which followed, the
deponent, uncertain what fate had befallen the remains of Don
Alexandro, frequently asked the negro Babo where they were, and,
if still on board, whether they were to be preserved for interment
ashore, entreating him so to order it; that the negro Babo
answered nothing till the fourth day, when at sunrise, the
deponent coming on deck, the negro Babo showed him a skeleton,
which had been substituted for the ship's proper figure-head--the
image of Christopher Colon, the discoverer of the New World; that
the negro Babo asked him whose skeleton that was, and whether,
from its whiteness, he should not think it a white's; that, upon
discovering his face, the negro Babo, coming close, said words to
this effect: "Keep faith with the blacks from here to Senegal, or
you shall in spirit, as now in body, follow your leader," pointing
to the prow; * * * that the same morning the negro Babo took by
succession each Spaniard forward, and asked him whose skeleton
that was, and whether, from its whiteness, he should not think it
a white's; that each Spaniard covered his face; that then to each
the negro Babo repeated the words in the first place said to the
deponent; * * * that they (the Spaniards), being then assembled
aft, the negro Babo harangued them, saying that he had now done
all; that the deponent (as navigator for the negroes) might pursue
his course, warning him and all of them that they should, soul and
body, go the way of Don Alexandro, if he saw them (the Spaniards)
speak, or plot anything against them (the negroes)--a threat which
was repeated every day; that, before the events last mentioned,
they had tied the cook to throw him overboard, for it is not known
what thing they heard him speak, but finally the negro Babo
spared his life, at the request of the deponent; that a few days
after, the deponent, endeavoring not to omit any means to preserve
the lives of the remaining whites, spoke to the negroes peace and
tranquillity, and agreed to draw up a paper, signed by the
deponent and the sailors who could write, as also by the negro
Babo, for himself and all the blacks, in which the deponent
obliged himself to carry them to Senegal, and they not to kill any
more, and he formally to make over to them the ship, with the
cargo, with which they were for that time sati