
 do good for evil ; God will one day remember it. A 
 little courage, child, and the victory is yours. Suema, 
 you must dress the wounds of this man." 
 
 " My eyes met those of the reverend mother, and 1 
 obeyed the order which was given, trembling in every 
 limb the whole time. I took the basin, and commenced 
 to wash the cuts. The first attempt cost me much 
 Oh, how much ! Besides the disgust I naturally felt, 
 my lips were ready at that moment to curse my 
 enemy. I was internally glad that he was wounded. 
 But little by little, with God's aid, I overcame myself, 
 and those bad thoughts were succeeded by the deepest 
 pity. I was myself astonished at the change which
 
 SUE MA. 77 
 
 Lad taken place within me ; and it was not until then 
 that I experienced all the delights of Christian charity. 
 After dressing the unfortunate man, I retired secretly 
 to the nun's oratory, and there, prostrate before the 
 altar of the Blessed Virgin, I sobbed aloud thess 
 words, '0 Mary, my mother, have pity on that 
 wretched man whom you gave me courage and grace 
 to forgive ; yes, I pardon him sincerely truly.' 
 
 ' ' At these words I felt warm tear drops falling on 
 my head. I turned round and beheld the nun who first 
 taught me the precepts of the Catholic Keligion. She 
 had heard me pronounce the words of forgiveness, and 
 it was she who shed over me the tears of love and 
 delight, blessing God for the grace of my conversion. 
 She was so happy that she folded me to her heart, as 
 my mother did, when I saw her for the last time. 
 This was on Sunday. Towards evening I was given a 
 white robe, and half an hour before benediction the 
 pastor's flock was increased by one more lamb, and 
 the Catholic family had another child. In baptizing 
 me, the Holy Church added to my name of Suema 
 that of Madeleine, which is a thousand times dearer 
 to me than the first. 
 
 ' I spent the remainder of the day in thanking God,
 
 fM SUEMA. 
 
 who by his mysterious and admirable ways, guided me 
 safely to the light of the gospel. I said to myself 
 every moment, 'What have I done that I should be 
 preferred to so many millions of infidels who never 
 shall have the same happiness ?' 
 
 " Penetrated by this thought, I wished to testify my 
 gratitude to our Good Master, and was not a little 
 embarrassed to know what I could do most agreeable 
 to his Sacred Heart. 
 
 " I heard then, as if a voice saying to me interiorly, 
 'Madeleine, live as a good Christian, and then do all 
 you can to obtain the conversion of your countrymen.' 
 'Yes, yes, my God,' I cried, 'I take that resolution 
 in Thy presence; all my life I will work for that 
 end. I will pray to Thee every day in order that 
 Thou, in Thine infinite mercy, mayest have pity on the 
 infidels of Oriental Africa, and that Thou rnayest send 
 them missionaries to show them the way to heaven.' 
 Madeleine kept her word. 
 
 Such is the authentic history of Suema, and thus 
 has it been sent from Zanzibar, by the Eev. Fr. 
 Homer, Apostolical Missionary of the Congregation 
 of the Holy Ghost, and of the Immaculate Heart of 
 Mary, Superior of the Mission in Zanzibar.
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 conclusion of this moving narration, the superior 
 wrote: "Oh that you could, Monseigneur, see 
 with your own eyes the children bought by you, and 
 those whom you have inspired with sentiments of 
 Christian charity ! Your heart would be happy at the 
 sight of these little creatures, who do not yet know how 
 to speak French, but who do not fail to recite every day 
 their beads in the Sonaldli language, known by God, 
 for the benefactors who bought them from slavery. 
 They pray for them every day in this life, and here- 
 after will bless them throughout all eternity." Then 
 he adds, "How heartrending it is to the missionary to 
 be unable to rescue so many souls, for whom, in con- 
 sideration of a little money, the gate of heaven would 
 be opened. What a sad thought it is to think that 
 for 50 francs (2), a child from to 7 years old could 
 be ransomed ; that even that trifle is not to be had, 
 for it is but too often spent on foolish and even 
 dangerous frivolities. What an amount of good could
 
 80 BITE MA. 
 
 be done with more resources." Young Christian 
 ladies, to whom we have been inspired to especially 
 address this tale, if you only hearken to the voice of 
 your heart, we are sure that there is not one among 
 you who would not wish, according to her resources. 
 to console the venerable Missionary, and to share 
 in the ransom and conversion of so many millions 
 of ))<><>! Macks, the most unhappy, and the most 
 abandoned beings in the world. 
 
 They stretch forth to you their suppliant hands 
 and entreat you, while exposed for sale in the market 
 of Zanzibar, "White lady, buy us, and we shall be 
 happy." And you also, dear children, you shall be 
 happy, happy even now by the very thought of the 
 good you will do, happy in the future by the certainty 
 of the recompense which is promised to you by Him, 
 who says, "Amen, I say unto you, as long as you did 
 it unto one of these my least brethren, ye did it unto 
 me." (St. Matthew xxxv. 10.) 
 
 After reading the history of Suema, if any person 
 young or old, be desirous of doing some good, let them 
 know that in the market of Zan/.ibav ;i little boy or 
 girl, from 4 to 8 years old, ordinarily costs from 40 to 
 50 francs (1 12s Gd to r2.) This sum, whether
 
 SUEMA. 81 
 
 furnished by one or more persons, will be received 
 with the liveliest gratitude by the Bev. Father 
 Procurator General of the Congregation of the Holy 
 Ghost and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the 
 Mission at Zanzibar, 30, Rue L'homond a Paris ; or 
 by Mgr. Gaume, 16, Eue de Severas Paris ; or at the 
 French College, Blackrock, Dublin. 
 
 ! HI. IN : <;. HEALY, PRINTER, 20, LR. OBMOXD QI'AY.
 
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