The correct answer is C) he is met with a horrible smell.
The “greeting” that Equiano receives when he first steps below the decks of the ship is "he is met with a horrible smell."
The other options of the question were A) he is offered food by a crewman, B) he is immediately put to work, and D) he is surprised to find people crying.
We are referring to an excerpt of the autobiography of the former slave Olaudah Equiano who was enslaved in Africa but eventually gained his freedom in the United States. His memories were published in 1789.
The excerpt that makes reference to the question is the following one: "I was soon put down under the decks and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I have never experienced in my life: so that with the loathsomeness of the stench and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat."