Barracoon

The next Saturday, Hurston visits Cudjo but he doesn’t have time to talk to her, saying that he has to clean the church before Sunday. Hurston helps him with some chores and returns on Monday, after the Sabbath services are over.

On Monday, Hurston returns. She tells him about “the nice white lady in New York who was interested in him,” and Cudjo asks her to write the woman a letter thanking her on his behalf. Cudjo says that if it interests this woman, he will tell Hurston more about his time in captivity.

When they arrive at Dahomey, Cudjo sees the king’s house; it looks as if it is made of bones. People come out to meet the raiding party carrying white skulls on sticks, and the soldiers march in with their new heads on sticks. The captives are placed in the barracoon, or stockade, without much to eat.

After a few days, the captives are marched to Wydah, a slave port on the coast. They’re kept in another barracoon for three weeks; they can see ships in the ocean, but the view is obstructed by other buildings. Here, Cudjo sees white men for the first time; in his village, he has only ever heard legends of such people. The captives also see other slaves in neighboring barracoons. They try to communicate with them, but each nation has its own language.

Cudjo says that he and the other villagers are “not so sad now.” Because they are young, they play games and take turns climbing the fence of the barracoon to peer outside. After three weeks, a white man comes into the barracoon and inspects each captive carefully. He selects 130 captives, choosing an equal number of men and women. After he leaves, the Dahomans bring them a large meal, saying that they are going to be taken away soon. Everyone cries, because they are full of grief for their lost homes and don’t want to be separated.

The Dahomans return to tie the selected captives in lines and lead them to the beach. The white slave trader (Captain Foster) is carried to the ship in a hammock and the captives follow, wading in the water. Men from the Kroo tribe (a nation that works as servants to the Dahomans) load the captives into small boats. In the confusion, Cudjo is almost left on the shore, but he sees his friend on the boat and doesn’t want to be separated, so he shouts until the Kroo men take him too.

When they reach the ships, the Kroos rob them of their clothes. Cudjo says he is ashamed, because he doesn’t want to arrive wherever he is going as a “naked savage.” He says that when he gets to America, the people there assume that Africans don’t wear any clothes.

Onboard the ship, the crew makes everyone lie down in the dark hold. Everyone stays there for thirteen days, with little food and water. On the thirteenth day, the captives are brought onto the deck, but they are so weakened that they can’t walk unaided. The crew walks each person around the deck until they recover the use of their limbs. In every direction, all Cudjo can see is water. He has no idea where he is going.

Cudjo suffers greatly onboard the Clotilda. He’s very scared by the constant noise and motion of the ship, which pitches up and down even when the water is calm. The journey lasts for seventy days, until the water changes color and they approach some islands. No one has died on the journey, and Cudjo says that Captain Foster is “a good man” who doesn’t abuse anyone.

For the next day, everyone has to stay in the hold and be quiet, so that the government doesn’t discover the ship is carrying slaves. At night, the ship moves again; Cudjo later learns that it is towed up the river to the island where the Meahers are waiting. When the slaves disembark, they are given some clothes and taken further up the river, where they hide in the swamp. By the time they arrive at Burns Meaher’s plantation, they have been bitten badly by the swarming mosquitos.

At the plantation, the slaves are divided up into small groups. After losing their home and enduring the Middle Passage, they are distraught to be separated once again. Everyone cries and sings a traditional song of mourning. Cudjo doesn’t know if he can withstand this grief; when he thinks about his mother, he feels he might die.

Cudjo stops speaking and tells Hurston he’s tired of talking, and that she has to go home. He spends so much time talking to her, he’s been neglecting his garden. He says he’ll send his grandson to let her know when she can come again.