We, the pitiable black cargo, arrived in the Carolinas, North America, after a singularly unpleasant passage during which, bereft of the means to deliver supplicating addresses, we were forever punished under the feet of cruel tyrants. What a feast of benevolent hearts we had been marooned with! It was at this moment of landfall that my soul entered its period of darkest night, for my brethren were ushered from my sight and onto shore. Their fear caused an uproar the like of which I never again desire to endure. Our guardians seized a stratagem to appease their grief; that of the whip, plentifully applied. Having witnessed the dispersal of all my companions, I now resigned myself to the fate of being devoured by my captors. I was exceedingly miserable, and, believing myself undone, I desired my life to be extinguished.
My pining was eventually interrupted by one of my own tint, clad in their livery. Using my native tongue he informed me of my new state. I was not to tarry in the Americas (which by false design I had bargained to be the sole abode of white men), for it was intended that I should journey on to England, the original home of the white man, and 'serve massa'. With this information transferred my American countryman took his speedy leave, but my massa neglected to present himself. This not unnaturally caused me great anguish, for I desired to visualize the captain of my fate. Some days later, having jettisoned the human cargo and taken on board fresh provisions, we hauled anchor and set sail for England. I now found myself quartered in new surroundings above the level of the hold. Resembling neither comfort nor hell, but falling somewhere between the two, one might imagine my relief on discovering that I was not expected to undergo a second, and this time solitary, passage below deck. But still I worried. Furnished with only a board upon which to extend my ulcerated limbs, I waited in trepidation for the onset of white hunger, sure that I would be press-ganged into service.
A week of passage eclipsed during which I learned to agree with English meats and drinks, and during which the Christmas day fell, whereupon I was rewarded with a day's allowance of fresh beef. Washed and clothed now in the English manner, I received verification of the truth of my position by a first sighting of my master, who endeavoured to convince me of his peaceful nature by the laying on of hands and other entreaties. Upon his departure a whiskered clerk in excess of fifty years of age, who to judge by his very bookish demeanour was clearly a recipient of much formal education, was appointed to help me smatter a little imperfect English. By degrees I came to understand most communications about me, whether addressed directly or overheard. My clerk, John Williams, a most amicable native of Norfolk, showed me great attention, seemingly without concern for my complexion. He displayed neither shame nor fear at his association with one such as I, and for my part I found it difficult to believe my fortune in finding some person with a mind superior to prejudice. His kind nature helped to dispatch the consternation I suffered because of the ill-bred abuse of the vulgar crew. During the course of this long passage they derived great pleasure by informing me that declining quantities of food meant they would soon have to kill and eat me. Having had the good fortune to fall in with John Williams, my heart quaked only moderately, as he supplied truthful information to drive out their falsehoods.
John Williams instructed me in the gentlemanly art of dressing hair (although with my wool he quickly retired). All the while he made improvement to my English language so that others soon came to comprehend my responses to words addressed. On the dark subject of my name he was unable to assist, and the will of my captain prevailed. No longer Olumide, but Thomas. My captain, a serious man who celebrated the Sabbath by reading prayers to the ship's crew, rewarded me with a flurry of cuffs when I chose to ignore the tide Thomas and wait on Olumide. John Williams beseeched me to submit to Thomas, arguing most persuasively that my condition far out-ranked my betrayed brethren, whose backs were breaking under perpetual toil while I carried only the featherish burden of a new name. He asked me if I had not, only the previous day, witnessed a white man flogged unmercifully with a mass of rope and then tossed over the side of the ship as one might spurn a disobedient dog? I was to understand, by virtue of the reasoning of John Williams, that white men's cruelty to white men was often savage. Little would be spared should my idle cuffing find cause to swell into a more powerful signal of displeasure. So, this is how Olumide became Thomas. Some time later every heart was gladdened when sight of merry England was announced. Every heart but my own, for now I was obliged to give up my John Williams, and he I, and we parted with the shedding of tears on both sides.
London, the most enviable capital in the world, was destined to be my home for the greater part of the next decade. My master made it known that I was to consider myself his domestic, not his slave, and he spoke in a manner which suggested abhorrence of the trade which had occasioned his fortunes to increase. I soon came to understand that English law had recently decreed trading in human flesh illegal, so I learned to perceive of my master as a criminal. However, he was but one of a large multitude of contented plunderers happily accommodated in the bosom of English society. My master lodged me in the servants' quarters of his Pall Mall home where a supplementary attendant, a woman of my own clime and complexion, Mahogany Nell, serviced his needs. To my dismay these included his frequently admitting her to his bed. Although her pigmentation might not be as engaging as that of the fair daughters of Albion, my master clearly derived much comfort through his actions, for they were frequent and, if my ears did not deceive me, brutal in their lengthy pleasure. His sole servant beyond the dark pair (of whom I was one) comprised a sturdy Englishwoman by the name of Anna, who appeared to be deemed unworthy of fleshy exploration. We four, my master included, contrived to create a colourful kingdom of peace in this Pall Mall to which we were bound by fate. We domestic servants waited upon my newly retired master (for I was the final piece in his stratagem of pensioned ease), cleaning, cooking, attending to his toilet, determining that he should want for nothing. He was not of that breed of retired captain who delighted in displaying his good fortune in gaudily laced coats and cocked hats. His only marks of distinction were his black servants, but thankfully we were never pressed to shadow him in the streets. My master grew fond of his black Tom, and I loved him in return. I would observe his manner, and by my actions I hoped to introduce him to the notion that my sole pleasure in life derived from the great privilege of being able to serve him. It was he who, as my dexterity with English words multiplied, informed me that I was at liberty to walk about this great city and gather intelligence which might help me further appreciate my situation. I daily found my predicament becoming more agreeable, and I thanked him most profusely in his own words. Mahogany Nell and Anna near-burst with joy on hearing my first true and unaided speech, which contained many phrases strung confidently together.