He Opened A Matchmaking Agency In 18Th Century London [EN]: Chapter 75

75. Slave Auction

◈ A few days later, Saint Andrew, 600 meters above sea level, Clydesdale Coffee Farm.

Thae-oh toured other coffee farms with Mr. Martin.

Thanks to Mr. Martin, the general manager of Palmer Farm, who had a wide network, he was able to tour the surrounding coffee farms.

Today, they were at Clydesdale Coffee Farm, which made the most profit among Jamaican coffee farms, observing the coffee bean washing process.

Swish- Swish-

Black slaves were pouring coffee beans from baskets into large tubs, and others were busy washing them.

‘Some of the beans look okay, but they’re picking all the beans at once, even the bad ones and the rotten ones. Is that really okay?’

Even to Thae-oh, who didn’t have professional knowledge about coffee, it seemed too haphazard.

The process of picking and collecting coffee beans seemed to need more care.

‘Let’s see.’

Thae-oh, who was looking down at the beans in the large tub, picked up a coffee bean that had fallen nearby.

It was definitely smaller and had less pulp than the beans he had seen at his coffee farm a few days ago.

‘According to the coffee company CEO, the best Blue Mountain coffee beans come from altitudes of around 2,000 meters [6,500 feet]. So, is it because the altitude is much lower here than our coffee farm that the coffee beans are like this? Most of the surrounding coffee farms seem to have very poor quality.’

Tap- Tap-

Thae-oh stomped on the ground around him.

‘Moreover, this place doesn’t drain well when it rains. No crops can grow properly in such a place. It’s the same with coffee trees. Good quality beans can never come from this kind of land.’

Clatter-

The washed coffee beans were being put into sacks and moved for drying.

‘If they mix even these low-quality beans and dry them, the quantity might increase, but good coffee won’t come out.

In any food, good ingredients make up 90%. It’s obvious that coffee will taste better if you use good quality beans.’

Thae-oh’s eye for detail was accurate.

Because of the practice of mixing and selling low-quality coffee beans, Jamaican coffee was being traded at very low prices in the market.

On top of that, the small harvest made it difficult to make a profit, creating a vicious cycle.

In the end, to gain an advantage in the competition with coffee giants like the Netherlands and France, the only way was to produce coffee with a much better taste than theirs.

‘We shouldn’t just think about competing with these small coffee farms. We need coffee that has a very good aroma and taste, even with a small harvest. It needs to be good enough to have a clear advantage even when competing with successful coffee farms in France to make a profit.’

If that were the case, he could expect huge profits in England, where the coffee industry was dead.

‘But the problem is that there’s no one who really knows about coffee.’

For crops that require specialized knowledge like coffee, getting help from a coffee cultivation expert could greatly save time on harvesting as well as improve quality.

However, the surrounding coffee farms seemed to lack expertise in Thae-oh’s eyes.

It was so crude that he could understand why Jamaican coffee had to be small.

‘How do I find a coffee expert in Jamaica, where there are only low-level coffee farms? Should I look for one in England?’

However, he doubted whether there would be a proper coffee expert in England, which relied on imports for most of its coffee.

Thae-oh’s worries were growing.

◈ The following week, in front of Kingston Harbor, Jamaica.

The day the black slave auction began.

After spending a few days touring coffee farms and checking their competitiveness, Thae-oh decided to try coffee farming after much deliberation.

To do so, he urgently needed workers to work on the coffee farm.

Thae-oh took a two-wheeled carriage and went down to Kingston Harbor to find blacks to work on the farm.

Because it was the day the slave auction started, the harbor was crowded with onlookers.

At the time, slave auctions were considered a spectacle for the British living in the colonies.

‘So many people came out from the morning to see the auction.’

Thae-oh parked the carriage he had taken in one place and looked around.

Flyers were scattered everywhere, and children who received daily wages from the slave ship were beating drums and shouting, ‘Slaves for sale!’

Boom- Bang-

The slave ship where today’s auction was being held even fired celebratory fireworks, raising the atmosphere to its peak.

For the colonists, the day of the slave auction seemed like a festival.

Thae-oh, who had lived in modern times, couldn’t shake off his bitter and uncomfortable feelings.

Thae-oh saw a large slave trade ship where many people were lined up to board.

‘It seems the slave auction is being held on that ship.’

When he went up on the deck, he saw numerous black slaves chained in one corner, and a platform was set up separately in the middle for the slaves to go up.

Most of the chained slaves were young and sturdy black men.

Since Jamaica had many large-scale farms for cultivating sugar cane, it needed physically stronger and younger black male slaves than the North American colonies.

For that reason, strong and young black slaves were often captured and brought to Jamaica.

“Welcome! Welcome! Come and see! As advertised, this time we have brought only the best blacks.”

The auctioneer, with a sly smile and flamboyant rhetoric, focused the attention of the people gathered.

And when there was no more room to set foot, the full-fledged auction finally began.

