But under the painful and abnormal
circumstances in which they found themselves--beaten and driven
like dogs while in the throes of sea-sickness, half starved and
hopeless, their spirit had been so broken, and they were so kept
down to that sad level by the display of force, aided by deadly
weapons aft, that no other condition could be expected for them
but that of broken-hearted slaves. My own case was many degrees
better than that of the other whites, as I have before noted; but
I was perfectly well aware that the slightest attempt on my part
to show that I resented our common treatment would meet with the
most brutal repression, and, in addition, I might look for a
dreadful time of it for the rest of the voyage.
The memory of that week of misery is so strong upon me even now
that my hand trembles almost to preventing me from writing about
it. Weak and feeble do the words seem as I look at them, making
me wish for the fire and force of Carlyle or Macaulay to portray
our unnecessary sufferings.
Like all other earthly ills, however, they came to an end, at
least for a time, and I was delighted to note that we were
getting to the northward again. In making the outward passage
round the Cape, it is necessary to go well south, in order to
avoid the great westerly set of the Agulhas current, which for
ever sweeps steadily round the southern extremity of the African
continent at an average rate of three or four miles an hour.
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