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n the West Indies. In general also, slaves were better treated,
had more holidays, and looked better than those in the English
islands. After we had done our business here, I wanted my discharge,
which was necessary; for it was then the month of May, and I wished
much to be at Montserrat to bid farewell to Mr. King, and all my other
friends there, in time to sail for Old England in the July fleet. But,
alas! I had put a great stumbling block in my own way, by which I was
near losing my passage that season to England. I had lent my captain
some money, which I now wanted to enable me to prosecute my
intentions. This I told him; but when I applied for it, though I urged
the necessity of my occasion, I met with so much shuffling from him,
that I began at last to be afraid of losing my money, as I could not
recover it by law: for I have already mentioned, that throughout the
West Indies no black man's testimony is admitted, on any occasion,
against any white person whatever, and therefore my own oath would
have been of no use. I was obliged, therefore, to remain with him
till he might be disposed to return it to me. Thus we sailed from
Martinico for the Grenades. I frequently pressing the captain for my
money to no purpose; and, to render my condition worse, when we got
there, the captain and his owners quarrelled; so that my situation
became daily more irksome: for besides that we on board had little or
no victuals allowed us, and I could not get my money nor wages, I
could then have gotten my passage free to Montserrat had I been able
to accept it. The worst of all was, that it was growing late in July,
and the ships in the islands must sail by the 26th of that month. At
last, however, with a great many entreaties, I got my money from the
captain, and took the first vessel I could meet with for St. Eustatia.
From thence I went in another to Basseterre in St. Kitts, where I
arrived on the 19th of July. On the 22d, having met with a vessel
bound to Montserrat, I wanted to go in her; but the captain and others
would not take me on board until I should advertise myself, and give
notice of my going off the island. I told them of my haste to be in
Montserrat, and that the time then would not admit of advertising, it
being late in the evening, and the captain about to sail; but he
insisted it was necessary, and otherwise he said he would not take me.
This reduced me to great perplexity; for if I should be compelled to
submit to this degrading necessity, which every black freeman is
under, of advertising himself like a slave, when he leaves an island,
and which I thought a gross imposition upon any freeman, I feared I
should miss that opportunity of going to Montserrat, and then I could
not get to England that year. The vessel was just going off, and no
time could be lost; I immediately therefore set about, with a heavy
heart, to try who I could get to befriend me in complying with the
demands of the captain. Luckily I found, in a few minutes, some
gentlemen of Montserrat whom I knew; and, having told them my
situation, I requested their friendly assistance in helping me off the
island. Some of them, on this, went with me to the captain, and
satisfied him of my freedom; and, to my very great joy, he desired me
to go on board. We then set sail, and the next day, the 23d, I arrived
at the wished-for place, after an absence of six months, in which I
had more than once experienced the delivering hand of Providence,
when all human means of escaping destruction seemed hopeless. I saw my
friends with a gladness of heart which was increased by my absence and
the dangers I had escaped, and I was received with great friendship by
them all, but particularly by Mr. King, to whom I related the fate of
his sloop, the Nancy, and the causes of her being wrecked. I now
learned with extreme sorrow, that his house was washed away during my
absence, by the bursting of a pond at the top of a mountain that was
opposite the town of Plymouth. It swept great part of the town away,
and Mr. King lost a great deal of property from the inundation, and
nearly his life. When I told him I intended to go to London that
season, and that I had come to visit him before my departure, the good
man expressed a great deal of affection for me, and sorrow that I
should leave him, and warmly advised me to stay there; insisting, as I
was much respected by all the gentlemen in the place, that I might do
very well, and in a short time have land and slaves of my own. I
thanked him for this instance of his friendship; but, as I wished very
much to be in London, I declined remaining any longer there, and
begged he would excuse me. I then requested he would be kind enough to
give me a certificate of my behaviour while in his service, which he
very readily complied with, and gave me the following:

 _Montserrat, January 26, 1767._

 'The bearer hereof, Gustavus Vassa, was my slave for upwards
 of three years, during which he has always behaved himself
 well, and discharged his duty with honesty and assiduity.

 Robert King.

 'To all whom this may concern.'

Having obtained this, I parted from my kind master, after many sincere
professions of gratitude and regard, and prepared for my departure for
London. I immediately agreed to go with one Capt. John Hamer, for
seven guineas, the passage to London, on board a ship called the
Andromache; and on the 24th and 25th I had free dances, as they are
called, with some of my countrymen, previous to my setting off; after
which I took leave of all my friends, and on the 26th I embarked for
London, exceedingly glad to see myself once more on board of a ship;
and still more so, in steering the course I had long wished for. With
a light heart I bade Montserrat farewell, and never had my feet on it
since; and with it I bade adieu to the sound of the cruel whip, and
all other dreadful instruments of torture; adieu to the offensive
sight of the violated chastity of the sable females, which has too
often accosted my eyes; adieu to oppressions (although to me less
severe than most of my countrymen); and adieu to the angry howling,
dashing surfs. I wished for a grateful and thankful heart to praise
the Lord God on high for all his mercies!

We had a most prosperous voyage, and, at the end of seven weeks,
arrived at Cherry-Garden stairs. Thus were my longing eyes once more
gratified with a sight of London, after having been absent from it
above four years. I immediately received my wages, and I never had
earned seven guineas so quick in my life before; I had thirty-seven
guineas in all, when I got cleared of the ship. I now entered upon a
scene, quite new to me, but full of hope. In this situation my first
thoughts were to look out for some of my former friends, and amongst
the first of those were the Miss Guerins. As soon, therefore, as I had
regaled myself I went in quest of those kind ladies, whom I was very
impatient to see; and with some difficulty and perseverance, I found
them at May's-hill, 

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