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The giggling girl glanced at the brunette and asked her respectfully: "Shall I sing, Sasha?" "I shall sing myself," announced Foma's companion, and turning toward the lady with the birdlike face, she ordered: "Vassa, sing with me!" Vassa immediately broke off her conversation with Zvantzev, stroked her throat a little with her hand and fixed her round eyes on the face of her sister.
He did not prescribe any special observances for the period of Vassa, but this was the time when people had most leisure, since it was hard to move about, and also when the monks were brought into continual contact with the inhabitants of a special locality. So it naturally became regarded as the appropriate season for giving instruction to the laity.
I wish to stand by my own integrity, and not to shelter myself under the impropriety of another; and I trust the behaviour of the Commissioners of the Navy to me entitle me to make this assertion; for after I had been dismissed, March 24, I drew up a memorial thus: To the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury: The Memorial and Petition of Gustavus Vassa a black Man, late Commissary to the black Poor going to Africa.
The year of the Bhikkhus was divided into two parts. During nine months they might wander about, live in the woods or reside in a monastery. During the remaining three months, known as Vassa or rainy season, residence in a monastery was obligatory.
He stepped carefully over the boards, on tiptoe; his hands were clasped behind his back, and his broad, bearded face was now transformed into a smile of astonishment and of a naive delight. "Eh! but feel, my kind, brave man!" entreated Vassa, plaintively, nodding her head.
He was very unwilling at first to grant my request; but I gave him so many reasons for it, that at last he consented to my going, and gave me the following certificate of my behaviour: 'The bearer, Gustavus Vassa, has served me several years with strict honesty, sobriety, and fidelity.
For which this shall be your warrant. Dated at the Navy Office, January 16, 1787. To Mr. Gustavus Vassa, Commissary of Provisions and Stores for the Black Poor going to Sierra Leone. I proceeded immediately to the execution of my duty on board the vessels destined for the voyage, where I continued till the March following.
There he became an active worker in the British anti-slavery movement. In 1789 he published his autobiography, "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Oloudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa", in which he bitterly attacked Christians for participating in the slave trade.
Gustavus Vassa was born in Africa in 1745 and was brought to America as a slave. Eventually, after serving several masters, he became the property of a Philadelphia merchant who let him buy his own freedom. After working for some time as a sailor, he settled in England, where he felt he would encounter less racial discrimination.
But I was reserved for another fate, and was soon undeceived when we came within sight of the English coast. While I was on board this ship, my captain and master named me Gustavus Vassa.
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