“Look over there. The male blacks have strong teeth and very sturdy limbs. They are also healthy and obedient enough to have no problems even on long journeys. One of those blacks will do the work of five people in the sugar cane field.

And the female blacks in the corner are very kind, young, and active, so they can easily handle housework or field work alone.”

The auctioneer was talking about the black slaves he had seen for the first time today as if he had known them for a long time.

“Well, there are so many good items today, so let’s proceed with the auction right away. Pedrick! Send the prepared blacks up!”

The white men standing guard next to the black slaves dragged three blacks in shackles and handcuffs toward the platform.

Thump- Clang- Clatter- Clatter-

The chains made a loud noise as they dragged on the floor.

– Hehe. Look at that!

– Oh my, how indecent, hoho.

Laughter erupted from here and there.

It was because the dragged-out blacks were completely naked.

This was to facilitate physical examination and proceed with a quick auction.

As time passed, the deck as well as the pier connected to the ship were packed with spectators.

“Now! As an opening event for the auction, we have put up three sturdy blacks at a very low price. Everyone! Don’t faint when you hear the price because it’s too cheap! The price is···”

As the low price for the three black slaves was announced, competition broke out here and there, and a successful bidder was quickly selected.

This time, four black slaves were tied together as a unit and placed on the platform.

In the colonies of the West Indies [Caribbean islands], there were many large-scale farms that required a lot of labor, so sales in these bundled units were more common than individual sales.

At this time, blacks in good condition and those who were not were mixed appropriately, and the auction proceeded in such a way that the next black slaves were put on the platform only after all the blacks in one bundle were sold.

‘Ugh···.’

Thae-oh’s heart was heavy as he watched the black slave auction site, which he had only seen in history books.

Above all, he was very concerned about the emotional state of the blacks being dragged up, which was unbelievably bad.

Fear, anger, sadness, and depression were mixed together, creating an unstable and chaotic feeling to watch.

‘Ah··· The emotional state is too bad. There is a lot of resentment, but strong fear is barely preventing its explosion.’

He even doubted whether the farm would run properly if he bought slaves with such emotions.

‘The terrible black slave riots that I saw in history books were bound to happen. With that level of emotional depth, it would be more strange if a riot didn’t happen.’

The auction proceeded faster than expected.

Perhaps because there was a shortage of labor in each farm recently, the black slaves were sold immediately at high prices as soon as they went up on the platform.

However, sick slaves or black female slaves with children did not sell well.

In such cases, it seemed that direct bargaining took place between the captain and the farm owner, not the slave trader.

Once the transaction on the deck was over, all problems arising for the black slave became entirely the responsibility of the purchasing farm owner.

Whether they died from illness or ran away and died, everything was a loss for the farm owner.

For that reason, it was common practice to brand the owner’s initials on the chest or back with a silver seal heated in fire immediately after the transaction was completed.

Sizzle-

“Kkeueaaak-.”

When he turned his head at the screaming, a red-hot silver seal was being stamped on the shoulder of the black man who had been sold earlier.

Thae-oh closed his eyes without realizing it as he watched the scene. It felt as if the terrible pain of burning flesh was being transmitted to him.

‘This won’t work. I don’t think I should buy black slaves at the auction house. The emotions are too bad. It would be better to pay more and get slaves who can speak English and are adapted to life here.’

Thae-oh shook his head and tried to turn around.

“What? She had a child?”

However, a small argument between the captain and the farm owner caught Thae-oh’s attention.

“This black woman··· Didn’t she have a child? No matter how I look at it, judging from her hard breasts and sagging lower abdomen, it seems like she gave birth not long ago?”

The captain’s face instantly contorted horribly.

“What nonsense are you talking about, saying she had a child? She’s a virgin who hasn’t even been married!”

It was a war of nerves over a young black female slave.

The farm owner seemed to have found traces of childbirth on the black woman he wanted to buy.

Thae-oh carefully looked at the black woman in question standing behind the captain.

Her face was full of indescribable sadness, and she kept looking around, desperately searching for something.

Large eyes filled with tears, eyebrows folded in a figure eight, and restless eyes shaking wildly.

It felt as if her anxious and frantic emotions were being conveyed directly to Thae-oh’s heart.

‘Right now, that black slave is completely distracted by something other than the fear of being sold. It seems like she’s looking for something precious that she lost··· Could it be that her child is somewhere here, as the farm owner said?’

Her appearance was so pitiful that Thae-oh unknowingly approached the black female slave.

In Jamaica, where labor was urgently needed, female slaves with babies did not sell well.

In the case of female slaves with nursing babies, they couldn’t do their jobs properly because they had to take care of the baby, but if they forcibly sent the baby away, in most cases, they would neglect their work due to a deep sense of loss or become seriously ill from grief.

For that reason, slave ship captains tried to hide the children at all costs, and it was common knowledge that they secretly threw them into the sea.

“Hey, even if she doesn’t have a child, she won’t be able to work well with such a mournful look. Okay, I’ll buy next time.”

