DISCOVERIES OF THE ENGLISH. 243 
som ; but it was too late, — the vessel had de- 
parted. 
Job was carried to Maryland, where he was em- 
ployed first in the cultivation of tobacco, and after- 
wards in the tending of herds. He does not appear 
to have been positively ill-treated ; but the recollec- 
tion of his former greatness continually embittered 
the sense of his present condition. Above all, his 
strict observance of the rights of the Mahometan 
religion exposed him to perpetual ridicule, and 
even insult, from the white inhabitants. His life 
became thus intolerable ; and he resolved, at all 
hazards, to attempt an escape. He fled across the 
woods to the county of Kent, in the bay of Dela- 
ware ; but, being unprovided with a passport, was 
there arrested by virtue of the act against fugitive 
negroes. The case, however, attracted a good 
deal of curiosity ; and he was visited in prison by 
several English merchants ; particularly one of 
the name of Bluet, who afterwards wrote the his- 
tory of his life. They soon discovered that he 
was a Mahometan ; but they remained in the dark 
as to other particulars, till an old JalofF, who un- 
derstood the language, met him, and explained the 
whole of his history. These particulars being 
transmitted by letter to London, became a general 
theme of conversation, and Mr Oglethorpe, who 
held a high place in the African Company, was 
deeply affected by the situation of the royal cap- 
