Incidents connected with the life of Selim Aga

About this book

Selim Aga begins by describing the climate, geography, customs, and people of Tegla, his native country in Africa. He then recounts how slave traders kidnapped him when he was approximately eight years old, and then was taken through Sudan and across the desert to Egypt. While he was a slave in Africa, he was sold several times, and finally was sold to a British Consul in Egypt. When this gentleman left Egypt, he took Aga with him to England, where the family treated him with kindness and taught him to read and write, for which Aga expresses much gratitude and even dedicates this narrative to Mrs. Thurburn, the woman who had overseen his education for the previous ten years and served as a maternal figure for him. To continue his praise of the adopted country that afforded him these opportunities, Aga offers an "Ode to Britain," and several other poems that conclude the work.