The captain’s face turned fierce at the sight of the farm owner shaking his hand and turning away.

“What? Why are you picking a fight when you’re not even going to buy? I can’t believe my bad luck.”

The captain, who was very angry, kicked the box next to him.

“Damn it!”

The black female slave was startled and flinched, but soon returned to her troubled expression and looked around.

It was clear that she was struggling more with worrying about her child than her current situation.

However, even in that appearance, quite resilient and delicate emotions were read.

‘She’s a very delicate and emotional woman, though hidden by sad emotions. Her willpower is also very strong. If I take her to our coffee farm, she might be able to do the work meticulously···.’

He was trying to find a slave who was somewhat familiar with Jamaica and could speak English, but since he sensed the unfortunate situation of this female slave, it was difficult to turn away coldly.

Thae-oh unknowingly approached the captain, who was panting.

“Where is that female slave’s child?”

The captain, who turned his head sharply, glared at Thae-oh and got angry.

“Damn it! Why is this happening at the end when things were going well today. Hey, you? What are you talking about, saying that woman has a child? And even if she has a child, what does that have to do with you? Huh! You can just throw that kind of brat into the sea!”

Anger surged at his words, which he spat out without a care, but this was the 18th century, where slave trading was legal.

Thae-oh dealt with it as calmly as possible.

“So, how much are you thinking of selling that black female slave for?”

When Thae-oh suddenly asked the price of the slave, the captain replied curtly.

“If you’re not going to buy, just go.”

“I’m asking because I’m going to buy, so tell me the price.”

The captain’s expression softened a little at the word buy.

“Hum- 60 pounds! This is really a small amount.”

“I’ll buy it for 50 pounds.”

The captain’s lips thinned and his eyelids tightened, changing to a micro-expression of anger.

“Is this guy··· playing with me in front of an angry person?”

Thae-oh calmly said to the captain’s face, who was getting angry again.

“That’s the price including the woman’s child. After all, if she’s a female slave who’s lost her child and is so sad, it’ll be hard to find someone to take her even for 50 pounds.”

“What··· what? This guy! I’m telling you there’s no child!”

Thae-oh quietly stared at the captain’s eyes as he shouted.

He could tell right away that he was lying.

The captain was very hot-tempered, but he couldn’t be so cruel as to throw a child into the sea.

“I know you have a child, so bring the child quickly. Even if she was sold as a slave, it’s right for her to live with her mother, right?”

The captain’s face was filled with embarrassment.

“What··· what are you talking about, saying you know everything··· Hum-.”

The captain was strangely intimidated by Thae-oh’s eyes, which seemed to see right through him.

Thae-oh urged.

“What are you going to do? If you’re not going to sell that female slave and her child together for 50 pounds right now, I’m going to leave. I have to go somewhere else quickly.”

When the captain hesitated, Thae-oh immediately turned around.

“Then, let’s pretend there was no deal.”

It was then.

“Ah··· I understand! Geez. This guy is a complete pro, a pro.”

The captain, who sighed deeply, gestured to a sailor standing far away.

“Yes, Captain.”

“Bring that woman’s child!”

At the captain’s order, the sailor went down to the warehouse below the deck and came up with a baby wrapped haphazardly in a dirty cloth.

As soon as the sailor brought the child up, the black female slave jumped up and down like crazy and wept.

“Aba! Aba! Sniffle-”

Thae-oh said to the sailor.

“Quickly, put that child in her mother’s arms.”

The female slave hugged the child tightly with her handcuffed hands and sat down, crying bitterly. The child was also surprised and started crying loudly.

“Waa- Waa-”

Everyone who came to see the sight looked at the scene with pity.

“These things are unlucky!”

The moment the captain tried to pick up a long whip, Thae-oh shouted.

“What are you doing! They’re my slaves! Don’t touch them!”

The captain, startled by Thae-oh’s anger, coughed and held out his hand.

“Hum, hum. Then quickly pay 50 pounds and take them away!”

Thae-oh, who handed over the money, approached the female black slave who was still crying.

And he conveyed the words by mixing gestures and words.

“I··· bought··· you. Your child will go with you, so··· don’t worry and stop crying.”

She couldn’t understand the words, but she was a very quick-witted woman.

She seemed to already know that Thae-oh had bought her and her child together.

She suddenly knelt down and bowed her head to Thae-oh’s shoes several times.

And she cried out loudly in an unfamiliar African tribal language.

Thae-oh, embarrassed, told her not to, but she continued to express her gratitude.

When he forcibly lifted her up from the floor, she finally raised her head and looked up at Thae-oh.

But she was smiling brightly with a tear-stained face.

It was a happy smile, born from the joy of finding her child, rather than the fear of being captured and dragged to this faraway place without knowing why.

She pointed to herself and called herself ‘Juba,’ and pointed to the child and called her ‘Aba.’

“Juba··· Aba···.”

When Thae-oh pointed to the woman and the child and called their names, she nodded her head greatly and smiled.