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=                        Sufferings_in_Africa                        =
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                            Introduction
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'Sufferings in Africa' is an 1817 memoir by James Riley. The memoir
relates how Riley and his crew were enslaved in Africa after being
shipwrecked in 1815. Riley was the Captain of the American merchant
ship . He led his crew through the Sahara Desert after they were
shipwrecked off the coast of Western Sahara in August 1815. The book
was published in 1817 and was originally titled 'Authentic Narrative
of the Loss of the American Brig Commerce' by the "Late Master and
Supercargo" James Riley, modernly republished as 'Sufferings in
Africa', and comes down to us today as a startling gap of the usual
master-slave narrative.

This true story describes how they came to be shipwrecked, and their
travails in the Sahara Desert. Lost in this unknown world, Captain
Riley felt responsible for his crew and their safety. He told of the
events leading to their capture by marauding Sahrawi natives who kept
them as slaves. Horribly mistreated, they were beaten, sun-burnt,
starved, and forced to drink their own and camel urine.  A slave would
be worked until close to death, and then either traded or killed.


                            Plot summary
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Upon landing in the ship's leaky boat, Riley and his crew began to
make repairs to return to the ship, rather than face a desert rescue.
The repairs were incomplete when a native armed with a spear arrived
and helped himself to their meager supplies. After filling up his arms
with what he could carry off, he left and returned with two others
also carrying spears. Riley stayed back to distract the Arabs and give
his men a chance to escape in the loaded and unfinished boat.

They made it, but without Riley, who offered his captors money in
exchange for his life.  With their agreement, crew member Antonio
Michele swam to shore to pay them, at which point Riley ran out into
the water to join his men. After Riley was safe in the boat, all he
could do was watch while an Arab stabbed Michele in the stomach and
dragged his body away, which caused Riley tremendous feelings of
guilt.

As the ship, still aground, was unusable, unable to reach what are now
the islands of Cape Verde, the crew decided to sail to the South while
hoping for rescue, which did not come. After nine days, out of food
and water, they returned to the shore at an isolated beach 200 miles
further south, with the realization that they would probably be killed
just as quickly as Michele. They reached the shore, which was
surrounded by high cliffs.  Riley told his men to begin digging for
water. He climbed to the top of the cliffs and found himself staring
at the edge of a vast expanse of flat desert.

His crew joined him, and together they started to walk inland hoping
for rescue by a friendly tribe. But soon they were without hope,
enduring 120 F heat during the day and freezing temperatures at night.
Out of food and water, Riley resolved that they should either accept
death or offer themselves as slaves to the first tribe they
encountered, which is exactly what happened.

A large gathering of men and camels appeared on the horizon, and the
crew approached them. The tribe started to fight among themselves, to
determine who would become the slave-owners. Riley's crew became
separated when they were taken as slaves by different groups, which
then went their own ways.

Riley recounts in his memoirs the terrifying days spent in servitude.
After a while, he learned some of the language and was able to
communicate in a rudimentary way. One day during his captivity some
Arabs arrived seeking a trade with his master. Riley asked two of
them, Sidi Hamet and his brother, if they would buy him and his fellow
shipmates and bring them to the closest city - which was Mogador (now
Essaouira) - hundreds of miles away to the north. Hamet was moved by
Riley's desire to save his friends and agreed to buy them if Riley
would pay him with cash and a gun when they arrived at the city. Riley
promised that he had a friend there who would pay him upon their safe
arrival, which was totally untrue, for Riley knew nobody.  Hamet
promised to slit his throat if he were lying. When the time came for
Riley to write the note, he was terrified. How could he write a note
to a perfect stranger, begging him for several hundred dollars? He had
no choice. In the note he explained who he was and described his
situation.

Traveling through the desert caused all to suffer - master and slave
alike. There was little food for the already starving American men,
and little water for everyone. Amazingly, they traveled the distance
to the city - several hundred miles, constantly in fear of marauding
hunter tribes. They were especially in fear of a father-in-law of one
of the brothers, who was out to settle a dispute.

Eventually they arrived at the outskirts, and Hamet took the note,
which was addressed to the town's consul, into town. Hamet met a young
man in the city, who, it turns out, worked as an assistant to a
British merchant who also acted as a kind of consul and agent. Hamet
told this man about his "friend" and gave him the note. This consul,
William Willshire, impressed by the sincerity of the note, agreed to
pay. Willshire rode out in a group to meet the men as they waited
outside the city, and Willshire greeted Riley with hugs and tears.

Riley sent his remaining men home to America but stayed behind for
just a few days. Seti Hamet, his former master, promised to return to
the desert to look for Riley's missing crew members. Riley went back
to America and was reunited with his wife and their five children in
Connecticut. Two of the missing men were later returned to the States,
and Riley heard of two Arabs who were stoned to death out in the
desert by marauders. He was convinced they were his former master,
trying to keep his word, together with his brother.


                             Reception
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Abraham Lincoln, who later became president of the United States,
listed 'Sufferings in Africa', as one of the three most influential
works that shaped his political ideology, particularly his views on
slavery. The others were the Bible and 'The Pilgrim's Progress'
(1678).


                               Sequel
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In 1851, eleven years after James Riley's death at sea, G. Brewster
published the 'Sequel to Riley's Narrative: Being a Sketch of
Interesting Incidents in the Life, Voyages and Travels of Capt. James
Riley, from the Period of His Return to His Native Land, After His
Shipwreck, Captivity and Sufferings Among the Arabs of the Desert, as
Related in His Narrative, Until His Death'.


                              See also
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* History of Western Sahara
*'Skeletons on the Zahara', 2004 nonfiction book written by maritime
historian Dean King based directly on Captain James Riley's memoirs.


                           External links
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* Link to Internet Archive copy of 1817 edition of the book.
* Article placing 'Sufferings in Africa' in a wider context of other
Christian slave narratives, including comprehensive links to public
domain online copies of works.


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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufferings_in_Africa