Chapter 36
- Things are getting worse and worse. The prisoners are being stung by insects and suffocated by the horrid stench of their accumulated bodily fluids.
- The toubob strip themselves naked (yup) and bring down several large tubs to clean up, but it doesn't make anything better.
- The next time the toubob come down, they do something strange: they unshackle their prisoners. They then start attacking them and driving them up to the ship deck.
- This is the first time Kunta has seen the sun in almost fifteen days, so it hits him like "a hammer between his eyes" (36.8). The salt air is so pure it makes him vomit.
- Kunta looks around—it's the first time he's seen the people who were captured alongside him. He sees the Wolof man he's shackled beside, as well as a Foulah tribesman.
- The slavers whip the people and "clean" them with salt water. Even the women are dragged around in the same manner, completely naked, which Kunta finds offensive beyond belief.
- Out of nowhere, one of the toubob starts playing an accordion and telling the prisoners to jump.
- Though they're confused, the people start jumping. This quickly transitions into a variation of a traditional "warrior's dance" and everyone starts singing (36.15).
- But this isn't music for music's sake—the prisoners are telling each other about the awful things the toubob have done to them. They even create a rousing chorus—"toubob fa"—which can be translated as "kill toubob."
- The slavers naively grin, mistaking this complex form of communication for a simple song and dance.
- After a while, the toubob force the people back down below. One girl jumps overboard, but she's instantaneously eaten by a shark.
- Back in chains, Kunta introduces himself to his Wolof shackle-mate. His name is Jebou Manga.
- After seeing each other, the prisoners are now constantly talking, stopping only when the toubob descend to the lower decks.
Chapter 37
- Kunta and his fellow prisoners are stuck in the routine of feeding time, cleaning time, and the occasional visit to the deck. They're getting sicker and sicker and many are dying.
- They're communicating more than ever, however. Cloaked in song, the women (who are allowed on deck) give a detailed description of the ship and the toubob's operation.
- This togetherness makes Kunta feel a lot better. The only thing that bums him out is that Jebou Manga is a pagan.
Chapter 38
- There's good news from the women: they've been hiding knives and a few other weapons to stage a revolt.
- The prisoners debate how to do it. Some want to do it when the toubob are below deck; others want to do it when they're up top.
- Ultimately, the Foulah takes charge, declaring that they must wait and watch the toubob until the opportunity presents itself.
- Given the prisoners' flagging health, however, that's going to be difficult. Kunta observes that many men now look like "zombies" when he sees them in the daylight (38.7).
- One day, the men are jumping on the ship deck when a school of flying fish leap over the ship. Everyone stares in amazement.
- Suddenly, a "tattooed" Wolof man grabs a club from one of the toubob's hands and kills five of them before they manage to strike him down (38.10).
- The slavers fire off their guns and drive the men back down into the hold. One of the toubob gets trapped down below, but his compatriots rescue him before he's killed.
- Everyone's upset that the Foulah didn't give the go-ahead for the assault, but he tells them that they will attack the next time they are brought aboard the deck.
- Unfortunately, they get hit by a crazy storm that night. The hold starts flooding, and the toubob manage to make the situation worse by blocking off the leaks, thereby also blocking off all fresh air.
- The next thing Kunta knows he's up on deck, vomiting, while the men who died during the storm are tossed overboard by the toubob.
Chapter 39
- Kunta and the other men are still on deck when the storm clears up. Kunta can see that many of them are dying, and that even the Foulah's will to fight has evaporated.
- After being returned below the deck, the men are treated by the toubob, who apply a variety of medical treatments with a dubious success rate.
- In the following days, a sickness begins spreading throughout the hold that the toubob refer to as "'the flux'" (39.19). Kunta becomes so delirious that he loses all track of time.
- One day, Kunta hears a commotion up on desk. Once he's brought up there himself, he knows exactly why—there's land.
Chapter 40
- The mood in the hold is a mixture of relief at surviving the journey and fear about what might come next.
- Kunta and the others emerge from the hold and see a huge crowd of toubob waiting for their arrival. If any of them slow down, even a bit, they're whipped by one of the slavers.
- He sees two men in toubob clothing who are clearly African, but didn't come with them on the ship. Are there more of his people in this strange land?
- The group is locked in a room. A few people come in and out, and Kunta can hardly sleep, but the night passes without event.
- Kunta is there for six days. He struggles to reconcile his belief in the will of Allah with the unthinkable circumstances he now finds himself in.